Vampiro

The Vampiro pinball machine, shrouded in mystery, has emerged from the shadows as a fascinating enigma in the world of pinball. Its manufacturer and exact year of release remain unknown, but its eerie theme centered around Dracula makes it a significant curiosity for collectors. The only evidence of its existence is an old, out-of-focus photograph of its backglass, showing a male vampire in a graveyard carrying one of three women among flying bats, with a large castle looming under a full moon.

The machine uses a Recel System III MPU, and its backglass layout - including the placement of its display windows and a clock-face arrangement of match numbers - closely resembles solid-state games made in Spain by Petaco/Recel. A unique diamond-shaped "Sistema 3" logo on the backglass has only otherwise been seen on one other game in IPDB's records, made not in Spain but in Portugal by Irmacor. Some evidence, provided by a source familiar with the Portuguese arcade industry, suggests Vampiro may actually have been produced by a related Portuguese company, Macofil, possibly as a way of working around strict Portuguese import laws on games resembling gambling devices - though this has not been confirmed.

Key gameplay features are unknown. Given its Solid State Electronic design, players can expect the kind of fast-paced, electronically scored action typical of the era, but no specifics have been documented. As an artifact from pinball's past, the Vampiro offers a rare glimpse into an under-documented corner of European pinball history, and IPDB continues to seek clearer photographs of the game to fill in the gaps.