''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", "hurt", "got") that were combined to form varying broken-English phrases, such as "Gorgar speaks" and "Me got you". The pinball machine also has a heartbeat sound effect that increases in speed during longer gameplay.
Digital versions
''Gorgar'' was available on
FarSight Studios' 2012 release ''
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 ...
'' for multiple platforms until June 29, 2018, when the license for inclusion of Williams and Bally tables in the game expired. The table is included in the ''
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection''. Unauthorized reproductions of this table are available for ''
Visual Pinball''.
In popular culture
The machine appears in the 5th episode of the 2nd season of
Highway to Heaven
''Highway to Heaven'' is an American fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 1984, to August 4, 1989. The series starred Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth in order t ...
, appropriately an episode in which the Devil himself appeared.
German
power metal
Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...
band
Helloween's 1985 album ''
Walls of Jericho'' included a track titled "Gorgar" that symbolized the machine as a form of
gambling addiction
Problem gambling or ludomania is repetitive gambling behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a mental disorder according to ''DSM-5'' if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological gambling is ...
.
References
1979 pinball machines
Williams pinball machines
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