First of all sorry that I dont write in french. Je peux le lire mais je ne peux pas ecrire en francais.
My name is Ekkehart, I am a german Pinball-Collector (EM 1930 -1977) and a huge fan of Rally Fliptronics. These pinballs are far ahead of their time and have a true european design, which makes them truly unique.
As I have all 5 of them, Fredc (hi there) advised, that I make some articles, as alot of readers are interested in information about Rally Flippers.
So I start with the Rally Girl, which was the first Fliptronic ever made.
As you can see the theme is the Rallyesport, but this time only with girls
The playfield is very stylish with a checkered flag as background.
With darkened room, the many colored lights look even more impressive.
The upper part shows the skill-shot gates, with the highest score in the middle.
All over the playfield, you can find “RallyGirls” :D The biggest one is directly above the flipperarms.
On the left, there is a girl in a nice Alfa Romeo.
Some hitchhiker girls seem to be part of the rallye too. Here with an american car called “Monza” ??
In the picture above you can see the revolutionary bumpers also. Rally Girl has 5 of them, more than any other Rally Fliptronic. Also on the playfield are numerous logos of carbrands, I wonder if Rally paid all the royalities ?
Alfa Romeo
Ferrari
Mercedes... etc. etc...
Even on the targets, there are brands of cars.
By the way: The quality of the playfield is awesome: My Rally Girl has 45000 games on it, and the playfield looks like just made, no scratches, no marks...
The backglass is very abstract and typical of the the Fliptronic style. It is a bit too colorful for my taste though.
Now about the gameplay: Many say that the Rally Fliptronics are kinda boring. I can not confirm this at all. True, the whole playfield elements are rather basic: Bumpers, Targets and Lanes. But the playfield of Rally Girl is well designed. The goal ist to hit the Carbrand targets when they are lit. Once completed, you get a Special with the middle target. This is rather difficult but a skillful player can learn to control every shot. When the ball comes to the upper playfield, the 5 new bumpers show their power. Properly adjusted, they are as strong as modern ones and the speed of the play is ultra-fast especially for this time (1966!!). The flipperarms are also very strong and have flat rubbers, which is a novum too. Does anyone know if any american flipper has used this style of arms before? I can not think of one...
One very interesting feature is the “random extra ball”: sometimes, the pinball gives you an extra ball. In the back-box, the owner can adjust the chances for getting an extra ball. If you get an extra ball, the electronic sound module makes a 2-tone signal. Very funny and unique!!
Overall the gameplay of the Rally Girl is very fast, difficult, but handable. I have alot of fun playing this one.
Now to the technical side. It is well known that Fliptronics used smaller relais placed on electronic boards. Not so the Rally Girl: It uses the “old” conventional “big” relais. Therefore, the back box is full of relais and units.
In the next picture you can see the first electronic sound-board ever made in a pinball. This version is still a bit different than in later models (like Comics & Playboy) but is pin-compatible.
In my Rally Girl, the soundboard worked directly without repair, after 40 years !! What a great quality :D
The front of the back box is full with relais too. The backglass is lit by four big bulbs.
Here you can see the unique scoring system with nixie tubes. 17(!!) of them are used in Rally girl. Besides, Comics is the only other 4 Player Fliptronic.
The tubes are connected to the only electronic board in the flipper and work with 250V.
The side painting of Rally Girl is rather boring: Lines on light blue background. But it looks ok.
When you turn out the room-light, the Rally girl really starts to shine. All the colored lights give it a special awesome look.
I hope you liked this little presentation of the first Fliptronic. Next time I will continue with West Club, which is in my opinion even prettier than this one.
By the way, I am always looking for trading spare parts. Let me know what you are looking for and what you can offer...
Regards,
Ekkehart
:lol:
