Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons™
About This Machine
Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons is an unusual home-model pinball machine from Whizbang Pinball of Lake Villa, Illinois, released in October 2011 in a run of just three confirmed units (plus one earlier prototype). Rather than being built from scratch, it is a converted game: it repurposes Gottlieb's 1957 electromechanical 'Continental Cafe,' fitted with an entirely new backglass and playfield and slightly adjusted rules, retaining the original Gottlieb serial numbers on the wood strip below the backglass. Designed by Dennis Nordman with art by Greg Freres, the game features an agriculture/farming/fantasy theme centered on women.
Gameplay includes two flippers, four pop bumpers, a passive bumper, two slingshots, eight star rollovers, two bullseye targets, a gobble hole, and a free ball return lane, played over 3 or 5 balls. Its sound system is distinctive for a modern conversion: a rewritable SD card paired with real mechanical bells (including a cowbell) and a knocker cymbal, with the SD card's stock sound effects replaceable by the owner's own music.
The machine's construction was also unconventional -- instead of standard pinball legs, it rests on a shipping crate, with a two-by-four at the back to angle the playfield, fine-tuned using crushed beer cans as shims. The game was later reworked and produced again, this time by Stern, as 'Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons' in 2015.
Images (31)
Technical Details
- Theme:
- Agriculture - Fantasy - Farming - Women
- Notable Features:
- Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (4), Passive bumper (1), Slingshots (2), Star rollovers (8), Bullseye targets (2), Gobble hole (1), Free ball return lane. 3 or 5 ball play. Maximum displayed point score is 9,999 points. Sound: Re-writable SD card, 3 bells, and a cymbal for a knocker. The one-point bell is a cowbell, a ten-point bell is in the backbox, and a hundred point bell in the lower cabinet. The solid state sound is provided by a generic sound effects CD which was included with each game to download onto an SD card for playback. The owner can choose to remove and overwrite the SD card with their own choice of music. All three games included a topper for speakers. Instead of standard pinball legs, the game rests on a crate. A standard two-by-four piece of wood was placed at the back end of the cabinet to lift it up from the crate to provide angle to the playfield. To finely adjust the angle, actual crushed beer cans were inserted between the two-by-four and the cabinet. Factory-installed illumination: Backbox: LEDs only. Playfield: LEDs only. Cabinet: front of cabinet used LEDs only.
Credits
- Designer:
- Dennis Nordman
- Artist:
- Greg Freres
- Software:
- Kerry Imming
- Mechanics:
- Mark Weyna, Ken Walker