Inspired by the social media posts about favorite books, original art and albums that influenced the most, I am featuring one pinball machine a day that is part of my family’s collection. Today, it’s Earthshaker. It made its debut in arcades in 1989, promoted by the Williams Electronic Games Company as “Moving Experience.” And boy, does it move.
Lock the balls by hitting the right shots and during the multi-ball and the machine shakes. Inside the cabinet is a shake motor, along with a warning that you need to keep your hands away from it when the machine is plugged in. Danger.
There are cutouts on the play field with a fault line between California and Nevada that “cracks” open.
When this was in my house for a couple of years, it shook the whole house. it now lives at our Ugly Gold Couch pinball clubhouse in Garden City, that’s open to the public sometimes. The machine is a crowd favorite with an easy-to-understand rule set.
Artwork by Pat Lawlor. He did a lot of machine artwork so you’ll see his name again as I feature more of the collection each day.
I even have a t-shirt of this game. I wore it on April 1st – the day AFTER the big earthquake in Central Idaho.
Got pinball questions? Ask me, deb@riverboise.com
~Debbie