126 replies to this topic

[sleepy]

I played this machine in '83 at Mar Vista Bowling near Venice, Ca. which served as a test site for Betson Pacific Dist. (now Betson International) and didn't realize it was never produced.
There were quite a few machines on site there that were not mfg. in great quantity, Seawitch, Freefall, Goldball, a couple of empty clunkers that I can't remember. Every thirty days there were anywhere from 5 to 10 brand new machines to play while they retained the successful ones and removed the rest, but they quit testing in the 90's at this location before the pinball business went under.

I always thought Krull was in limited production, like Seawitch, but because the movie bombed.
This is because Gottlieb at that time was owned by Columbia Pictures, the studio that made the movie.

P.S. ipdb says it was the alternate prototype with the transparent playfield that was too expensive to produce. I'm assuming the one that they did produce was going to be manufactured up until the movie tanked.

Mar Vista also had the video game. I remember the text adventure path screen where the player selected going N,S,E, or W. and how the sandy soil backdrop and graphics were drab.
Else that was another game and the beer was good!

Edited by sleepy, 14 December 2011 - 07:21 AM.

[djmichaelbasic]

I played this machine in '83 at Mar Vista Bowling near Venice, Ca. which served as a test site for Betson Pacific Dist. (now Betson International) and didn't realize it was never produced.
There were quite a few machines on site there that were not mfg. in great quantity, Seawitch, Freefall, Goldball, a couple of empty clunkers that I can't remember. Every thirty days there were anywhere from 5 to 10 brand new machines to play while they retained the successful ones and removed the rest, but they quit testing in the 90's at this location before the pinball business went under.

I always thought Krull was in limited production, like Seawitch, but because the movie bombed.
This is because Gottlieb at that time was owned by Columbia Pictures, the studio that made the movie.

P.S. ipdb says it was the alternate prototype with the transparent playfield that was too expensive to produce. I'm assuming the one that they did produce was going to be manufactured up until the movie tanked.

Mar Vista also had the video game. I remember the text adventure path screen where the player selected going N,S,E, or W. and how the sandy soil backdrop and graphics were drab.
Else that was another game and the beer was good!

That's amazing! I grew up bowling in leagues there. I still live in West Los Angeles...the majority of my pinball playing growing up was at that place.

[sleepy]

Was this in the 70's, 80's or later?
Here's a flashback. Was it in the 70's or early 80's back when the main pinball area was in the black light alcove?
That little side room later became the video game alcove and the pinballs were mostly moved to the main corridor against the outside wall to the bar.

[kevinleedrum]

I've heard a couple stories of people playing these on location. It blows my mind to think of such a rare game sitting in a bowling alley. Awesome that more people got to play it, though.

Thanks for the compliments on the Robots Invasion cab. It was fun doing something original and fairly small in scope.

It's been a while since I posted a screenshot. Here is some new work on the plastics. The spider and "slayers" will get their other colors in Photoshop.

Attached Files

•  plasticswip.jpg   475.44KB   137 downloads

[rcadefrk]

When you are done & release the table, can i use the playfields & art? I'm gathering resources for possible fp version

And thanks for the switch number layout

[kevinleedrum]

When you are done & release the table, can i use the playfields & art? I'm gathering resources for possible fp version

And thanks for the switch number layout

Yes, of course.

[djmichaelbasic]

Was this in the 70's, 80's or later?
Here's a flashback. Was it in the 70's or early 80's back when the main pinball area was in the black light alcove?
That little side room later became the video game alcove and the pinballs were mostly moved to the main corridor against the outside wall to the bar.

I was born in 79...started bowling there in probably 85 or 86...wasn't til I was 11 or 12 that I got really into pinball so that's in the 90s. I do distinctly remember the old tokens they used to use with the 2 notches in them. Don't remember pinballs being in the alcove...I think by the time i started paying attention they were on the west side of the alley by lanes 1-10.

[rcadefrk]

When you are done & release the table, can i use the playfields & art? I'm gathering resources for possible fp version

And thanks for the switch number layout

Yes, of course.

Thanks man!

PM Sent

Edited by rcadefrk, 15 December 2011 - 03:20 AM.

[sleepy]

Don't want to hijack this thread, but the best thing about Mar Vista in the 70's-80's was that they were open 24/7/7. In those days I could go in at 11 P.M. and play a Black Knight, Flash Gordon or Eight Ball Deluxe til dawn and beyond.

Often saw Gene Lewen there trying a machine. He owned Pinball Plus Arcade in the Valley and now runs the Vintage Arcade Superstore on San Fernando Rd. in Glendale, Ca featuring used pinball and video games and you can drop in during the day and they will usually allow you to play just to keep the parts, capacitors, in working order. You can google the store name for their page.

These days I go to Family Arcade on Vermont near East Hollywood across the street from LA college, and one of these days (or nights) I mean to check out the Pins and Needles pinball arcade upstairs at the Bedrock recording studio on Alisandro St. in Echo Park. They have a web page for it which combines pinball with expert needles tailoring!
Past users of the Bedrock studio side include Neil Young.
I hope they're still open.

And Yes. Krull is looking very good.

[JAM0]

Looks really sweet Kevin!

[DaveyDarko]

I just saw a video on youtube of a guy sanding down a Krull cab to restore it. WHY would someone do that to a rare prototype table?! If he wanted to repaint it, he should have just built a new cab from scratch insted of destroying the original imo ;-;

[luvthatapex]

Chris Hutchins is a world class pinball restorer. He knows exactly what he is doing. He wanted to keep the original cabinet and will repaint it to look like it came out of the factory.
You should be able to see his other restorations. He is one of the best, if not THE best.

btw kevin, any new WIP pics of your table?

I just saw a video on youtube of a guy sanding down a Krull cab to restore it. WHY would someone do that to a rare prototype table?! If he wanted to repaint it, he should have just built a new cab from scratch insted of destroying the original imo ;-;

Edited by luvthatapex, 26 December 2011 - 03:37 PM.

[kevinleedrum]

btw kevin, any new WIP pics of your table?

The holiday has kept me pretty busy, but I have managed to get another plastic done. And yes, I would agree that Chris Hutchins is the best. His YouTube channel is my new favorite show

Attached Files

•  topleftplastic.jpg   280.66KB   124 downloads

[luvthatapex]

Incredible detail! I never saw the guy holding onto the web and I played Krull! Well done!

btw kevin, any new WIP pics of your table?

The holiday has kept me pretty busy, but I have managed to get another plastic done. And yes, I would agree that Chris Hutchins is the best. His YouTube channel is my new favorite show

[DaveyDarko]

I cant wait to see the finished version!

[spanner]

Still have to redraw the lower playfield, plastics, decals, and apron before I'm done with all the Illustrator work...

How did you redraw it..(I can't remember how in photoshop) is it like tracing it...??

LOVE WHAT YOU HAVE DO SO FAR..

[JAM0]

I have been trying to figure out how to redraw in PS myself. Can't find anything yet on how to do it.

[smakx]

Looks amazing.
@osprey,they only made like 10 of these machines. Gottlieb also made a krill video game

LOL! Yeah, I remember that crappy vid games also.

No way man! I loved the video game, its still fun w/ 2 joysticks (i use the hotrod se). To each his own I guess In any case I'm with everyone else, anxious to play this pin.

[spanner]

I have been trying to figure out how to redraw in PS myself. Can't find anything yet on how to do it.

Look at this then..

http://www.wikihow.c...Using-Photoshop

[kevinleedrum]

I'm just redrawing in Illustrator. In fact, some of the things I was going to do in Photoshop I'm actually going to do in Illustrator afterall. In Illustrator, I use the Pen tool, so every corner you see in the artwork was at least one mouse click. I have a tablet, but I'm not graceful enough to use it for this (unlike some of the great artists on this site).

I was starting to get rather burned out tracing all these rocks and stuff, so I've been playing with my new Twilight Zone lately (my first real pin!). If I'm not enjoying what I'm working on, then it won't turn it out great, so I apologize if anyone is especially anxious to play this. I think I'll pick it back up this week.