Launcher

Type to filter results. Use arrow keys to navigate, Enter to select.

You've reached the end of the results

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein backglass

Also known as MSF

1995 · Sega

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Known for North Pole, Sarcophagus, Ice Cave and Geneva. Black storm cloud sky with forked lightning, gothic mansion on a hilltop at night with lit windows, storm-tossed sea with a full-rigged sailing ship, pale walled arctic or ice city on a cliff, small burning village with orange flames and golden pyramid or crystal shapes behind the central figure.

Year
1995
Maker
Sega
Type
Solid state
Display
Dot matrix
Players
4

Known for

  • kicker

    North Pole

  • scoop

    Sarcophagus

  • scoop

    Ice Cave

  • scoop

    Geneva

  • Multiball

    Creature 2-ball

  • Multiball

    Frankenstein Multiball

  • Wizard mode

    Creation Multiball

On the playfield

  • orange
  • amber
  • black
  • crimson
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein playfield
Spotted in this photo
  • 2 flippers
  • 2 slingshots

Full vision analysis

Holes 4

  • North Pole kicker
  • Sarcophagus scoop
  • Ice Cave scoop
  • Geneva scoop

Bumper 1

  • Ingolstadt

Target 1

  • Frankenstein targets

On the backglass

  • orange
  • dark blue
  • black
  • red
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein backglass

Full vision analysis

Who and what

  • creature Enormous central head and shoulders, orange-tan stitched skin with visible seams and metal bolts, flat cranium, scarred third eye on the forehead, dark hollow eyes, holding a glass dome containing a lit candle aloft
  • man Bald elderly man in tan and brown robes at top left, seated on a rock with hands clasped, head bowed
  • man Tall gaunt man left of centre in a long dark blue-black coat with high collar and red-lined cape, black swept-back hair, one hand raised
  • woman Young woman in a pale white floor-length gown left of centre, dark hair, shown in profile facing left
  • man Brown-haired bearded man right of centre in a white shirt collar and dark coat, three-quarter view, staring forward
  • man Top right, man in a fur-trimmed hooded coat with mouth open in a scream, snow or ice spray behind him

Setting

  • Black storm cloud sky with forked lightning
  • Gothic mansion on a hilltop at night with lit windows
  • Storm-tossed sea with a full-rigged sailing ship
  • Pale walled arctic or ice city on a cliff
  • Small burning village with orange flames
  • Golden pyramid or crystal shapes behind the central figure

Text on it

  • MARY SHELLEY'S
  • FRANKENSTEIN

How it plays

  1. Modes 7

    • Lite Extra Ball
    • Voltage Mode
    • Graveyard
    • Frankenstein Millions
    • Stoning
    • Creature Feature
    • Lynch Justine
  2. Multiballs 3

    • Creature 2-ball 2-ball
    • Frankenstein Multiball
    • Geneva Multiball
  3. Goals 1

    • Scenes
  4. Wizard modes 1

    • Creation Multiball

Made by

Design
John Borg
Art
Paul Faris
Software
Neil Falconer
Software
Orin Day
Software
John Carpenter
Sound & Music
Brian Schmidt
Display animation
Jack Liddon
Display animation
Kurt Andersen
Display animation
Scott Melchionda
Display animation
Marc Raneses

Reference

Linked terms
  • Geneva also called Geneva scoop
  • Frankenstein targets also called FRANKENSTEIN
  • Creation Multiball also called CREATION
  • Scenes also called Scene modes
Playfield vision analysis

Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein playfield

Playfield

  • orange
  • amber
  • black
  • crimson

Fingerprint: Frankenstein: Heavy-jowled man portrait with screaming face and blonde woman in stone doorway, dark horror montage with lightning bolts, laboratory glassware, chrome guides and side-window vignettes, saturated orange-amber-crimson palette, gothic movie-themed

Distinctive

The apron lettering: thin white serif capitals FRANKENSTEIN under smaller red SHAKESPEARE'S, printed over a jagged white lightning-bolt graphic on black. Second most memorable is the crowded multi-level collage - a giant jowled man's portrait stacked above a screaming face and a blonde woman's head in a stone doorway. Third, the orange backglass text WEDDING OF THE RED BRIDE above a stitched bald head with two hooded figures. Fourth, the bright white SEGA SUPER VALUE 3 PLAYS for $1.00 price card taped to the lower apron.

Setting

  • Laboratory and castle interiors
  • Dark night sky with lightning
  • Stone-walled dungeon
  • Crowded fairground or town square

Symbols

  • Jagged lightning bolt
  • Laboratory glassware and coils
  • Stone archway and gothic window
  • Spinning round pop-bumper caps with printed monster faces
  • Wire ball guides and chrome rails
  • Playing-card-style lane markings

Notable shapes

  • V-shaped chrome ball guides sweeping from the upper corners
  • Die-cut side windows exposing painted vignettes
  • Three angled lower-centre lane guides with red tips
  • Arched stone doorway cut-out at lower centre

Art motifs

  • Collage of painted portrait vignettes
  • Screaming faces
  • Electric arcs and glowing coils
  • Stone masonry texture
  • Flame and fire glow at lower playfield

Themes

  • Horror
  • Gothic castle
  • Science fiction laboratory
  • Monster mash-up
  • Horror film licence

Title on it

  • Frankenstein

Text on it

  • WEDDING OF THE RED BRIDE
  • BALL 1
  • SHAKESPEARE'S
  • FRANKENSTEIN
  • FOR AMUSEMENT ONLY
  • 1 PLAY for 50c
  • TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE
  • SEGA SUPER VALUE
  • 3 PLAYS for $1.00
  • 3 BALLS PER GAME
  • HOLD FLIPPERS FOR INSTANT INFO
  • SEE DISPLAY FOR REPLAY VALUE
  • Maximum Credit 50
  • SHAKESPEARE'S FRANKENSTEIN
  • All titles - Stern The Pinball Wizard highlights including
  • Pack Specials - Shoot the Ramp button or hold the
  • Shooting the Flippers will score
  • INSTRUCTIONS
Pop bumpers
Cluster of five round pop-bumper caps centre-left, printed with faces and monster art
Ramps
Single chrome wire ramp down the right side; chrome lane guides over the lower centre
Slingshots
Two triangular slings beside the lower flippers
Upper playfield
Upper third filled with laboratory apparatus, glowing yellow dome lamp, chrome ball guides and a cluster of square illuminated windows
Apron and lower playfield
Black apron with white lightning-bolt graphic and serif frankenstein lettering; yellow instruction card left, white-and-yellow price card right, small white qr-style sticker far left, metal post and ball trough at bottom
Who and what
Kind Description
Other Backglass: pale bald male head with sunken eyes, stitched mouth and bolt-like marks, lit from below, mouth open in a roar
Man Backglass: dark-cloaked figure at upper left of the bald head, arms raised
Man Backglass: dark-cloaked figure at upper right of the bald head
Man Playfield centre: heavy-jowled dark-haired man in a black suit and white collar, half-length portrait, head turned slightly left
Monster Beneath the central portrait: a contorted open-mouthed screaming face with wild dark hair
Woman Lower centre: blonde woman with a centre-parted bob, pale skin, bare shoulders, framed by a carved stone doorway, head and chest portrait
Man Right side window: man in a yellow/tan coat at a table, seated
Man Right side window: older man in a dark cap and coat, painted in profile
Woman Right side window: blonde woman with long hair, pale, facing left
Creature Right upper side window: greenish hunched figure with a flat head and dark eye sockets
Woman Left side window: red-haired or brunette woman with bare shoulders, pale skin, long hair
Animal Left-centre window: large brown shaggy creature, dog or ape-like, seen in profile
Other Several small crowd vignettes of townspeople in dark coats and hats, painted as background crowds
Full description

Full-length electro-mechanical playfield seen under glass in a dark cabinet, dominated by a monster-and-laboratory horror montage painted in saturated orange, amber, crimson and electric blue. At the top a backglass is partly visible showing a pale bald head with sunken eyes and stitched mouth, flanked by two dark-cloaked figures, with mirrored orange lettering reading WEDDING OF THE RED BRIDE and a BALL 1 panel. Chrome ball guides snake down both sides and across the middle. The centre holds a large portrait of a heavy-jowled dark-haired man in a black suit, with a screaming open-mouthed face beneath him and a stone-gated blonde woman portrait at the lower centre. Cut-out lanes and windows along both side edges reveal many smaller painted vignettes: a laboratory, crowds of figures, a tower. A cluster of round pop-bumper caps sits centre-left, and two yellow flippers, two red-tipped lane guides and a wire ramp occupy the lower third. The apron below is black with a white lightning bolt graphic and serif title lettering, flanked by a dense yellow-on-black instruction card and a white-and-yellow price card.

Backglass vision analysis

Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein backglass

Backglass

  • orange
  • dark blue
  • black
  • red

Fingerprint: Colossal stitched monster head filling centre holding lit candle under glass dome, MARY SHELLEY'S in red above huge white FRANKENSTEIN both haloed in blue, dense literary-character collage packed around central head, blue-skinned girl and pentagram-stamped book at bottom centre, blue-grey frozen mob surging from bottom-left

Distinctive

The single most memorable element is the colossal stitched monster head filling the centre of the glass, flat-headed and bolt-pinned, holding a lit candle under a glass dome at the top of his skull. Second, the huge white serif title FRANKENSTEIN with the smaller red MARY SHELLEY'S above it, both haloed in blue. Third, the dense collage of literary characters packed shoulder to shoulder around the central head rather than one single scene. Fourth, a blue-skinned girl and an open book stamped with a pentagram at bottom centre, next to a miniature burning village. Fifth, a blue-grey frozen mob surging in from the bottom-left corner.

Setting

  • Black storm cloud sky with forked lightning
  • Gothic mansion on a hilltop at night with lit windows
  • Storm-tossed sea with a full-rigged sailing ship
  • Pale walled arctic or ice city on a cliff
  • Small burning village with orange flames
  • Golden pyramid or crystal shapes behind the central figure

Symbols

  • Forked lightning bolts
  • Open book with a pentagram and an anatomical sketch
  • Glass dome or bell jar holding a lit candle
  • Metal bolts and surgical stitching on the creature's neck and skull
  • Sailing ship with masts and rigging
  • White horse
  • Burning building with orange flames
  • Lit mansion windows
  • Crowd of villagers with lanterns
  • Golden pyramid or crystal forms
  • Crane or gallows-like pole near the burning village

Lettering

  • Two-line serif capitals; small red tracked-out serif caps on top, very large white roman serif caps with a blue glow beneath, no outline or drop shadow

Themes

  • Gothic horror
  • Literary monster
  • Storm and lightning
  • Arctic expedition
  • Castle laboratory
  • Villain collage

Title on it

  • Mary shelley's frankenstein

Text on it

  • MARY SHELLEY'S
  • FRANKENSTEIN
Who and what
Kind Description
Creature Enormous central head and shoulders, orange-tan stitched skin with visible seams and metal bolts, flat cranium, scarred third eye on the forehead, dark hollow eyes, holding a glass dome containing a lit candle aloft
Man Bald elderly man in tan and brown robes at top left, seated on a rock with hands clasped, head bowed
Man Tall gaunt man left of centre in a long dark blue-black coat with high collar and red-lined cape, black swept-back hair, one hand raised
Woman Young woman in a pale white floor-length gown left of centre, dark hair, shown in profile facing left
Man Brown-haired bearded man right of centre in a white shirt collar and dark coat, three-quarter view, staring forward
Man Top right, man in a fur-trimmed hooded coat with mouth open in a scream, snow or ice spray behind him
Woman Bottom right, black-haired woman with pale face resting her chin on her hand, looking left
Woman Dark-haired young woman at far bottom right with a worried expression, beside a blond figure
Man Man in a dark red coat at bottom right, in profile facing right
Other Pale child-like figure with wide eyes at bottom right, close beside the red-coated man
Other Bare-chested young couple embracing at bottom centre-right, the woman's arms around the man's neck
Animal White horse in profile at bottom right, head raised, standing among villagers
Other Blue-skinned dark-haired girl's face at bottom centre, lit cool blue
Man Elderly man in a dark cloak at bottom left holding a lantern or staff upright, facing right
Creature Mob of blue-grey frost-rimed human figures with outstretched arms surging in from the bottom left corner
Other Small distant figure in a red coat with arms raised at far left, below the mansion
Other Small cloaked figure in a red cape on a snowy slope at right, near the ice city
Other Villagers carrying a lantern and a scythe-like pole at bottom right
Other Dark cloaked figure in red at the right edge beneath the screaming man
Full description

A painted, poster-style horror backglass in a wide landscape format, packed edge to edge with figures in a montage layout. Across the top, red serif capitals read MARY SHELLEY'S above very large white serif capitals reading FRANKENSTEIN, the pale letters glowing with a blue-white halo against a black stormy sky, with forked lightning zig-zagging behind the title. The centre is dominated by an enormous head-and-shoulders of a stitched, bolt-pinned creature with orange-tan skin, a flat cranium and a scarred third eye, raising one hand to hold up a small glass dome containing a glowing candle. Around him crowd more than twenty smaller figures: a bald elderly man in tan robes seated on a rock at top left, a gaunt man in a dark blue coat with a high collar and red-lined cape, a young woman in a pale white gown, a brown-haired bearded man in a white collar at right, a screaming man in a fur-trimmed coat at top right, a crouched black-haired woman resting her chin on her hand, an embracing young couple, a pale child, a white horse, lantern-bearing villagers, and a blue-grey mob of frozen figures at bottom left. Backgrounds include a lit Gothic mansion on a hill ringed by lightning, a ship on a storm-tossed sea, a pale walled arctic city, and a small burning village. Dominant colours are amber-orange, dark navy blue, black and blood red.