Hercules

The Atari Hercules, designed by Steve Bicker with art by Jim Kelly, was released in May 1979 during the solid-state era of pinball. It is popularly considered the largest pinball machine ever made: the widebody game measures a colossal 93 inches long, 39 inches wide, and 83 inches high. Hercules was developed by Arcade Engineering, a company made up of former Allied Leisure employees, and runs on Atari's Generation/System 2 electronics.

Despite its enormous scale, the playfield layout is relatively straightforward, with two flippers, two pop bumpers, two slingshots, three standup targets, and a spinning target. Up to four players can compete, with a maximum displayed score of 999,990 points per player.

The machine's presentation matches its mythological Fantasy theme, and both the backglass and the factory topper are silkscreened on quarter-inch Plexiglas. Two factory versions of the plexiglass backglass are known to exist: one silkscreened to illuminate status indicators such as Ball in Play, Game Over, and Match, and another with no silkscreening that displays no indicators. Its sheer size makes Hercules a memorable curiosity from Atari's brief foray into pinball.