Jim Dorman

The Cool(ing)est Toy

Uh-oh! Looks like rain! Of all the toys, gadgets, and other distractors placed in & on pinball machines, by far the most useful is the one in Whirlwind.  This table has a fan on top of the backbox that blows air right on the player during certain parts of the game.  So imagine this…you’re in the

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Physics? What’s That?

This table is seriously in the running for the weirdest pinball ever made.  Except for the cabinet design, you almost could call it something else.  Enter Orbitor 1. It Can’t Roll That Way! Imagine gravity and the rest of physics pretty much going out the window, and you’ve got the gist of Orbitor 1.  This game

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It Talks!

We all take talking pinball machines for granted these days.  In fact, I find them to be very helpful since I can listen for what’s going on rather than being distracted by flashing indicators.  But there was a time when that idea was new.  I can’t believe it’s been 45 years! Enter Gorgar, the first commerically-released

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The First Table

You never forget your first… The year was 1975. Two important events happened that year–I learned to bowl, and I played my first table. Both of these things would play significant roles in my life. The table was King Tut, an electro-mechanical table located at Astro Lanes (now Park Lanes) in Hillsboro, Oregon. My dad

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One In A MILLION!

Today we celebrate a significant milestone in pinball history: the first solid-state 1-million point shot. That was Comet, released in 1985 by Williams.  This was the first of a set of three roller-coaster themed games: Comet, Cyclone, and Hurricane.  The latter two each featured easier-to-hit 1-million point shots, as well as some multi-million point ones.

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