Nitro Ground Shaker

An electro-mechanical playfield shot from above under a dirty glass cover, laid out symmetrically about a vertical centre line in a bright flat 1950s airbrushed style. Dominant colours are red, white and blue with gold accents. Stars-and-stripes bunting and star roundels fill the lower corners, and each upper corner carries a large red-and-white striped arrow sweeping inward beside a red open-top sports car. Two long red arrows striped with white-and-blue chevrons curl into a narrow V meeting at a yellow star-spiked post. Banks of numbered drop targets run diagonally either side, numbered 1 to 10, framed by gold eagles and captioned SPEEDWAY. Three chequerboard pop-bumper caps sit in a triangle up top above a gold starburst marked 1000. On the left, two fair-skinned cartoon racing drivers in helmets and goggles are painted in close-up portrait, one red-haired in scarlet, one dark-haired in blue, beside a cream balloon reading The Winner Is... The Sparky! and a red arrow sign. Two slingshots and two red-and-white flippers sit above a silver-and-maroon apron card carrying GROUND SHAKER instruction cards, a big PINBALL word and COLLECT ALL lettering.

A wide, brightly coloured hot-rod racing backglass in a hand-painted cartoon/comic style, framed by a pale timber-coloured border. Across the top runs the title: a small red script maker name, then 'NITRO' in block orange-and-red letters, and beneath it the enormous curved red letters 'GROUND SHAKER' with a black drop shadow, flanked by a big red flame swirl. Two amber-lit score windows sit high left and right of centre, edged in red-and-white chequered racing trim and numbered 1 and 2 in large yellow digits; two matching lower windows are numbered 3 and 4. Four figures appear: at far left a tanned, black-haired man with a pompadour and sunglasses peers down; below him a freckled woman with curly orange hair, gold hoop earrings, a beaded necklace and a green-and-orange striped halter top sits on a tyre with her chin on her hands; in the blue hot rod's cockpit a grinning man in goggles and a helmet drives; and a grinning skeleton in striped overalls leans out of a pink-and-white dragster cab with arms flung wide. The blue-and-orange dragster fills the lower centre, nose lettering 'THUNDER & LIGHTNING', with flames and drifting white smoke puffs. Background: a night dragstrip with a floodlit grandstand, a finish-line structure, a 'BALL in PLAY' sign board, and a giant American-flag-striped balloon or parachute shape. Along the bottom edge a red band carries '1-4 CAN PLAY' and 'GAME OVER'.