Time Streams (game)

Doctor Who (pinball machine)

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Doctor Who was a Midway Games pinball machine which was released in September 1992. It had an unusually complex ruleset which made the machine somewhat unpopular amongst casual pinball players, but has since made it more collectible to pinball aficionados.

Game play

The basic concept was that the Doctor needed rescuing. Each of his first seven incarnations had become trapped. The player decided before beginning a round of play which of the seven Doctors he or she was going to rescue. The player would then attempt to make shots to the particular area of the playing field associated with that incarnation of the Doctor.

When the player had done what was required to rescue that Doctor, they would then get a particular performance enhancement. For instance, rescuing the Third Doctor gave extra balls; saving the Sixth rewarded the player with faster point accumulation totals for certain shots.

Because of the ways in which the game play could be affected by which Doctor the player rescued, strategy was far more complex than the average pinball machine.

Key creative talent

The game featured the voices of Sylvester McCoy, Anthony Ainley and Terry Molloy. Artwork was by Linda Deal, dexign by Bill Pfutzenreuter and Barry Oursier, and music by Jon Hey.

Notable gameplay

Famously, New York Magazine filmed an interview with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill playing a game on the machine while they were in New York City in 2011.

External links

• Doctor Who at The Internet Pinball Database
• The machine's very long rule sheet