View source for Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball

{{Short description|1990 pinball game}}
{{italic title}}
{{Notability|Products|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox Pinball | title = Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball
|manufacturer = [[Midway Games|Midway]]
|image = 
|system = [[Williams Pinball Controller|Midway System 11C]]<ref name="Birthday">{{cite web|title=Internet Pinball Machine Database: Midway 'Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball'|url=https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=396|publisher=The Internet Pinball Machine Database|access-date=February 28, 2021}}</ref>
|concept= John Trudeau, [[Python Anghelo]]<ref name="Birthday"/>
|designer= John Trudeau<ref name="Birthday"/>
|programmer = Dan Lee, Dwight Sullivan<ref name="Birthday"/>
|artwork = Python Anghelo, John Youssi<ref name="Birthday"/>
|mechanics = Jack Skalon<ref name="Birthday"/>
|music = Paul Heitsch<ref name="Birthday"/>
|sounds = Paul Heitsch<ref name="Birthday"/>
|voices = [[Greg Burson]], [[Bob Bergen]], [[Noel Blanc]], [[Mel Blanc]], [[Paul Julian (artist)|Paul Julian]]
|release = December 3, 1990<ref name="Birthday"/>
|production = ~2,250 units<ref name="Birthday"/>
}}
'''''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball''''' is a 1990 [[pinball]] game designed by John Trudeau and [[Python Anghelo]] and released by [[Midway Games|Midway]] (under the ''[[Bally Manufacturing|Bally]]'' name). It is based on [[Warner Bros.]]' ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' and ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' series of cartoons.<ref name="Cashbox">{{cite web|title=Special Bugs Bunny Birthday Ball Promo Launched By Midway|date=23 February 1991 |publisher=Cash Box Pub. Co. |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox54unse_26/page/25/mode/2up|access-date=March 1, 2021}}</ref> This is the first of only three licensed pinball tables ever to feature the ''Looney Tunes'' characters (the second being [[Sega]]'s ''[[Space Jam (pinball)|Space Jam]]'' and the third being Spooky Pinball's ''Looney Tunes'').

==Gameplay==
The game is a celebration of [[Bugs Bunny]]'s 50th anniversary, accompanied by his various co-stars and lots of cake. One to four players can play. The player must use the "Skill Shot" to help [[Wile E. Coyote]] chase the [[Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner|Road Runner]], break some eggs in the reversed "Chicken Coop" playfield, then ride "[[Tweety]]'s Slide" to the main playfield and score 1 million points, hit [[Daffy Duck]] for a "Big Score" of 500,000 points and light "[[Speedy Gonzales]]' Keek-Out" for 1 million points, then shoot the curving, swerving center ramp so the [[Tasmanian Devil (Looney Tunes)|Tasmanian Devil]] and the Tasmanian She-Devil will take the player on a challenging "Tazmanian Shopping Spree" up the ramp, which will score up to 500,000 points or an extra ball. If the player helps Bugs blow out all the candles on his cake, [[Honey Bunny]] will reward him with a 50 million bonus, with the player getting their opponents' best score for a Surprise Package.<ref name="Flyer">{{cite web|title=Internet Pinball Machine Database: Midway 'Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball' Images|url=https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=396&picno=4151&zoom=1|publisher=The Internet Pinball Machine Database|access-date=February 28, 2021}}</ref>

===Playfield===
The playfield includes 3 flippers, a plunger skill shot, 3 pop bumpers, 3 slingshots, 19 standup targets, a 3-bank drop target, a kick-out hole, a spinning target, a captive ball, and a left outlane kickback. In the upper left area of the playfield is a small inverted playfield having a flipper to propel the ball downfield to loop around a ramp and hit a captive ball. In multi-player operation, a unique playfield award feature exchanges scores between players.<ref name="Birthday"/>

==Development==
According to Python Anghelo, he was given only 3 months by management to design the game from concept to final build. This was due to the fact that the factory workers were running out of games to assemble and needed something to fill a gap in the Bally production line.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pinball and Video Art Genius, Python Anghelo Passes Away Aged 61|url=https://www.highwaygames.com/arcade-news/python-anghelo-video-pinball-art-passes-away-aged-61-3139/|date=April 15, 2014|publisher=Highway Games|access-date=December 13, 2024}}</ref><ref name="Cats Pinball">{{cite web|title=Cocaine Cats & Pinball Sex: Part II of The Unauthorized Hagiography of Python Anghelo|url=https://www.nudgepinball.com/articles/cocaine-cats-pinball-sex-and-big-guns-part-ii-of-the-unauthorized-hagiography-of-python-anghelonbsp|publisher=Nudge|access-date=December 13, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Part IV: One Last Trip Around Planet Pythonia|url=https://www.nudgepinball.com/articles/part-iv-one-last-trip-around-planet-pythonianbsp|publisher=Nudge|access-date=December 13, 2024}}</ref> Anghelo had previously drawn a crude and perverse illustration of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner on a company whiteboard in its HR department.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Unauthorized Hagiography of Python Anghelo|url=https://www.nudgepinball.com/articles/the-unauthorized-hagiography-of-python-anghelo|publisher=Nudge|access-date=December 13, 2024}}</ref> When he and John Trudeau were developing the game and ''[[The Machine: Bride of Pin-Bot]]'' simultaneously, they worked insanely fast on both games in a short time, doing so much that one day Anghelo gave Trudeau the nickname of "Doctor Flash". It stuck from that point.<ref name="Doctor Flash">{{Cite web|title=PA Pinball Presents - An Interview with John Trudeau|url=http://www.papinball.com/John_Trudeau_Interview.html|publisher=PA Pinball|access-date=May 2, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Games in our Archives|url=https://sparkspinballmuseum.com/archives-of-games|publisher=Sparks Pinball Museum|access-date=December 19, 2024}}</ref> Anghelo admitted disappointment in the final product and felt embarrassed that despite his and Trudeau's best efforts, he had allowed something "so half-baked" to go to market. The game was not well received by pinball players, and only sold 2,500 units. Python explained the tepid response, stating, "It depends what we have in our hearts... either [[The Force]] is with you, or it's not."<ref name="Cats Pinball"/>

The game came with licensed products available at special discounted prices for operators interested in staging on-site promotions, contests and tournaments. In addition, authorized Bally/Midway distributors could also take advantage of those offers for point-of-display items, or sales support merchandise to their customer base. The companies participating in the marketing program included [[Armitron]], Creative Innovations, E.M. International, H. & L. Enterprises, Koochy Koncepts, Nikry Company, Rarities Mint, United Brands International, Zephyr Group, and others.<ref name="Cashbox"/>

==Voice cast==
* [[Greg Burson]] as [[Bugs Bunny]], [[Daffy Duck]], [[Sylvester the Cat]], [[Tasmanian Devil (Looney Tunes)|Tasmanian Devil]] and [[Foghorn Leghorn]]
* [[Noel Blanc]] as Bugs Bunny (vocal effects), Daffy Duck (additional lines), [[Yosemite Sam]], Sylvester the Cat, [[Speedy Gonzales]], [[Barnyard Dawg]] and Chickens
* [[Bob Bergen]] as [[Porky Pig]], [[Tweety Bird]] and [[Honey Bunny]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Bob Bergen on Twitter: "Does sound like me. Must have been one of my earliest ''Looney Tunes'' gigs. There have been literally hundreds of recording sessions for cartoons, games, toys, commercials, parks, etc."|url=https://x.com/BobBergen/status/1694360336898638126|publisher=Twitter|access-date=December 14, 2024}}</ref>
* [[Mel Blanc]] as Sylvester the Cat (archive recording)
* [[Paul Julian (artist)|Paul Julian]] as [[Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner|Road Runner]] (archive recording)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IPDB|396}}
*[https://archive.org/details/arcademanual_Bugs_Bunny_OPS/mode/2up?view=theater Operator's Handbook] – via the [[Internet Archive]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NahiUoLAf20 YouTube - 7 minutes gameplay of ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball'']
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CI3pcDUBZ4 YouTube - 5 minutes gameplay of ''Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball'']

{{Looney Tunes video games}}
{{Portal bar|Video games}}

[[Category:1990 pinball machines]]
[[Category:Bally pinball machines]]
[[Category:Bugs Bunny video games]]
[[Category:Video games based on Looney Tunes]]
[[Category:Video games about birthdays]]