Random Thoughts & Pictures
I was previously familiar with Williams Bad Cats, but I seriously "discovered" this pinball machine at an old mountain resort in Capon Springs, West Virginia. Capon was a premier 19th century mountain resort until the main hotel building burned in 1911. Enough peripheral buildings remained for the operation to limp along until a new family took over in 1932. The same family still runs the resort today. This place is a quiet little time capsule that few people know about. My wife is the third generation of her family to regularly vacation at Capon. Life moves slow at Capon. There is still a gameroom and that gameroom still has pinball! Bad Cats was at Capon for about three summers. I played this game continuously for weeks at a time and could never get enough. While I'm mostly indifferent to cats, I am a big fan of games with goofy, whimsical themes. Bad Cats is as goofy and whimsical as it gets. The humor, theme, art, music, sound and speech are all great.
Meow-Me-Meow-Meow!
The pictures above show Bad Cats at Capon. By the time these pictures were taken in 2007, the game had been sitting there for three seasons. It was dirty, weak, broke and almost not worth a quarter. Sad. It's especially sad to see a neglected game that is still in good cosmetic condition. It's not often you see a Bad Cats that hasn't faded to yellow or white. There's a real nice game sitting there under all the grime. In past years this room hosted other classic System-11 games like Fire! and Cyclone. In 2007 Bad Cats shared space with a Super Mario Brothers. Super Mario Brothers has some seriously annoying sound and speech, but at least the game was fully functional!
Bad Cats reminds me of another one of my favorite System-11 games... Cyclone. Both are Oursler/Anghelo creations with whimsical themes. Both feature a pair of timed ramp shots. Both include a cellar-hole activated prize wheel. Both have narrow top arches with a novel toy in the upper left corner of the playfield. Cyclone seems to be the more popular of the two. But I give my nod to Bad Cats. I think Bad Cats is a bit better all around. Plus there are two banks of drop targets, which add more interest to any game. Bad Cats also has some classic features like backbox animation and a real (not translite) mirrored backglass.
Another unusual feature is the game's single-ball play. I believe Bad Cats and Bugs Bunny Birthday Ball are the last two pinball machines to not include a multiball feature.
THERE IS MORE -- THAN ONE WAY -- TO SKIN A BAD CAT
Bad Cats had a relatively low production run and decent examples are not always easy to come by. Although the game is often criticized as too simplistic, there seems to be a loyal following of fans that quickly scarf up any nice examples that appear for sale. I found my Bad Cats in an eBay listing that just happened to be in nearby Manassas, Virginia. I picked it up on March 4, 2010. This game definitely holds the record as involving the least amount of travel time to go get.
My particular game has a perfectly orange cabinet. Most of these games have at least some fading to yellow. Some are white like they've been through a nuclear blast. The backglass is near perfect. All the unique game mechanisms are complete and working. The boards are matched and un-hacked with clean connectors all around. The ramps have some minor cracks and chips, but are otherwise sound. The plastics are so-so, but reproductions should be on the way. The downside is the playfield. Except for a patch around the jet bumpers, the game does not appear to have ever been Mylared. There's some checking and insert wear all around, but especially in the lower-middle area of the playfield. And the whole game is thoroughly dirty and will need a good cleaning and a ring kit. But otherwise, it's a nice starting point.
Bad Cats has an animated shadow box behind the backglass. The cat spins as the woman whacks it with the broom. Check out the sign on the wall and the license plates. The art includes several references to artist Python Anghelo.
Press your face against the glass and you can check out the butterfly tattoo on the woman's butt.
Backglass details.
Backglass detail.
Backglass detail.
The "Pinball Python" in the lower right corner of the backglass.
Shown above is the two page promotional flyer for Bad Cats. Click for larger picture.
Shown above are the speaker cutouts and a promotional plastic for Bad Cats.
Promotional decal.
Linear Target
The linear target (or Fish Bone-Us target) is a mechanism unique to Bad Cats. As far as I know this mechanism was never used again. So you probably wouldn't want to buy a Bad Cats if this mechanism is missing. The functionality of the linear target is often compared to Gottlieb's old Vari-Target in that awards are proportional to how hard the target is hit. However, the technologies are completely different. The linear target's mechanism is hidden in the upper left corner of the playfield. It is buried under plastics and ramps and cannot be examined without significant playfield disassembly. So here it is...
The mechanism is pretty simply. Linear movement of the target rod causes a notched disk to rotate though an opto interrupter. The number of notches passing through the opto interrupter is (theoretically) proportional to how hard the target is hit. The rubber parts appear to be cut-down conical yellow post rubbers. I don't know if this is the original or correct arrangement of rubber. But they appear to grip the target rod well, so I left them as is. The diagram in the manual appears to show round rubber rings. Unfortunately, the rings are not listed as a separate part number so I'm not exactly sure what they're supposed to be. The target rod is supported by snap-in nylon bushings. But my bushings were cracked and not holding themselves into the fame anymore. I used a few small dabs of white caulk to hold the bushings in place. It's kind of hack-looking, but seems to have done the trick. However, new bushings are available from Marco Specialties and are called 3⁄16" Nyliner bushings. The target rod assembly is also available from Marco. The circuit board penetrates the playfield and is mated to an under playfield connector.
Click thumbnails to see linear target diagrams from the Operations Manual.
Click thumbnails to see the patent for the linear target.