Pinball has always been a beloved game in arcades around the world. Still, video games have managed to steal more than a few players’ attention away from the classic game over the years. As the 80s arrived, however, pinball decided to fight back and, in the process, it won back quite a few fans, thanks to the introduction of a high-tech version called Black Knight. Introduced by Williams in 1980, this was state-of-the-art pinball play at its finest.

There was simply no mistaking Black Knight from ordinary pinball fare. At first glance, one noticed the impressive medieval artwork, complete with the Black Knight on reared up horseback, prominently displayed on the backboard. Closer inspection revealed a two-level playing field, with an array of dragons and knights dispersed throughout. Special lights hidden underneath these images were triggered by various aspects of game play, which would cause them to flash in eye-catching rhythmic patterns.

But graphics were only the icing on the cake. The real wonders were revealed once one pumped a quarter into the machine and took over the controls. For example, if a player could maneuver a ball into each of the two locks on the upper playfield, a third ball sent into the same area would unleash all three, allowing for multi-ball play. The two balls could also be released by simply getting a ball into the multiball dropout hole. The balls remained in play until the fell between the reach of the frantic flippers.

And that wasn’t the only way to get additional balls into play. By eliminating a bank of drop targets three times, then getting the ball to ascend the left ramp towards the upper playfield, an extra pinball was earned. Not as easy as it sounds, however, as those pesky drop targets would only stay knocked out for mere seconds before they re-appeared and had to be hit all over again. Other events, such as getting a ball successfully through the left turn lane and then up the center ramp triggered the Mystery Score function.

Another well-remembered feature by Black Knight aficionados is the “Magnasave” feature. By knocking out another set of drop targets, the drain lanes on either side of the game would become magnetized, thus keeping them safe and returning them to play, via an extra set of buttons at the player’s disposal. Accomplish that, and there were 10,000 bonus points awaiting the player upon the ball being sent back into the playing field.

These were only some of the ways to rack up bonus points on this innovative and addictive machine, which was unlike any ever created before it. With a combination of high-tech game design and magnificent eye-catching graphics, it quickly became the only game worth playing for the legions of hardcore pinball players, at least until the sequel, Black Knight 2000 was introduced in 1989. But the original Black Knight games are still coveted by pinball collectors everywhere and fetch ridiculously large sums of money at pinball machine conventions. If ever there was a machine that gave video games a run for their money, it was Black Knight -simply one of the most amazing displays of pinball design ever to be unleashed.