Black Knight (pinball)
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| Manufacturer | Williams |
|---|---|
| Release date | November 1980 |
| System | Williams System 7 |
| Design | Steve Ritchie |
| Programming | Larry DeMar |
| Artwork | Tony Ramunni |
| Voices | Steve Ritchie (Black Knight) |
| Production run | 13,075 |
Black Knight is a 1980 pinball machine designed by Steve Ritchie (who also provides the Knight's voice) and released by Williams Electronics.[1] Ritchie designed two sequels: Black Knight 2000, released by Williams in 1989, and Black Knight: Sword of Rage, released by Stern Pinball in 2019.[2]
Description
[edit]This game is known for its two-level playfield (a first for a pinball game),[3] and introduced the patented "Magna-Save",[4] in which a player-controlled magnet is used to prevent outlane drains. This was first of a series of four games that were both two-level and featured magna-save.[5] The later games (Jungle Lord, Pharaoh, Solar Fire, Grand Lizard) feature a variable type magna-save in that the magnet is energized as long as the player likes (up to the time they have earned); on Black Knight the machine controls the magnet time (adjustable by the operator from three to ten seconds). Magna-save was activated by pressing one of two buttons placed on each side of the cabinet, just above the flipper buttons. The sequel to Black Knight abandoned the variable magna-save which had become standard at that point and reverted to a fixed time. Balls drained down the outlane in spite of using magna-save caused the machine to laugh at the player, reinforcing the theme of the game as an evil knight vs. the player.
Black Knight was not the first game to have electromagnets installed - an earlier example is Williams' Electronics Gorgar (the first "talking" pinball game), which features an area of the playfield that when hit, holds the ball on an electromagnet for a second or two while a speech call plays.
Other notable features of Black Knight are a loud riding bell instead of the old familiar knock when a special (free game) was won, three ball multi-ball that did not require any previous targets to be hit before allowing balls to lock, and random score targets.
Digital versions
[edit]It released for Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection on several systems between 2008 and 2011. The same developer released the table in season one of The Pinball Arcade in 2012, and it was available until June 30, 2018, when all Williams tables were removed due to licensing issues.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "Internet Pinball Machine Database: Williams 'Black Knight'".
- ^ "Black Knight: Sword of Rage".
- ^ US 4606545, Ritchie, Steven S, "Bi-level pinball machine providing interlevel ball travel", published November 10, 1981, issued August 19, 1986
- ^ US 4373725, Ritchie, Steven S, "Pinball machine having magnetic ball control", published October 24, 1980, issued February 15, 1983
- ^ Rossignoli, Marco (2011). The Complete Pinball Book: Collecting the Game and Its History (3rd ed.). Schiffer Publishing. pp. 215–216. ISBN 978-0-7643-3785-7.
- ^ Lawson, Aurich (May 8, 2018). "The Pinball Arcade is losing its classic tables; grab them while you can". Ars Technica. Retrieved June 21, 2025.