''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball'' is a 1990

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 ...

game designed by John Trudeau and

Python Anghelo Python Vladimir Anghelo (January 1, 1954 – April 9, 2014) was a graphic artist best known for his work on Video game, video games and pinball machines. Anghelo was born in Transylvania, Romania, and moved to the United States when he was 17. ...

and released by Midway (under the ''

Bally Bally may refer to: Places *Bally, a historical spelling of Bali *Bally (from the Irish ''baile'') or townland, a traditional division of land, as well as a common prefix in the names of settlements throughout Ireland *Bally, Bally-Jagachha, a c ...

'' name). It is based on

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

' ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' and ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' series of cartoons. This is the first of only two licensed pinball tables ever to feature the ''Looney Tunes'' characters (the second being

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

's ''

Space Jam ''Space Jam'' is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka, with animation sequences directed by Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone, and written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, and Herschel We ...

'').

Gameplay

The game is a celebration of

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

's 50th anniversary, accompanied by his various co-stars and lots of cake. One to four players can play. The player must use the "Skill Shot" to help

Wile E. Coyote Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short ''Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, t ...

chase the Road Runner, break some eggs in the reversed "Chicken Coop" playfield, then ride "

Tweety Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for th ...

's Slide" to the main playfield and score 1 million points, hit

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon fictional character, character created for Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American black duck, black ...

for a "Big Score" of 500,000 points and light "

Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast ...

' Keek-Out" for 1 million points, then shoot the curving, swerving center ramp so the

Tasmanian Devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii'') (palawa kani: purinina) is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. Until recently, it was only found on the island state of Tasmania, but it has been reintroduced to New South Wales in ...

and the Tasmanian She-Devil will take the player on a challenging "Tazmanian Shopping Spree" up the ramp, which will score up to 500,000 points or an extra ball. If the player helps Bugs blow out all the candles on his cake,

Honey Bunny Lola Bunny is a ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon character portrayed as an anthropomorphic female rabbit created by Warner Bros. Pictures. She is generally depicted as Bugs Bunny's girlfriend. She first appeared in the 1996 film ''Space Jam''. Develop ...

will reward him with a 50 million bonus, with the player getting their opponents' best score for a Surprise Package.

Playfield

The playfield includes 3 flippers, a plunger skill shot, 3 pop bumpers, 3 slingshots, 19 standup targets, a 3-bank drop target, a kick-out hole, a spinning target, a captive ball, and a left outlane kickback. In the upper left area of the playfield is a small inverted playfield having a flipper to propel the ball downfield to loop around a ramp and hit a captive ball. In multi-player operation, a unique playfield award feature exchanges scores between players.

Development

According to Python Anghelo, the game was made quickly to fill a gap in the Bally production line. When he and John Trudeau were developing the game and '' The Machine: Bride of Pin-Bot'' at the same time, they worked insanely fast on both games in a short time. They were doing so much, so fast, that one day Python gave John the nickname of "Doctor Flash". It stuck from that point.

Voice cast

Greg Burson Gregory Lewis Burson (June 29, 1949 – July 22, 2008) was an American voice actor. He was best known as a replacement for voice actors Daws Butler and Mel Blanc following their deaths in 1988 and 1989, respectively. Career Burson was trained ...

Sylvester the Cat Sylvester Pussycat, Sr. is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic tuxedo cat in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. Most of his appearances have him often chasing Tweety, Speedy Gonzales, or Hippety Hopper. He appea ...

and

Foghorn Leghorn Foghorn Leghorn is a cartoon rooster who appears in ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons and films from Warner Bros. Animation. He was created by Robert McKimson, and starred in 29 cartoons from 1946 to 1964 in the golden age of A ...

Noel Blanc Noel Barton Blanc (born October 19, 1938) is an American commercial producer and retired voice actor. He is the son of the late cartoon voice actor, Mel Blanc. Early life and career Blanc was born on October 19, 1938 in Los Angeles, California ...

as Bugs Bunny (vocal effects), Daffy Duck (additional lines),

Yosemite Sam Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bugs ...

, Sylvester the Cat and

Bob Bergen Robert Bergen (born March 8, 1964) is an American voice actor. He voices Warner Bros. cartoon characters Porky Pig and Tweety and has voiced characters in the English dubs of various anime. He formerly hosted the children's game show '' Jep!'', ...

Porky Pig Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created ma ...

Tweety Bird Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for th ...

Barnyard Dawg Barnyard Dawg is a '' Looney Tunes'' character. A feisty anthropomorphic basset hound, he is the archenemy of Foghorn Leghorn. He was created by Robert McKimson, who also created Foghorn, and was voiced by Mel Blanc. Dawg also feuds with othe ...

and Chickens *

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

as Sylvester the Cat (archive recording) * Paul Julian as Road Runner (archive recording)

References

External links

*
Operator's Handbook
– via the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

YouTube - 7 minutes gameplay of ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball''YouTube - 5 minutes gameplay of ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball''
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