1996 · Bally
Safe Cracker
Known for Vault, Main Entrance, Sliding target and Sudden Death. Night-time bank interior, vault chamber, blue night sky through a bank facade and burning crate alley.
- Year
- 1996
- Maker
- Bally
- Type
- Solid state
- Display
- Dot matrix
- Players
- 4
Known for
- Toy
Vault
- scoop
Main Entrance
- Target
Sliding target
- Mode
Sudden Death
- Mode
Board Game
- Multiball
Token Multiball
On the playfield
On the backglass
Who and what
- man Central grinning burglar in black cap and eye mask, purple shadowed eyes, bare hands, one fist thrust forward, the other holding open a huge round-rimmed safe door
- man Left side, cream/white shirt, dark trousers, headlamp on forehead, leaning over a counter holding a crowbar, mouth open
- other Pale spindly mechanical spider-like robot with thin jointed legs and a red spring torso, lower left
- man Right side, dark-clothed shadowy figure climbing, seen from behind beside a small white classical bank building with columns and a pediment
Setting
- Night-time bank interior
- Vault chamber
- Blue night sky through a bank facade
- Burning crate alley
Text on it
- Bally
- SAFE CRACKER
- MAIN ENTRANCE
- ENTRANCE
- CELLAR ENTRANCE
- VAULT
- ATTRACT
- PASTIMES
- COLLECT ALL 4!
- MOVE FROM ANY ENTRANCE TO VAULT CENTER!
- TOKEN PIN
- WIN!
- 47
How it plays
-
Modes 2
- Sudden Death
- Board Game
-
Multiballs 2
- Token Multiball
- TNT Multiball
-
Goals 1
- Stash
-
Awards 3
- Token Jackpot
- Extra Time
- Disable Computer
Made by
- Design
- Pat Lawlor
- Art
- John Youssi
- Mechanics
- John Krutsch
- Mechanics
- Carl Biagi
- Software
- Matt Coriale
- Software
- Dean Grover
- Sound & Music
- Dan Forden
- Display animation
- Adam Rhine
- Display animation
- Brian Morris
The cast
- Guard
- Guard dog
- Teller
- Board items
Reference
Linked terms
- Main Entrance also called Board-game entrance
- Board Game also called Board
- Token Multiball also called Board Game Token Multiball
- Token Jackpot also called Token Multiball Jackpot
- Board items also called Keys
Playfield vision analysis
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Playfield
- red
- yellow
- black
- grey
Fingerprint: Massive yellow combination-dial safe face centered, ringed with numbered circles and pointer, vault-door toy with hazard striping, three amber-pink bumper caps glowing scarlet, cartoon grey-suited burglar figure, red-orange burst above dial, blood-red wash across field
A huge yellow combination-dial safe face at the exact centre of the playfield, ringed with numbered value circles and a dark square hub with a pointer. Wrapped around the whole cabinet's front edge in large blue-and-yellow outlined capitals is SAFE CRACKER! Three amber and pink pop bumper caps glow across the upper third behind red-lit plastics, giving the whole field a blood-red wash. A grey vault-door toy with black-and-yellow hazard striping sits high centre, and a grey-suited cartoon burglar is painted beside it.
Setting
- Underground bank-vault interior
- Explosion and flame burst behind the centre logo
- Riveted steel plating and hazard striping
- Concrete-grey vault walls around the upper playfield
Symbols
- Playing-card suit pips
- Diamonds
- Stars and starbursts
- Flame and explosion burst
- Combination dial numerals
- Arrow pointing to lane change
- Rivet heads
- Hazard chevrons
Notable shapes
- Giant central safe combination dial
- Circular steel vault-plate logo surround
- Hazard-striped square vault-door toy
- Oval drop-target banks
- Long rounded chrome tunnel at upper right
- Hexagonal/rounded plastic shroud over the upper centre
Art motifs
- Steel vault plate
- Concentric dial rings
- Radiating light rays
- Brick and rivet texture
- Prison bars
Themes
- Heist
- Bank vault
- Burglar
- Money
- Safe dial
- Electric electro-mechanical
- Western outlaws
Title on it
- Safe cracker
Text on it
- SAFE CRACKER
- SAFE CRACKER!
- ENTER CELLAR
- TO WIN
- AIR RAID
- R
- M
- 2X
- 3X
- 4X
- 5X
- CANCEL
- LANE CHANGE
- HOLD BUTTON FOR STATUS REPORT
- DESIGNED AND BUILT BY THE PINBALL MAKERS BY THE PROBLEM PEOPLE AT HOME
- Midway Manufacturing Company - Williams
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Game: Safe Cracker
- Lead Designer: Pat Lawlor
- Artwork: John Youssi
- Manufactured Date: 1996
- Production: 1148
- MIDWAY
- Serial Number:
- DEFENDERS
- OBJECT
- © 1996 Midway
- music tones
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Man | Cartoon safe-cracker burglar painted on the left mid-playfield: grey flat cap, dark goggles/eye mask, grey jacket, striped shirt, arms raised holding a tool, grinning |
| Other | Painted cartoon safe-vault character above the logo, a round-faced figure in a cap clutching a bundle, in red, cream and grey tones |
| Vehicle | Small painted getaway car and safe on the upper-left artwork panel |
| Other | Grey plastic vault-door toy with a black-and-yellow hazard-striped surround at upper centre |
| Other | Chrome jukebox-style organ/grille toy with coloured lenses at upper right |
Full view of a widebody electro-mechanical pinball playfield seen from above with the cabinet front in shot, all lamps blazing red so the plastics glow scarlet. Layout is a big yellow safe dial dead centre: a wheel with a dark square hub, a pointer, and a ring of numbered positions (5, 10, 20, 25, 30, 35, 45, 55) in red and white circles. Directly above it the title SAFE CRACKER in cream block letters with black outline on a riveted steel-plate shape, over a painted burst of red and yellow flames and a starburst. Above that is a grey plastic vault door toy with a hazard-striped frame, backed by a chrome wireform cage and a tunnel mouth. Three round pop bumper caps in amber and pink sit across the upper playfield behind clear plastic, with a jukebox-like chrome organ/grille toy at upper right. A cartoon safe-cracker figure in a striped shirt and cap is painted on the left mid-playfield beside scattered yellow card-suit and diamond icons and a purple whirlpool disc. Two red flippers with white rubber at the bottom, a green wire ramp along each right and left side, four banks of drop targets, a lit blue rectangular display, and a 5X multiplier window. Bottom apron cards carry rules text and a maker's plate.
Backglass vision analysis
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- orange
- blue
- gold
- grey
Fingerprint: SAFE CRACKER in orange-yellow three-dimensional slab letters, grinning masked burglar bursting from giant vault ringed by gold-rimmed question-mark, exclamation-mark and dollar-sign medallions, man in cream shirt with headlamp and crowbar at left beside mechanical spider-bot, three white classical bank buildings with ENTRANCE labels, tracking loop of gold-rimmed medallions with lit white-red-blue lamps, bank-heist night-time theme.
The eye-filling grinning masked burglar bursting out of a giant vault, ringed by a full circuit of gold-rimmed question-mark, exclamation-mark and dollar-sign medallions. Three tiny white classical bank buildings each captioned with an ENTRANCE sign, one of them labelled RUDE ENTRANCE. A curving track of round medallions drawn across the whole centre with lamps shown lit inside them, the effect being that the backglass illustrates the maze of the playfield. A man in a cream shirt with a headlamp and crowbar at the left, next to a spindly pale mechanical spider-bot.
Setting
- Night-time bank interior
- Vault chamber
- Blue night sky through a bank facade
- Burning crate alley
Symbols
- Question marks
- Exclamation marks
- Dollar signs
- Gold safe-door medallions
- Crowbar
- Vault porthole
- Gold coins
- Burning crate
Lettering
- Massive three-dimensional orange-and-yellow slab block capitals with red and white drop shadows for the title; white cursive script signature at upper left; small black and white sans-serif capitals on the small signs
Themes
- Bank heist
- Safe cracking
- Burglar
- Night-time
- Escape routes
Title on it
- Safe cracker
Text on it
- Bally
- SAFE CRACKER
- MAIN ENTRANCE
- ENTRANCE
- CELLAR ENTRANCE
- VAULT
- ATTRACT
- PASTIMES
- COLLECT ALL 4!
- MOVE FROM ANY ENTRANCE TO VAULT CENTER!
- TOKEN PIN
- WIN!
- 47
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Man | Central grinning burglar in black cap and eye mask, purple shadowed eyes, bare hands, one fist thrust forward, the other holding open a huge round-rimmed safe door |
| Man | Left side, cream/white shirt, dark trousers, headlamp on forehead, leaning over a counter holding a crowbar, mouth open |
| Other | Pale spindly mechanical spider-like robot with thin jointed legs and a red spring torso, lower left |
| Man | Right side, dark-clothed shadowy figure climbing, seen from behind beside a small white classical bank building with columns and a pediment |
Illuminated backglass bordered by a glowing orange-and-amber plastic rim studded with round bulbs. Across the top, a large block-letter title SAFE CRACKER in orange and yellow three-dimensional slab letters with red and white shadowed faces, sitting on a dark backing plate; a white cursive 'Bally' signature is printed at the upper left of the title panel. The centre is a painted night-time bank-vault heist scene: a grinning masked burglar in a black cap and eye mask, purple shadowed eyes, holds a huge open safe door while reaching towards the viewer, and a round brass-rimmed porthole below him reads VAULT. Around him a looping track of gold-rimmed medallions, some printed with question marks, exclamation marks, dollar signs, small numbers such as 47, and tiny bank-vault door icons, is shown dotted with lit white, red and blue lamps. At the left a man in a cream shirt and dark trousers, wearing a headlamp, leans over a counter clutching a crowbar; below him a spindly pale mechanical spider-like robot. At the right a shadowy figure climbs beside a small white classical bank building, with an orange burning crate further down. Three small white bank-facade signs read MAIN ENTRANCE, RUDE ENTRANCE and CELLAR ENTRANCE. Below, a blue-bordered dot matrix display shows ATTRACT flanked by two green dollar signs. The bottom strip reads MOVE FROM ANY ENTRANCE TO VAULT CENTER! with WIN! at each end and TOKEN PIN centred, beside a PASTIMES / COLLECT ALL 4! card with four gold tokens. Art style is cartoonish airbrushed illustration in orange, gold, blue and grey.