''Taxi'' is a

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 Mark Ritchie 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. ...

. It was released in 1988 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 ...

Gameplay

The goal of the game is to pick up five passengers: Pinbot, Gorbie, Lola (or

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

in the original version),

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

, and

Santa Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

. The passengers are represented by lighted illustrations in the center of the lower end of the playfield and are also featured on the backglass. If Carry Passengers is not lit, all passengers are lost when the ball drains. The original game featured Marilyn Monroe with her recognizable

blonde hair Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...

on the backglass. Collecting all five passengers lights the Jackpot, which is available for about ten seconds. A score award is given for each extra ball awarded beyond five. This was the first Williams game to display four player scores using only two alpha-numeric 16 character displays.

Marilyn passenger

Originally the machine featured a passenger named Marilyn, a blonde character in a red dress bearing a resemblance to

. Williams replaced the Marilyn passenger with a new passenger named Lola due to legal problems with Marilyn Monroe likeness. Lola appears identical to Marilyn, with the exception of her hair; the Lola passenger was pictured brunette and later with red hair where the Marilyn character was blonde. At least 200 sample games were shipped with 'Marilyn' before the change was made. Mark Ritchie explained also in the book ''The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present'', that the name 'Lola' was taken from the 1970s song "

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola (fo ...

" about a transvestite, that fits also to her muscular arms on the backglass.

Marketing slogans

"Get ready for the taxi everyone's going to be lining up for!" "The one taxi Lola, Gorbie, Santa, Dracula... and operators everywhere are hailing!" "The one taxi Marilyn, Gorbie, Santa, Dracula... and operators everywhere are hailing!"

Digital versions

''Taxi'' was formerly available

simulated A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...

in ''

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 ...

'' on any platform until WMS license expired on June 30, 2018, thus making this table taken down from every digital store. ''Taxi'' is also featured in '' Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection''. Unauthorized reproductions of this table are available for ''Visual Pinball'' that runs on Windows.

References

External links

IPDB listing for ''Taxi''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taxi (Pinball Machine) 1988 pinball machines Williams pinball machines Works about taxis Cultural depictions of Mikhail Gorbachev Cultural depictions of Marilyn Monroe Dracula Santa Claus