Back Paragon

Sources

OPDB and IPDB and Flipcommons Catalog contributed to this record.

Conflicts resolved (2 fields)

gameplay_feature
IPDB Spinning Targets used IPDB Star Rollovers ×4 used IPDB Standup Targets ×2 used IPDB Kick-Out Holes ×3 used IPDB 3-Bank Drop Targets used IPDB 4-in-Line Drop Targets used IPDB Slingshots ×2 used IPDB Pop Bumpers ×4 used IPDB Flippers ×4 used
credit
IPDB Paul Faris — Art IPDB Greg Kmiec — Design Flipcommons Catalog Greg Kmiec — Design used Flipcommons Catalog Paul Faris — Art used

Sources agree (11 fields)

display_type
alphanumeric OPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
technology_generation
solid-state OPDB, IPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
player_count
4 OPDB, IPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
month
6 OPDB, IPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
year
1979 OPDB, IPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
opdb_id
GrXy3-ML0Ey OPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
name
Paragon OPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
theme
Fantasy IPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
system
bally-as2518-35 IPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
production_quantity
9120 IPDB, Flipcommons Catalog
ipdb_id
1755 IPDB, Flipcommons Catalog

Single source (15 fields)

tag
OPDB Widebody used
abbreviation
OPDB PG used
opdb.images
OPDB [{"type":"backglass","urls":{"large":"https://img.opdb.org/4730d2c7-6bbe-4273-ae8f-2fc4f4149eba-large.jpg","small":"https://img.opdb.org/4730d2c7-6bbe-4273-ae8f-2fc4f4149eba-small.jpg","medium":"https://img.opdb.org/4730d2c7-6bbe-4273-ae8f-2fc4f4149eba-medium.jpg"},"sizes":{"large":{"width":673,"height":596},"small":{"width":250,"height":221},"medium":{"width":640,"height":567}},"title":"Backglass","primary":true},{"type":"playfield","urls":{"large":"https://img.opdb.org/24ee525a-8086-44a1-be1a-9d4b8e9c44c7-large.jpg","small":"https://img.opdb.org/24ee525a-8086-44a1-be1a-9d4b8e9c44c7-small.jpg","medium":"https://img.opdb.org/24ee525a-8086-44a1-be1a-9d4b8e9c44c7-medium.jpg"},"sizes":{"large":{"width":864,"height":851},"small":{"width":250,"height":246},"medium":{"width":640,"height":630}},"title":null,"primary":true}] used
opdb.keywords
OPDB ["Fantasy","Widebody"] used
opdb.features
OPDB ["Widebody"] used
ipdb.manufacturer_trade_name
IPDB Bally used
ipdb.corporate_entity_name
IPDB Bally Manufacturing Corporation used
ipdb.image_urls
IPDB ["https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/Machine.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/Playfield.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/1755F2.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/1755f1.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/1755f3.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/1755f4.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-2.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-3.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-4.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-5.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-6.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-7.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-8.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-9.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-1.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-10.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-11.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-12.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-14.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-15.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-16.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-18.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-20.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-19.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-17.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-21.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-22.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-23.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-24.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-25.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-26.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-27.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-28.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-29.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-33.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-34.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-32.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-31.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-30.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-37.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-38.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-13.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-35.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-36.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-40.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-39.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-41.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-42.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-43.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-44.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-45.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-46.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-47.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-49.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-50.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-48.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-51.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-52.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-53.png","https://www.ipdb.org/images/1755/image-54.png"] used
ipdb.model_number
IPDB 1167-E used
ipdb.notes
IPDB 'Paragon' is the first widebody production game from this manufacturer. We had heard anecdotally that when the Golden Cliffs feature is at maximum and then a ball lands in its saucer, the tune that is played is the interlude from The Ohio Players' song "The Worm" that was on the charts when the game was being designed. Designer Greg Kmiec later told us:It has come to my attention that the song was indeed "The Worm." Every ball in the saucer added one note to the tune. Paragon was Bally's first wide-body. You might be able to recognize features from different games in the layout: the Capt. Fantastic bottom flippers, the Old Chicago bottom thumper bumper on the left, the Knockout Wiggler channel on the right (the across-the-playfield feed into the Knockout Wiggler lane was an homage to Ted Zale), the Harlem Globetrotters in-line drop targets on the left side feeding a reverse Capt. Fantastic across -the-playfield drop target shot and the top two saucers similar to Wizard.An earlier game that builds a song tune note by note is Bally's 1978 'Playboy'. The standard version of this playfield has four flippers as shown on the flyer. An unknown quantity of the games shipped to Europe had only three flippers. In this version, a ball guide and a single post replaced the upper right flipper, and the flipper assembly was not installed. In addition, a mini-post was added at the opening beneath the pop bumper in the Beast�s Lair to make it more difficult for the ball to leave the playfield that way. We asked Greg Kmiec to comment on why the 3-flipper version was created. He replies:I wouldn't have originally designed Paragon with that lower right section that way because it looks like the pinball could get stuck between those two wire forms. If my memory serves me correctly, I seem to recall that the Italian, French and German markets were quite strong for Bally during that period and Bally was often visited by various foreign distributors. I recall that they relayed the fact that their players liked to hold the pinball by the flippers. The way it was relayed to designers through interpreters was that their players liked to hold the pinball on the flipper, take a drink of beer and brag to other players about the skill shot they were about to shoot. That couldn't be done with the original Paragon design. I tried something different with Paragon, since it was Bally's first wide-body game. It was relayed to Bally that the foreign player preferred one return lane on each side at the bottom of the game that "returned" the pinball to the flippers for a playfield skill shot. This type of design became known within the industry as the "Italian Bottom." It was used extensively then throughout the industry and is still in use today. I do seem to recall adjustments being made to Paragon for foreign games [to have the "Italian Bottom"]. I don't recall how many were changed or if they were changed for only one country or one distributor, but they were definitely changed in the factory on the production line. It might have been due to a combination of two factors: the foreign distributors requesting something their players wanted and Bally realizing a cost reduction on the Bill-Of-Materials by eliminating a flipper. Bally might have been willing to change part of a production run just to sell a new wide-body game. Reportedly, all Paragon games in France have only 3 flippers. used
ipdb.notable_features
IPDB Flippers (4), Pop bumpers (4), Slingshots (2), 4-in-line drop targets (1), 3-bank drop targets (1), Kick-out holes (3), Standup targets (2), Star rollovers (4), Spinning target (1), Upper right chicane lane awards lit features. used
ipdb_rating
IPDB 7.9 used
corporate_entity
Flipcommons Catalog bally-manufacturing-corporation used
title
Flipcommons Catalog paragon used
slug
Flipcommons Catalog paragon-2 used