Thing
About This Machine
Thing, released by Chicago Coin in February 1951 with artwork by Roy Parker, takes its name from Phil Harris's 1950 novelty hit song 'The Thing,' about a mysterious box whose contents are never revealed. The pinball tie-in embraces that mystery with a genuinely inventive scoring gimmick: five bumpers spelling out T-H-I-N-G light up at the start of play, and hitting all five in any order — or completing them via either side rollover — triggers a sequence of knocker sounds, resets the bumpers, and advances a dedicated 'Thing Score.'
The game's other standout feature is its center kick-out hole, which runs a Mystery Score built around a cam-driven motor: depending on where the cam happens to be sitting when the ball drops in, the hole can award anywhere from 50,000 up to 200,000 points across up to four knocker-sequence cycles. A V-shaped blocking gate between the two flippers adds another layer of risk — in its raised position it lets the ball drain straight through the flipper gap, and a 'Keep Out Of Here' playfield insert lights up to warn players when the gate is open, with the gate only lowering to protect the ball after a rollover at the top of the shooter lane is triggered.
By 1951, flippers were already a well-established feature of pinball design rather than a novelty, so Thing's significance lies not in being an early flipper game but in the intricacy of its bumper, mystery-score, and blocking-gate mechanisms, along with its playful nod to a contemporary pop-culture novelty song.
Images (63)
Technical Details
- Notable Features:
- Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (2), Passive bumpers (5), Kick-out holes (3), Blocking gate between flippers. Sound: 2 bells, knocker. The five T-H-I-N-G bumpers are lit at start of play, and each goes dark when hit. Hitting all five bumpers in any order causes the knocker to operate three times in sequence, the bumpers then reset, and the Thing Score in the lower playfield advances one time. Hitting either side rollover will complete the T-H-I-N-G bumpers, which then repeats the above actions (three knocks, reset, increment Thing Score). The three knocks occur in a certain cadence as determined by the spacing of the teeth on a cam in the motor. One cycle of the motor, or 50,000 points, takes only one-quarter turn. Hence, this cam has twelve teeth on its perimeter to account for all four cycles. The top cam of the motor has only one tooth on its entire perimeter and its purpose is to kick the center kick-out hole (inside the playfield box). When a ball drops into the hole, the motor runs and gives 50,000 points until the top cam operates its kick switch. Depending on where that cam happens to be positioned, the hole gives one through four cycles (50K through 200K) as a Mystery Score. Each 50,000-point cycle runs the knocker sequence. Therefore, at its optimal condition, the hole awards 200,000 points and four knocker sequences (twelve knocks). Each Mystery Score awarded will also increment the Thing Score, but only once, regardless of the number of cycles that occurred. The T and G are the only pop bumpers and are marked with the "Boom Boom Boom" text on the playfield, but they do not operate the knocker sequence. Incidentally, neither of them have an end-of-stroke switch. The two side rollovers light briefly for special when the player’s score is at specific thresholds as set by the operator on the score unit. The "liberal" setting turns on the specials at 2,000,000 points, turns them off at 2,100,000 points, turns then on again at 3,000,000 points, and turns them off again at 3,100,000 points. We do not know the "conservative" setting point values. The V-shaped blocking gate between the flippers, in its raised position, allows balls to pas s under it and drain. A large playfield insert marked "Keep Out Of Here" will light to warn the player when the ga te is open and the flipper gap is present. Only when it is in a lowered position does it block the balls, routing them to either flipper. A rollover at the top of the shooter lane lowers the blocking gate each time the ball is shot into play. The ga te remains lowered until two multiples of 100,000 are reached in the player’s score for the ball in play. For instance, when the first ball is shot into play, the player’s score is zero, and when the score reaches 200,000 points, the ga te will raise. If the second ball is shot into play with the player’s score at 390,000 points, the rollover again drops the ga te, but the ga te will raise once the score reaches 400,000 points, a difference of only 110,000 points (not 200,000). Thus, the starting score for each ball will determine how many points will raise the ga te. This may be an operator-adjustable feature; our information is incomplete on that. The two passive bumpers in the lower playfield light for 100,000 points when the 10,000 unit is at 50,000 and/or 100,000, depending upon an operator adjustment. The "conservative" setting makes the bumpers light only at each 50,000 point level. Regardless of the setting, the bumpers stay on once the blocking gate rises to open the flipper gap. Replays can be earned from high scores, from the Thing Score, and from the side rollover specials. The knocker does not sound when replays are awarded.
Credits
- Artist:
- Roy Parker
Documentation
- DownloadSchematic Diagram (continuous)9 MB