Nitro Ground Shaker

Nitro Ground Shaker, designed by George Christian with artwork by Dave Christensen, was released by Bally in January 1980 as a four-player solid-state machine with an auto-racing theme. Interestingly, Bally's own flyer and manual referred to the game simply as 'Ground Shaker' — it's the backglass that prominently adds the word 'Nitro,' which is how the game came to be commonly known. With 7,950 confirmed units produced, it was a solid commercial release for Bally in the early solid-state era.

The playfield features two flippers, three pop bumpers, two slingshots, three standup targets, two kick-out holes, a 4-bank drop target, and a spinning target, giving players a varied set of shots to chain together for scoring. Dave Christensen's artwork leans into the racing theme with dynamic imagery befitting the 'Nitro' name emblazoned on the backglass.

As an early-1980 solid-state title, Nitro Ground Shaker sits at an interesting point in Bally's transition into the electronic era, pairing straightforward EM-style shot-making with the more modern MPU-driven scoring of the period.