Astrologic
About This Machine
Astrologic is an extraordinary one-of-a-kind pinball machine built in October 1978 as a custom prop for the Hollywood movie 'Tilt' (1979). It was designed by Michael "Pinball" Sehnert, with cabinet art by movie company artist John O'Connor and additional art by Sehnert and Delana Bettoli. The cabinet itself was recycled from an earlier bowling-themed game, believed to be Williams' 1975 'Triple Strike', while the backglass and playfield were original creations.
As a solid-state game for two players, Astrologic features two flippers, two pop bumpers, two slingshots, a pair of 5-bank drop targets, a kick-out hole, a spinning target, and a standup target, wrapped in an astrology-and-fantasy theme. A clever design detail routes the ball past a rollover switch so that, if the upper drop-target bank resets while a ball is above it, the switch drops the target in its path again to free the ball rather than trapping it.
During filming, Sehnert hid behind the backbox and manually operated the score displays by wire in sync with the on-screen action, since the machine's backbox did not receive real solid-state electronics until 2010. Only one unit was ever built, making Astrologic a genuinely unique piece of pinball and film history.
Images (20)
Technical Details
- Theme:
- Astrology - Fantasy
- Notable Features:
- Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (2), Slingshots (2), 5-bank drop targets (2), Kick-out hole (1), Spinning target (1), Standup target (1), Right outlane ball return gate. Should the upper drop target bank happen to reset while the ball is in the large lane above it, to prevent the ball from being trapped against the back side of the drop targets, as the ball rolls back down that lane it crosses a round rollover switch which drops the one drop target in its path, allowing the ball to reenter the field of play.