Smile! You're on Candid Conjurer!
Flash Dragon is a solid state pinball machine developed by Playmatic of Barcelona, Spain.
In 1986, being squeezed in the arcades by more technologically sophisticated games such as Space Shuttle and Pin*Bot, Playmatic needed a way to make their games stand out among players. Their solution was Flash Dragon, which at first blush looked like a nondescript table with a generic High Fantasy theme. However, when a player established the new high score on the game, a Polaroid instant camera embedded into the backbox would snap a picture, providing a memento of the occasion.
Although the gimmick wasn't enough to overcome Flash Dragon's simplistic gameplay, the photos
did provide Spanish pinball players with some fond memories.
Flash Dragon demonstrates the following tropes:
- Evil Sorcerer: Seen on the backglass.
- Excuse Plot: What do dragons have to do with taking pictures, anyway?
- Our Dragons Are Different: And they take selfies!
- Plagiarism: The sorceror on the backglass art is a direct lift from Rodney Matthews' depiction of Elric of Melnibone.
- Retool: There were actually two versions of Flash Dragon released; they shared the same name, artwork, and camera gimmick, but have entirely different layouts and rules.
- Scoring Points: As noted in the description, breaking the high score rewards players with a photograph.
- White Hair, Black Heart: The Evil Sorcerer has white hair.
- Winged Humanoid: A shirtless man with large feathered wings can be seen on the playfield.
