Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons, released by Bally Midway in October 1987, brought the world's most famous tabletop role-playing license to the pinball playfield. Designed by Ward Pemberton, this solid-state electronic four-player game boasts an impressive array of features, including three flippers, four pop bumpers, eleven standup targets, 3-in-line drop targets, flex-save lanes, and a Strobe Light feature in the backbox that adds an electrifying element to gameplay.

One of the machine's most unusual mechanisms is its pair of Ball Eater targets, which the game's manual refers to as Teleport Drop Target Assemblies - devices sourced from the WICO Corporation. Players navigate a richly detailed fantasy landscape as they work the game's targets and lanes, adapting to changing ball flow and timing.

The game's artwork has a notable pedigree: the dragon and warrior illustration on the translite is the work of Larry Elmore, an artist at TSR Inc. (the producers of D&D), taken from his painting 'Basic D&D Ancient Red'. Pinball artist Pat McMahon added the border around Elmore's illustration and created the rest of the art on the game. With a confirmed production run of 2,000 units, Dungeons & Dragons remains a distinctive late-1980s Bally title, celebrated for its authentic fantasy artwork and unusual mechanical features.