Face the dragon — Antar is a fantasy solid-state four-player from the Spanish manufacturer Playmatic, one of the European makers whose machines form a fascinating chapter of pinball’s global story. With an alphanumeric display and a dragons-and-fantasy theme, it’s an intriguing continental machine with a distinctive, memory-driven target feature at its heart.
The layout is a busy, well-appointed spread with a genuinely clever wrinkle: three flippers, a single pop bumper, ten “memory” drop targets, four standup targets, two ball kickers, two kick-out holes, a solitary drop target, and a spinning target. Those ten memory drop targets are the machine’s standout feature — a large, sophisticated bank that “remembers” progress, giving a player a substantial and satisfying objective to work through, more elaborate than the simple drop banks of many contemporaries. The spinning target offers high-value shots, while the ball kickers and kick-out holes add variety and the three flippers open up extra attacking angles, all in service of the sword-and-sorcery theme.
Antar is a fine example of the broader, international sweep of pinball history beyond the familiar American names. Playmatic built games with real character and technical ambition, and this fantasy title — with its clever ten-target memory bank — captures the European flipper tradition with its own distinctive flavor. For the collector who appreciates the global corners of the hobby and the makers who pushed their designs in interesting directions, it’s a worthy find. Work that big memory drop bank, rip the spinner, and slay the dragon. The far corners of pinball history hold plenty of clever surprises, and this Spanish fantasy machine is one of them. Draw your sword and drop a coin.