Bally’s The Shadow, released in 1994, holds a special place in pinball history as the very first machine designed by Brian Eddy — the man who would go on to create the one-two punch of Attack from Mars and Medieval Madness. Based on the 1994 film, it’s an inventive, underrated table packed with mechanical ideas: player-controlled diverters on both ramps, a magnetic ball lock that freezes the ball and pulls it inside for Shadow Multiball, a thrust magnet, and a Breakout-style upper mini-playfield called the Battlefield, complete with an optic-sensing paddle.
The scoring rewards combos and precision. Shooting the four rings starts Vengeance, with ramps climbing in value and a 100-million reward for comboing all four in a row. The left orbit to upper loop two-way combo starts at ten million and grows three million each time, carrying over ball to ball, while the gun-trigger plunger doubles as a smart bomb in video mode and a Mongol Hurry-Up collector. As with all of Eddy’s work, the mode points pay out big in the end-of-ball bonus, so tilting is to be avoided.
There’s even a hidden laughing mode for players who pull the trigger at the right moment in the scoops. Fast, mechanically rich, and brimming with the design instincts that would soon make Eddy a legend, The Shadow is a genuinely overlooked classic — a fascinating first chapter from one of pinball’s greatest minds. Who knows what evil lurks? The Shadow knows.