History Pinball / BlackHole

* UnrealisticBlackHole: The nature of the spinning black hole on the backglass means the trapped astronauts are moving with it.
* WizardMode: Multiball is considered this, as it's ''really'' hard to achieve.

''Black Hole'' is not for the timid – many players were turned off by the table's difficulty, and the reversed lower playfield is guaranteed to disorient new players. Getting multiball is difficult and considered an incredible achievement, which explains why its highly regarded by players looking for a challenge. Even today, it remains an interesting piece of pinball history for its design and art.

* DummiedOut: The rotating backglass art and speech card were omitted from exported versions of the game.
* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: The black hole shown on the backglass spins. Unfortunately, this feature was excluded from the export release, along with the mirrors.

** RealityIsUnrealistic: Objects actually ''can'' orbit a black hole without falling in, however.

* NintendoHard: This game is a notorious drain monster.

** RealityIsUnrealistic: Objects actually ''can'' orbit a black hole without falling in.

''Black Hole'' is not for the timid – many players were turned off by the table's difficulty, and the reversed lower playfield was guaranteed to disorient new players. Getting multiball is difficult and considered an incredible achievement, which explains why its highly regarded by players looking for a challenge. Even today, it remains an interesting piece of pinball history for its design and art.

It had a number of features going for it, the most striking of which were the dual playfields: a normal playfield, and the "Black Hole," a reversed playfield embedded underneath, visible through a transparent hole in the table. It also featured speech, something of a novelty at the time, with the game memorably taunting prospective players by saying "Do you dare to enter the Black Hole?" during AttractMode. Finally, it featured an eye-catching mirrored backglass with a rotating black hole. Both features were taken out of the export version. The game cost 50 cents to play, which was fairly extravagant at the time, but [[http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=307&picno=5050 played up in marketing]] to promote the game's earning potential.

The original concept for ''Black Hole'' came from [[PromotedFanboy Joe Cicak, a pinball player from Pennsylvania]] who was curious on how to use the empty space inside a conventional pinball table. After watching Creator/CarlSagan's ''Series/CosmosAPersonalVoyage'', he and his friends were inspired to build a prototype game; when the actual game proved fun to play, they decided to present it to Gottlieb, who were making games with large playfields. Gottlieb, already under pressure for innovative table designs from the success of [[Creator/WilliamsElectronics Williams']] ''Pinball/BlackKnight'', quickly agreed to purchase the rights.

** RealityIsUnrealistic: Objects actually can orbit a black hole without falling in.

* NintendoHard: This game is notorious for being a drain monster.

* UnrealisticBlackHole: The nature of the spinning black hole on the backglass means that the trapped astronauts are somehow moving with it.

** RealityIsUnrealistic, objects actually can orbit a black hole without falling in.

The original concept for ''Black Hole'' came from [[PromotedFanboy Joe Cicak, a pinball player from Pennsylvania]] who was curious on how to use the empty space inside a conventional pinball table. After watching Creator/CarlSagan's ''Series/{{Cosmos}}'', he and his friends were inspired to build a prototype game; when the actual game proved fun to play, they decided to present it to Gottlieb, who were making games with large playfields. Gottlieb, already under pressure for innovative table designs from the success of [[Creator/WilliamsElectronics Williams']] ''Pinball/BlackKnight'', quickly agreed to purchase the rights.

A digital version of the game is available for ''VideoGame/ThePinballArcade''.

* ThePlace

->''"Do you dare to enter the black hole?"''

It had a number of features going for it, the most striking of which were the dual playfields: a normal playfield, and the "Black Hole," a reversed playfield embedded underneath, visible through a transparent hole in the table. It also featured speech, something of a novelty at the time, with the game memorably taunting prospective players by saying "Do you dare to enter the Black Hole?" during AttractMode. Finally, it featured an eye-catching mirrored backglass with a rotating black hole that constantly rotated. Both features were taken out of the export version. The game cost 50 cents to play, which was fairly extravagant at the time, but [[http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=307&picno=5050 played up in marketing]] to promote the game's earning potential.

It had a number of features going for it, the most striking of which were the dual playfields: a normal playfield, and the "Black Hole," a reversed playfield embedded underneath, visible through a transparent hole in the table. It also featured speech, something of a novelty at the time, with the game memorably taunting prospective players "Do you dare to enter the Black Hole?" during AttractMode. Finally, it featured an eye-catching mirrored backglass with a rotating black hole that constantly rotated. Both features were taken out of the export version. The game cost 50 cents to play, which was fairly extravagant at the time, but a point [[http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=307&picno=5050 played up in marketing]] to promote the game's earning potential.

The original concept for ''Black Hole'' came from [[PromotedFanboy Joe Cicak, a pinball player from Pennsylvania]] who was curious on how to use the empty space inside a conventional pinball table. After watching Creator/CarlSagan's ''Series/{{Cosmos}}'', he and his friends were inspired to build a prototype game; when the actual game proved fun to play, they decided to present it to Gottlieb, who were making games with large playfields. Gottlieb, already under pressure for innovative table designs from the success of [[Creator/WilliamsElectronics Williams']] ''Pinball/BlackKnight,'' quickly agreed to purchase the rights.

As a pinball game, ''Black Hole'' is not for the timid – many players were turned off by the table's difficulty, and the reversed lower playfield was guaranteed to disorient new players. Getting to multiball was a difficult feat and is considered an incredible achievement, which explains why its highly regarded by players looking for a challenge. Even today, it remains an interesting piece of pinball history for its design and art.

* MachineMonotone: Unlike Williams' machines at the time which used human voices, the above quote (and all other dialogue) is spoken by a Vortrax SC-01 voice synthesis chip.

* NoPlotNoProblem

As a pinball game, ''Black Hole'' is not for the timid -- many players were turned off by the table's difficulty, and the reversed lower playfield was guaranteed to disorient new players. Though it didn't feature a WizardMode, getting to multiball was a difficult feat and is considered an incredible achievement, which explains why it's highly regarded by players looking for a challenge. Even today, it remains an interesting piece of pinball history for its design and art.

* NintendoHard: This game is rather notorious for being a drain monster.

It had a number of features going for it, the most striking of which were the dual playfields: a normal playfield, and the "Black Hole," a reversed playfield embedded underneath, visible through a transparent hole in the table. It also featured speech, something of a novelty at the time, with the game memorably taunting prospective players "Do you dare to enter the Black Hole?" during its AttractMode. Finally, it featured an eye-catching mirrored backglass with a rotating black hole that constantly rotated. Both features that were taken out of the export version. The game cost 50 cents to play, which was fairly extravagant at the time, but a point [[http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=307&picno=5050 played up in marketing]] to promote the game's earning potential.

It had a number of features going for it, the most striking of which were the dual playfields: a normal playfield, and the "Black Hole," a reversed playfield embedded underneath, visible through a transparent hole in the table. It also featured speech, something of a novelty at the time, with the game memorably taunting prospective players "Do you dare to enter the Black Hole?" during its AttractMode. Finally, it featured an eye-catching mirrored backglass with a rotating black hole that constantly rotated.[[note]]though both of these features were taken out of the export version[[/note]] The game cost 50 cents to play, which was fairly extravagant at the time, but a point [[http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=307&picno=5050 played up in marketing]] to promote the game's earning potential.

''Black Hole'' is a widebody {{pinball}} machine by Creator/{{Gottlieb}}. It was originally conceived by Joe Cicak, designed by John Buras and Adolf Seitz Jr., and released in October of 1981.

* MachineMonotone: The above quote is spoken by a Votrax SC-01.

The original concept for ''Black Hole'' came from [[PromotedFanboy Joe Cicak, a pinball player from Pennsylvania]] who was inspired to use the empty space inside a conventional pinball table. After watching Creator/CarlSagan's ''Series/{{Cosmos}}'', he and his friends were inspired to build a prototype game, and the actual game proved fun to play. They decided to present it to Gottlieb because they were making widebody games with large playfields; they met with Gil Pollock of Gottlieb, who quickly agreed to purchase the rights, partially because the company was under pressure from [[Creator/WilliamsElectronics Williams']] ''Pinball/BlackKnight'' for innovative table designs.

The original concept for ''Black Hole'' came from Joe Cicak, a pinball player from Pennsylvania who was inspired to use the empty space inside a conventional pinball table. After watching Creator/CarlSagan's ''Series/{{Cosmos}}'', he and his friends were inspired to build a prototype game, and the actual game proved fun to play. They decided to present it to Gottlieb because they were making widebody games with large playfields; they met with Gil Pollock of Gottlieb, who quickly agreed to purchase the rights, partially because the company was under pressure from [[Creator/WilliamsElectronics Williams']] ''Pinball/BlackKnight'' for innovative table designs.

''Black Hole'' is a widebody {{pinball}} machine by Creator/{{Gottlieb}}. It was designed by John Buras and Adolf Seitz Jr., and released in October of 1981.

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''Black Hole'' is a {{pinball}} machine by Creator/{{Gottlieb}}. It was designed by John Buras and Adolf Seitz Jr., and released in October of 1981.

As a pinball game, ''Black Hole'' is not for the timid -- many players were turned off by the table's difficulty, and the reversed lower playfield disorienting to new players. Though it didn't feature a WizardMode, getting to multiball was a difficult feat and is considered an incredible achievement. Even today, it remains an interesting piece of pinball history.

The game is available for ''VideoGame/ThePinballArcade''.

* SpellingBonus: The B-L-A-C-K-H-O-L-E drop targets light g-force accelerators to increase lower-level scoring values.

* TitleDrop: The AttractMode speech contains ones.
* UnrealisticBlackHole: The nature of the spinning black hole on the backglass means that the trapped astronauts somehow move with it.
* WizardMode: Multiball is considered this, as it's really hard to achieve.
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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/do_you_dare_to_enter_the_black_hole_551.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:A New Experience in Space!]]
-> ''"Do you dare to enter the black hole?"''

''Black Hole'' is a {{pinball}} machine, released in October of 1981 by Creator/{{Gottlieb}}.

It had a number of features going for it, the most striking of which was the dual playfields - a normal one, and another one hidden underneath the cabinet, visible through a translucent hole in the main field. It also features speech, something of a novelty at the time, with the game memorably asking prospective players "Do you dare to enter the Black Hole?" during AttractMode. It also had a backglass with mirrors (ala ''Pinball/SpaceInvaders'' and ''Pinball/TheEmpireStrikesBack'') and a rotating black hole[[note]]though both of these were taken out of the export version[[/note]], and only cost 50 cents to play, something [[http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=307&picno=5050 highly played up in marketing.]]

Regardless, players today are turned off by the table's difficulty - getting to multiball is considered an incredible achievement. Nonetheless, it still remains an interesting piece of pinball history.

It had a number of features going for it, the most striking of which was the dual playfields - a normal one, and another one hidden underneath the cabinet, visible through a translucent hole in the main field. It also features speech, something of a novelty at the time, with the game memorably asking prospective players "Do you dare to enter the Black Hole?" during AttractMode. It also had a mirrored backglass ala ''Pinball/SpaceInvaders'' and ''Pinball/TheEmpireStrikesBack, and only cost 50 cents to play, something [[http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=307&picno=5050 highly played up in marketing.]]