The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard

The Who pinball machine, released by Data East Pinball in 1994, is a musical/celebrity-licensed title built around the rock band The Who and inspired by the Tommy stage production. It was designed by Joe Kaminkow, Ed Cebula, Lonnie D. Ropp, and Lyman F. Sheats Jr., with art by Kurt Andersen and Markus Rothkranz, music and sound by Brian Schmidt, and software by Ropp, Sheats, and John Carpenter. Roughly 4,700 units were produced.

One of The Who's key features is its six-ball multiball mode. The combination of three flippers and three pop bumpers creates a fast-paced experience as players manage the multiple balls across the layout. The game also offers flipper blinders that extend from under the metal apron to cover the flipper area from the player's view, plus an operator-selectable option for unlimited buy-in balls per player. Notable toys include Captain Walker's airplane and a raising/lowering mirror on the playfield.

Visually, The Who pinball machine's artwork and dot-matrix animations draw on imagery from the band and the Tommy production, giving it a distinct look among Data East's mid-1990s licensed titles. A handful of pre-production prototypes, some with six pop bumpers instead of the production three, were used for promotional appearances including the 1993 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, adding an extra layer of history and rarity to the game's early units.