Sources

Contributors to this record: Flipcommons AI Descriptions (GameplayFeature), Flipcommons Catalog.

description: Toys are the sculpted figures and mechanical contraptions a pinball machine carries to act out its theme, mounted on, above or even beneath the playfield, and usually built for one game alone.^[1] The name comes straight from the toy box: the pieces are called toys largely because they look like children's playthings.^[2] What a toy does varies as widely as what it depicts. Many are pure scenery — [[gameplay-feature:static-toys]] the ball plays around, never against. [[gameplay-feature:interactive-toys]] join the game instead, ranging from an ordinary mechanism in costume — a hand or claw that grabs the ball where a plain hole would swallow it^[3] — to a device the whole game is organized around.^[4] The toy became a signature of [[manufacturer:williams]] and [[manufacturer:bally]] machines in the early 1990s, when complicated mechanical devices were part of what drew new players to the game.^[5] *[[title:funhouse]]* (1990, Williams) is built around Rudy, a talking head that opens its mouth at midnight so the player can shoot a ball into it;^[6] on *[[title:the-addams-family]]* (1992, Bally) a disembodied hand named Thing picks the ball off the playfield by magnet and spirits it below,^[7] and *[[title:twilight-zone]]* (1993) carries both a gumball machine that stores and releases balls and a working analog clock.^[8] The Addams Family set the modern sales record at 20,270 machines,^[9] and by the decade's end whole games were organized around a single toy: the animated castle of *[[title:medieval-madness]]* (1997) lowers its drawbridge and raises its portcullis under a battering of balls.^[10]^[11] The toy also sells the machine. [[manufacturer:stern-pinball]] grades the editions of a title partly by its toys: on *[[title:godzilla-stern]]* (2021) the Premium and [[tag:limited-edition]] models carry a motorized skyscraper whose collapsing floors redirect shots while the Pro model gets a static building,^[12] and on *[[title:transformers-more-than-meets-the-eye]]* (2026) the Soundwave figure that locks pinballs behind a working cassette door is absent from the Pro model altogether.^[13]^[14]

Flipcommons AI Descriptions (GameplayFeature)
name: Toys
Flipcommons Catalog
status: active
Flipcommons Catalog
slug: toys
Flipcommons Catalog

Citations

Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball
each toy is unique to the machine it was made for, and reflects the game's theme
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_pinball_terms
called "toys" mainly because they often resemble children's toys
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball
instead of using a drop hole to hold the ball, a hand or claw might reach out, grab the ball, and capture it that way
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball
or they may be an integral part of the game rules and play
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball
with complicated mechanical devices and more elaborate display and sound systems attracting new players to the game
Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #966
A talking head opens mouth when clock reaches midnight. Then, the player must shoot a ball into the mouth
Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #20
magnetically pick up the ball and take it below the playfield
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_pinball_terms
Twilight Zone features two significant toys: The gumball machine (which stores and releases balls), and a working analog clock
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball
The Addams Family from 1992 hitting a modern sales record of 20,270 machines
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Madness
The centerpiece of the playfield is an animated castle with a solenoid-controlled portcullis and motorized drawbridge
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Madness
A specific number of hits will lower the drawbridge, exposing the portcullis; additional hits will cause the portcullis to rise
Stern Pinball — https://www.sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Godzilla-Pinball-Feature-Matrix-3kjhasdf.pdf
Premium and LE models feature a motorized collapsing skyscraper building bash toy
Kineticist — https://www.kineticist.com/news/stern-transformers-reveal
Soundwave's chest deck is a functional cassette door that locks pinballs and launches them back into play
Kineticist — https://www.kineticist.com/news/stern-transformers-reveal
Pro models skip the mech entirely