New pinball: The Shadow

The Shadow was the second game I ever put on my want list. I cannot quite remember where I first played it. I want to say there used to be a pinball spot in Roxana, Illinois called CP Pinball that had one, and that is where I fell for it.

This game has a reputation, and it is not a kind one. People love to call it one of the worst games of its era, and plenty of folks cannot stand Alec Baldwin’s face on the backglass. Here is the thing: none of that holds up. The Shadow is one of the greatest machines of the 90s. It is wildly fun, and the shots are deeply satisfying. They are not easy, but landing them feels fantastic.

I have still never finished the final battle, even though I reach it pretty often. You work through all of the different modes, and then the Battlefield kicks in: basically an unlimited multiball where you have to make something like 50 shots. I do not think I have ever made all 50. Someday.

People also love to lump The Shadow in with Johnny Mnemonic as a pair of so-called trash pins from the same era, and they especially like to compare Johnny Mnemonic’s magnetic glove to the little upper-left mini-playfield on The Shadow. Having owned both, I could not disagree more. On Johnny Mnemonic, getting the ball up into the matrix, choosing a mode, loading it into the glove, steering the glove, and dropping it into a slot eats up thirty seconds or more every single time. The Shadow’s mini-playfield is the opposite: fast, twitchy, and genuinely demanding. It takes a sharp eye and real skill to clear, and even if it gets a little repetitive, it is a great change of pace and a real challenge. No contest, for me.

It is worth knowing this was Brian Eddy’s very first game, the designer who would go on to make Attack from Mars and Medieval Madness, two of the best pinball machines ever built. You can feel that talent here, right at the start.

That photo is from my friend Troy’s garage. His company, Top Score Game Rooms, also restores machines, and up to this point he had only ever sold me games that were either new in box or ones I would refurbish myself. This time I had a little extra money, and I was honestly curious to see what Troy and his crew could do with a full restoration. He found a Shadow that was in rough shape, and I paid the extra to have his team bring it all the way back. The result is immaculate. It looks brand new.

This is a machine I cannot ever picture trading away. I love everything about it: the music, the art, the backglass. And here is a small detail I get a real kick out of. I have my Lord of the Rings with Ian McKellen on it, and I also have The Shadow, which has Ian McKellen too, along with a handful of other recognizable faces like Tim Curry. Gandalf in my basement twice over.