- ipdb_id
- 7051
- ipdb.notes
- The only evidence we have for this game is a picture from many years ago of the backglass separated from the game (not shown here) and slightly out of focus so we could not decipher the several lines of text in its lower right corner to look for a manufacturer name and copyright date. The artwork shows a male vampire in a graveyard carrying one of three women among flying bats and with a large castle in the background under a full moon. The glass has the layout identical to some solid state games made in Spain by Petaco/Recel with respect to its placement of its four long and red solid state display windows, credit window, free play and extra balls windows, and the match numbers arranged like a clock's face.
The upper backglass shows a unique diamond-shaped logo indicating "Sistema 3" and, of all of the games for which we have Recel's System 3 identified to them and for which we have backglass pictures, only one game also has that logo and is the only game in that group identified as made by a company not in Spain but in Portugal, Irmacor's 'Playtime'. None of those games, including Playtime, had the several lines of text that we saw on the Vampiro backglass.
Reportedly, Portugal in the 1970s had strict laws about importing gambling devices and these laws somehow extended to pinball machines such that, in order to work around these laws, Irmacor would import Spanish-made games, modify the game in some way, then claim it was manufactured in Portugal, and then be able to sell them in Portugal.
We were provided the following information by Pedro Pimenta:
In the beginning, somewhere in the 70's, there was a company in Porto [Portugal] called Macoral that was one of the pioneers in the arcade business. Macoral belonged to the brothers Joaquim and Almerindo Correia. At a certain point, the two brothers broke their partnership and started their own companies - Irmacor owned by Almerindo and Macofil by Joaquim.
This backglass/game was presented to us as being made by Macofil. While this has not yet been confirmed by us, that name may be part of the several lines of text seemingly unique to this blurred backglass picture that we have seen. We have no other games or documentation from that manufacturer with which to compare.
We are seeking pictures of this game including close-ups of the backglass text in its lower right corner.
- player_count
- 4
- system
- recel-system-iii
- technology_generation
- solid-state
- theme
- Fictional Characters
- theme
- Myth And Legend
- theme
- Dracula