3-29-10
Pinball has definitely become a central theme in my life over the last few years. My husband was a closet pinball addict and it surfaced when a friend of ours (Karl), brought a Cyclone to live in the basement of Dirt Rag. He was hooked and began collecting and refurbishing machines. His first two machines were Black Belt and Rollergames in around 1997.  Since then he has owned many machines which he has fixed up and then sold. Once in a while I will help with repainting of some of the playfields but it is mostly his hobby.

There are a few games that have become a permanent part of our household. One is Attack From Mars and the other is Medieval Madness. Both of these machines were built by Williams/Bally and they were both designed by Brian Eddy and Lyman Sheats. I really enjoy these two machines although they are both basically the same game. The artwork on these two games is certainly unique and fun. The art on both were done by John Youssi, and Greg Freres. I really love the particular art on the Medieval Madness so I decided to try and create a table using it as a theme.

What I really wanted to do was make a wooden frame and install a plexiglass insert with a light behind it to hang on the wall.  I looked into it for a while but…well, I guess I really wanted to make this design and I'm not really all that patient.  🙂 I did however have this table which I had picked up at Construction Junction. It is a nice square coffee table that had been serving time in our "computer room". 

Now onto the design, there is so much going on in this machine, so much to choose from. I didn't want it to become too cluttered so I had to choose things that really captured the feel of the game. We have had this machine for about 5 years now, but while I was designing the mosaic and scrutinizing the art, I found little gems that I had never really been aware of. I never noticed that the sword the King of Payne is holding has a golden dragon twisted around it, He had to be included! Trolls are one of the "toys" in the game. They are plastic heads which pop up and taunt you as you try and hit them. One of the trolls has bird poop on its head 🙂 So he was definitely a shoe in.

Over the years a running joke in Williams games is having a cow in it. It is a called an "easter egg" , so of course I had to add a cow.

Lee suggested it hang over the tower and I loved the idea. One cow, one troll, the king, and of course, the big red dragon!

Two weeks of trial and error and it is finally a piece of art that I am proud of.

More pictures of the process,
http://happybike.smugmug.com/Art/Art/5132821_wbLG6#816570610_Z9x9y 

Here is a great source of information on the Medieval Madness IPDB.