From My Laboratory In The Castle East

Monster Bash
Williams (1998)

Last weekend, we stopped by Knoebels for WVIA Day.  The park's lack of effort to promote masks and social distancing was pretty disappointing, so we didn't stay for very long.  There was one pleasant surprise to be found in the arcade - a 20th anniversary edition Monster Bash pinball machine.

Whether you're a big fan of horror movies or not, this pinball machine is a hell of a lot of fun.  There are lots of opportunities for multi-ball and challenges to complete, and it's not one of those tables that feels unfair with ramps that direct the ball to the dead center between the flippers.  You get a free game if you get a score higher than 27 million, which I managed to do with a score of just over 36 million.  However, I wasn't even close to the top score, which according to the scoreboard under the backglass was a whopping 150 million.  Damn!

Speaking of the backglass, the artwork is pretty crazy.  It shows the Universal Studios monsters as a band playing to a rampaging mob of villagers.  The Bride of Frankenstein is on lead vocals with her husband on the keyboard.  They're flanked by Dracula and The Mummy on guitar and bass, and backed by The Wolfman on drums.  Then, there's The Creature From The Black Lagoon standing to the left of Dracula.  He appears to be playing... well... I'm just going to go ahead and let you draw your own conclusion on his instrument.  Last, but least visible, there is a floating saxophone on the far left of the stage.  I suppose that means The Invisible Man is a jazz musician.