Capt. Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy

The Capt. Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy pinball machine, designed by Greg Kmiec with artwork by Dave Christensen and manufactured by Bally in June 1976, is one of the most celebrated licensed-theme games of the electromechanical era. Its backglass depicts Elton John, as his flamboyant Pinball Wizard character from the 1975 film 'Tommy', playing pinball - while the game's title comes from Elton's 1975 autobiographical album, in which 'Captain Fantastic' was Elton and 'The Brown Dirt Cowboy' was his lyricist Bernie Taupin. With a confirmed production run of 16,155 units, it was a massive hit for Bally and remains a staple of collections today.

Notable features include four flippers, three pop bumpers, two slingshots, eight star rollovers, two stand-up targets, a 5-bank of drop targets, and a right outlane detour gate, along with an end-of-ball bonus. The maximum displayed score varies by version: early production 'Over The Top' games show 99,990 points per player, while modified production games show 199,990.

Dave Christensen's backglass art is legendary in its own right. He slipped several risque vignettes past Bally management, and a small number of so-called 'uncensored' or 'no stars' backglasses made it into production before mirrored stars were added to obscure the offending details - a correction kept deliberately minimal because Bally knew it had a monster hit on its hands. Eye-catching, irreverent, and steeped in mid-1970s rock culture, Capt. Fantastic is a true icon among pinball collectors.