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''Black Knight'' is a 1980
pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...
machine designed by Steve Ritchie (who also provides the Knight's voice) and released by
Williams Electronics WMS Industries, Inc. was an American electronic gaming and amusement manufacturer in Enterprise, Nevada. It was merged into Scientific Games in 2016. WMS's predecessor was the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded in 1943 by Harry E. Williams ...
. Ritchie designed two sequels: ''
Black Knight 2000 ''Black Knight 2000'' is a 1989 pinball game designed by Steve Ritchie (who also provides the Knight's voice) and released by Williams Electronics. The game is the sequel to the 1980 pinball machine ''Black Knight''. It was advertised with the ...
'', released by Williams in 1989, and ''Black Knight: Sword of Rage'', released by
Stern Pinball Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies. Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977 until 1985, and was best known for '' Berzerk''. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1999 ...
in 2019.


Description

This game is known for its two-level playfield (a first for a pinball game), and introduced the patented "Magna-Save", in which a player-controlled magnet is used to prevent outlane drains. This was first of a series of four games that were both two-level and featured magna-save. The later games ('' Jungle Lord'', ''
Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...
'', ''
Solar Fire ''Solar Fire'' is the fourth studio album by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, released in 1973. It spent 15 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts, peaking at number 96 on May 11, 1974. It was initially intended to be a full adaptation of The Planets Suit ...
'', '' Grand Lizard'') feature a variable type magna-save in that the magnet is energized as long as the player likes (up to the time they have earned); on Black Knight the machine controls the magnet time (adjustable by the operator from three to ten seconds). Magna-save was activated by pressing one of two buttons placed on each side of the cabinet, just above the flipper buttons. The sequel to Black Knight abandoned the variable magna-save which had become standard at that point and reverted to a fixed time. Balls drained down the outlane in spite of using magna-save caused the machine to laugh at the player, reinforcing the theme of the game as an evil
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
vs. the player. ''Black Knight'' was not the first game to have
electromagnet An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by an electric current. Electromagnets usually consist of wire wound into a coil. A current through the wire creates a magnetic field which is concentrated in the ...
s installed - an earlier example is Williams' Electronics ''
Gorgar ''Gorgar'' is a 1979 pinball machine designed by Barry Oursler and released by Williams Electronics. It was the first speech-synthesized ("talking") pinball machine, containing a vocabulary of seven words ("Gorgar", "speaks", "beat", "you", "me ...
'' (the first "talking" pinball game), which features an area of the playfield that when hit, holds the ball on an electromagnet for a second or two while a speech call plays. Other notable features of ''Black Knight'' are a loud riding bell instead of the old familiar knock when a special (free game) was won, three ball multi-ball that did not require any previous targets to be hit before allowing balls to lock, and random score targets.


Design Team

*Design: Steve Ritchie *Art: Tony Rumunni *Software: Larry DeMar *November 1980 *Production: 13,075


Game quotes

*"You cannot fight and win!" *"The Black Knight will slay you!" *"I challenge thee to fight me!" *"I cannot slay you, you win." *"Will you challenge the Black Knight again?"


Digital versions

''Black Knight'' was formerly available as a licensed table in any version of ''
The Pinball Arcade ''The Pinball Arcade'' is a pinball video game developed by FarSight Studios. The game is a simulated collection of real pinball tables licensed by Gottlieb, Alvin G. and Company, and Stern Pinball, a company which also owns the rights of machines ...
'' until June 30, 2018 - due to WMS license expiration. The table is also included in the '' Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection''. Black Knight is ROM-emulated only in PC version, but in the rest of platforms this table is scripted, like in Pinball Hall Of Fame The Williams Collection (each platform). Unlicensed recreations of the game are available for ''
Visual Pinball Visual Pinball is a freeware and source available video game engine for pinball tables and similar games such as pachinko machines. The software is composed of an editor and the simulator part itself. It runs on Microsoft Windows. The program ...
''. ''Black Knight 2000'' was also released as a licensed table on ''
The Pinball Arcade ''The Pinball Arcade'' is a pinball video game developed by FarSight Studios. The game is a simulated collection of real pinball tables licensed by Gottlieb, Alvin G. and Company, and Stern Pinball, a company which also owns the rights of machines ...
''. This table features ROM emulation. Both ''Black Knight (1980)'' and ''Black Knight 2000'' had to be taken down just before June 30, 2018 - WMS license expiration date.


See also

*''
Black Knight 2000 ''Black Knight 2000'' is a 1989 pinball game designed by Steve Ritchie (who also provides the Knight's voice) and released by Williams Electronics. The game is the sequel to the 1980 pinball machine ''Black Knight''. It was advertised with the ...
'' *''
Medieval Madness ''Medieval Madness'' is a Williams pinball machine released in June 1997. Designed by Brian Eddy and programmed by Lyman Sheats, it had a production run of 4,016 units. As of April 3, 2022, the Pinside pinball community lists it as the #2 hi ...
''


References


External links


IPDB listing for ''Black Knight''IPSND listing for ''Black Knight''Pinpedia listing for ''Black Knight''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Knight (Pinball) Williams pinball machines 1980 pinball machines