Sources
Contributors to this record: Flipcommons AI Descriptions (DisplayType), Flipcommons Catalog.
- description
- Flipcommons AI Descriptions (DisplayType)When [[technology-generation:solid-state]] electronics made mechanical [[display-type:score-reels]] obsolete in the late 1970s, the first generation of digital displays were simple [[display-subtype:7-segment]] LEDs — capable of showing numbers and a handful of blocky letters, glowing amber or red against the darkened backbox. By the early 1980s, manufacturers had moved to [[display-subtype:16-segment]] displays that could render the full alphabet with reasonable clarity. For the first time, a pinball machine could speak. [[manufacturer:bally]] and [[manufacturer:williams]] used alphanumeric displays extensively throughout the 1980s and into 1991, when [[display-subtype:plasma-dmd]] displays took over. Machines could now show player names, shout encouragement — GREAT SHOT, SUPER BONUS — and display the high-score initials that motivated players to put in one more quarter. Speech synthesis chips arrived around the same time, and the combination of spoken words and readable text gave machines a personality that score reels never could. The characteristic amber glow of a [[display-subtype:16-segment]] display became the visual signature of an entire era: *[[title:high-speed]]*, *[[title:earthshaker]]*, *Cyclone*, *Taxi*, *[[title:bride-of-pinbot]]*. The displays were capable of simple animations — scrolling text, flashing patterns — and designers used every available trick to suggest life within those glowing segments. When [[manufacturer:williams]] introduced the first [[display-subtype:plasma-dmd]] display in 1991, the alphanumeric era ended almost immediately, but those segmented readouts remain instantly recognizable to anyone who spent time in an arcade during the 1980s.
- display_order
- 3Flipcommons Catalog
- name
- Alpha-NumericFlipcommons Catalog
- slug
- alphanumericFlipcommons Catalog