Hercules
Overview
Hercules is a Solid State pinball machine made by Universal (Universal Company, Ltd.) of Oyama, Japan, dating to 1978.[1] Though it looks electromechanical from the outside, it runs on a CPU circuit board and has electrical sound — early Japanese solid-state hardware — yet its backbox keeps mechanical Score Reels, the ones reel a dummy zero.[1] Its two-flipper playfield carries pop bumpers, slingshots, star rollovers, standup and spinning targets, and a ball kicker.[1] The arcade-industry newspaper Game Machine announced the game in its July 15, 1978 issue.[1]