Dispatch this is 504, suspect got away...
The year was 1986. Pinball was slowly recovering from the near death-blow,
delivered by a world of snazzy video games. Still, people weren't satisfied
with shooting aliens, eating dots, or blasting asteroids, they needed a silver
ball fix.
Enter High Speed.
Bright lights, shiny chrome rails, and a flashing beacon light,
High Speed touted "Hot Action Pinball" and it wasn't kidding. For its
time, High Speed was a very fast-paced game with a lot going on. A
familiar theme (who doesn't drive?), with a familiar goal (who hasn't
been chased by the cops?) combined with a rockin' soundtrack, flashing
lights, and blaring sirens ... you can even hear the cops on the radio!!!
High Speed was designed by pinball mastermind, Steve Ritchie, whose
credits include an impressive line of games such as: Airborne Avenger,
Superman, Flash, Stellar Wars, Firepower, Black Knight, Hyperball, High
Speed, F-14 Tomcat, Black Knight 2000, Rollergames, Terminator 2, High
Speed 2: The Getaway, Star Trek: The Next Generation and finally, No Fear.
You may pick up my rulesheet for High Speed, here:
http://www.pinball.org/rulesheets/hspeed1.htm.
It was my first, and mostly written before I even owned the game. I did
go back and give it a face-lift ... though if you find any errors,
certainly E-Mail me,
about them.
High Speed did it's job and did it well, for up until I'd met High Speed,
I really didn't play pinball at all. It literally sucked me in and for
many years, I was surrounded by it. With an impressive 13,000+ unit run,
High Speed was everywhere; and I played ... well, everywhere! :-) It was
only after several years of playing neglected games, and the birth of
rec.games.pinball, that the idea of
actually *owning* a High Speed, came to mind.
Thus, High Speed became my first pinball machine in mid-1992. As I've
always maintained, it was the best $800 I've ever spent. That game kept
me entertained for a full year-and-a-half before I even thought about
buying another. Of course, pinball machines get lonely, you can't really
just have one, so this was really just the beginning.
As such, High Speed remains a special game in my heart. Sure, flashier
pins have come and gone, but you always sorta remember your first, right?
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Copyright © 1996-2002 Bill Ung
http://brad.rhps.org/