1979 · Atari
Superman
Known for Center drop targets, Upper left saucer and SUPERMAN. Maroon and dark green painted sky, radiating green light beams, orange and yellow speed lines, blue-and-white earth globe in the lower right corner, floating translucent bubbles and ringed circles and large red cape sweeping across the left half.
- Year
- 1979
- Maker
- Atari
- Type
- Solid state
- Display
- Alphanumeric
- Players
- 4
Known for
- Drop target
Center drop targets
- saucer
Upper left saucer
- Goal
SUPERMAN
On the playfield
Hole 1
- Upper left saucer saucer
Drop target 1
- Center drop targets
Lanes 3
- Star rollover rollover
- Left out lane
- Right out lane
On the backglass
Who and what
- man Central, largest figure: muscular adult male in a bright blue bodysuit with a red-and-yellow shield-shaped chest emblem, yellow belt with round buckle, and red trunks. right arm raised with a clenched fist, left arm down, legs together pointing down, stern confident expression, short dark blue-black hair. drawn in exaggerated comic musculature.
- man Left side, seated/crouching: adult male with short dark hair in a blue suit with the same red-and-yellow chest emblem and a red cape over his shoulders. he cradles a woman in both arms, looking up and to the right with a slightly worried expression.
- woman Left side, held in the man's arms: adult female with long wavy blue hair, pale skin, wearing a white long-sleeved blouse with puffed shoulders and a high collar. she grips the man's forearm with one hand and looks up at him; her bare legs are visible below the blouse.
- man Right of centre: adult male with dark hair and thick blue-rimmed spectacles, wearing a blue suit with the red-and-yellow chest emblem. wry, pursed-lipped expression, standing upright and looking forward.
- man Far right, behind the bespectacled man: bald, heavyset adult male with a scowling frown, wearing a high-collared blue coat or jacket over a red garment, with grey hair at the temples. only head and upper torso are visible.
- man Tiny flying figure in the upper right: a small blue-and-red costumed figure with a streaming red cape, flying leftward and trailing a curl of white smoke behind.
Setting
- Maroon and dark green painted sky
- Radiating green light beams
- Orange and yellow speed lines
- Blue-and-white earth globe in the lower right corner
- Floating translucent bubbles and ringed circles
- Large red cape sweeping across the left half
Text on it
- SUPERMAN
- ATARI
- MATCH
- BALL
- GAME OVER
- 01
- 80
- 267860
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
How it plays
-
Goals 1
- SUPERMAN
Made by
- Design
- Steve Ritchie
- Art
- George Opperman
- Software & Sound
- Eugene Jarvis
Reference
Linked terms
- Center drop targets also called center drops
- SUPERMAN also called Spelling Superman
Playfield vision analysis
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Playfield
- orange
- red
- gold
- black
Fingerprint: Superman electro-mechanical, giant red-gold s shield crest at center under fan five gold spikes, dense band green-glowing letter lamps spelling man st ach, two painted heroines flanking mid-field in blue and gold costumes, caped figure crouched, crimson apron with white pinstripes
The most memorable element is the giant red-and-gold 'S' shield crest in the centre of the playfield, sitting under a fan of five gold spikes and ringed by a halo of red insert lamps. Second is the dense band of green-glowing circular letter lamps spelling MAN, ST, ACH across the upper middle. Third, two painted heroines flank the mid-playfield - a blonde in a blue costume leaping on the left, and a black-haired woman in a gold bodice reaching in from the right - with a caped green-and-yellow figure crouched beneath them and a flying blue-and-red caped figure crossing the centre. Fourth, the apron is unusually bold: a crimson field with white pinstriped rectangles and large white '3 BALLS' add-a-ball card.
Setting
- Radiating orange-and-red sunburst across the whole playfield
- Comic-book city skyline and clouds in the upper left
- Flames and a burning red-orange glow along the lower apron
- Grey metal cabinet rails framing the left and right edges
Symbols
- Large red-and-gold 's' shield crest in a diamond
- Winged 'a' logos on white pop bumper caps
- Fan of five gold triangular spikes
- Circles of individual letter lamps
- Target reticle/crosshair motif
- Stylised white three-lobed logo on the apron
- Speech-bubble and comic panel borders
Notable shapes
- Large central diamond-shaped red panel around the 's' crest
- Concentric rectangular apron pinstripes
- Row of red round inserts forming an arc under the centre crest
- Paired yellow rectangular slingshot/bumper aprons flanking the flipper area
- Wide orange sunburst wedges radiating from lower centre
Art motifs
- Comic-book panel divisions
- Halftone-style shading
- Flame tongues rising from the apron
- Concentric orange rays
Themes
- Superhero comic book
- Comic panels
- Orange sunburst
- Letter-sequence bonus
Title on it
- Superman
Text on it
- 3 BALLS
- ADD-A-BALL
- 255,000
- 395,000
- 535,000
- SUPERMAN
- DROP TARGETS ADVANCE KICK-OUT HOLD TO 10,000 THEN EXTRA BALL, THEN SPECIAL
- SUPER LIGHTS LANE FOR SPECIAL
- 5 MAN LIGHTS LANE FOR EXTRA BALL
- SUPER-MAN IN AN ARROWS SLING
- COMPLETING 1-2-3 LANES = DOUBLE BONUS
- COMPLETING 1-2-3-4 LANES = TRIPLE BONUS
- 1 COIN 1 PLAY 2 COINS 3 PLAYS
- ATARI
- SUPER-MAN
- BIG AND ADVANCE BONUS
- 5000 WHEN LIT
- EXPRESS
- SPELL
- COMPLETE
- 2X
- 1X
- SPELL SUPERMAN
- RESCUE
- LIT
- 1000
- 10,000
- 2000
- 50
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Woman | On the left mid-playfield, painted in comic style: blonde bobbed hair, blue sleeveless costume with red trim and red gloves, one arm extended upward as if leaping or flying, cropped by the left ball guide rail. |
| Woman | On the right mid-playfield: long black hair, gold and red bodice/costume with a red cape edge, one arm stretched leftward toward the centre, facing slightly down-left, cropped by the right ball guide. |
| Man | Centre-right, a crouching figure in a green bodysuit with a yellow cape or winged collar and a dark domino mask, drawn in a running/kneeling pose beneath the pop bumpers. |
| Man | Centre, a small flying figure in a blue suit with a red cape, arms forward, crossing diagonally over the red diamond panel. |
| Woman | Upper right corner, a partial painted face/figure with yellow hair beside the curved wire ramp, mostly hidden by the ramp and plastics. |
Full-length view down a superhero-themed pinball playfield, seen from above the apron with the coin door edge and score panel visible at the bottom. The dominant scheme is orange, crimson red, gold and black. The centre carries a huge red-and-gold geometric 'S' crest inside a diamond, with a fan of five yellow-gold triangular spikes radiating above it, and a line of small white text reading 'BIG AND ADVANCE BONUS 5000 WHEN LIT'. Round white-and-gold plastic pop bumper caps decorated with a winged 'A' logo sit in the upper middle, one surrounded by green/teal glow lamp inserts. Insert lamps spell out letters and words down the middle and along the curved ramps: circles of 'M', 'A', 'N', 'S', 'T', 'A', 'C', 'H' and 'N', and small round lamps reading 'LIT', '1000', '10,000', '50', '2000' and '255,000'. On the left a blonde woman in a blue top with red trim is painted mid-leap; on the right a dark-haired woman in a gold and red bodice leans in with an outstretched arm. Below them a caped green-and-yellow figure crouches and a blue-and-red caped figure flies across the middle. The red apron carries white rule lines, a three-line add-a-ball card, a white instruction card, and a white logo mark at centre.
Backglass vision analysis
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- red
- blue
- gold
- green
Fingerprint: SUPERMAN in enormous foreshortened gold wordmark in perspective over red-black striped tunnel top, huge blue-suited figure flying at viewer clenched fist upward breaking composition, yellow triangular ATARI logo mid-left edge, five red LED seven-segment windows stacked right side rounded orange surrounds, blue-white Earth globe filling lower right, second hero cradling blue-haired woman left, comic-book illustration
The single most memorable element is the enormous foreshortened gold SUPERMAN wordmark, drawn in perspective so the letters recede into a red-and-black striped tunnel across the top of the glass. Directly beneath it, a huge blue-suited figure flies at the viewer with a clenched fist thrust upward, breaking out of the composition. A yellow triangular ATARI logo sits at the mid-left edge, a rarity on this style of licensed glass. Five separate red LED seven-segment windows with rounded orange surrounds are stacked down the right side and one sits low at the left, and the bottom-right corner is filled by a painted blue-and-white Earth. A second, smaller hero cradling a blue-haired woman in a white blouse anchors the left side.
Setting
- Maroon and dark green painted sky
- Radiating green light beams
- Orange and yellow speed lines
- Blue-and-white earth globe in the lower right corner
- Floating translucent bubbles and ringed circles
- Large red cape sweeping across the left half
Symbols
- Red-and-yellow shield-shaped chest emblem on multiple figures
- Red-and-black diagonal speed stripes
- Yellow triangular atari logo
- Seven-segment red led displays
- Orange rounded rectangular display bezels
- Glowing green light beams
- Translucent bubbles and ringed circles
- Blue-and-white planet with white cloud swirls
- Yellow belt with circular buckle
- Green oval instruction panels
- Outlined player-number boxes
Lettering
- The main title is slanted, foreshortened three-dimensional gold-to-orange gradient block capitals with a heavy black outline, extruded to the right, sitting over a red-and-black striped speed-line shadow. small functional text (match, ball, game over) is plain condensed yellow sans-serif capitals on green ovals. the atari mark is a black geometric logotype inside a yellow triangle.
Themes
- Comic book superheroes
- Flying figures
- Outer space
- Planet earth
- Light beams
- Sports arena
Title on it
- Superman
Text on it
- SUPERMAN
- ATARI
- MATCH
- BALL
- GAME OVER
- 01
- 80
- 267860
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Man | Central, largest figure: muscular adult male in a bright blue bodysuit with a red-and-yellow shield-shaped chest emblem, yellow belt with round buckle, and red trunks. right arm raised with a clenched fist, left arm down, legs together pointing down, stern confident expression, short dark blue-black hair. drawn in exaggerated comic musculature. |
| Man | Left side, seated/crouching: adult male with short dark hair in a blue suit with the same red-and-yellow chest emblem and a red cape over his shoulders. he cradles a woman in both arms, looking up and to the right with a slightly worried expression. |
| Woman | Left side, held in the man's arms: adult female with long wavy blue hair, pale skin, wearing a white long-sleeved blouse with puffed shoulders and a high collar. she grips the man's forearm with one hand and looks up at him; her bare legs are visible below the blouse. |
| Man | Right of centre: adult male with dark hair and thick blue-rimmed spectacles, wearing a blue suit with the red-and-yellow chest emblem. wry, pursed-lipped expression, standing upright and looking forward. |
| Man | Far right, behind the bespectacled man: bald, heavyset adult male with a scowling frown, wearing a high-collared blue coat or jacket over a red garment, with grey hair at the temples. only head and upper torso are visible. |
| Man | Tiny flying figure in the upper right: a small blue-and-red costumed figure with a streaming red cape, flying leftward and trailing a curl of white smoke behind. |
A painted comic-book backglass dominated by a huge three-dimensional word SUPERMAN in slanted gold-to-orange block capitals with a black outline, over a long red-and-black striped speed-shadow receding to the upper right. Five figures fill the centre: a muscular man in a bright blue bodysuit with a red-and-yellow chest emblem, yellow belt and red trunks punching upward; at left a second blue-clad man with short dark hair cradling a blue-haired woman in a white blouse; at right a dark-haired man in blue-rimmed spectacles wearing the same emblem, and behind him a bald man in a high-collared blue coat. A sixth tiny flying figure trails white smoke at upper right. The background is maroon and dark green with radiating green beams, bubbles and ringed circles, a blue-and-white Earth globe filling the lower right, and orange speed lines. Five red LED seven-segment displays with orange rounded bezels are stacked down the right and lower left, with player-number boxes 1, 2, 3, 4 on the right edge and a yellow triangular ATARI logo at mid-left. Bottom-left green ovals carry MATCH, BALL and GAME OVER in yellow.