Williams Funhouse Pinball and Rudy

This video shows Rudy during test mode and Gamestart.
I just added the Pinball Pro Subwoofer kit and did not adjust the levels when I took this vid.
I thought it would be a good time to make the vid with the Playfield glass still off
hence the garbled sound .

Funhouse / IPD No. 966 / November, 1990 / 4 Players
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Average Fun Rating: 8.2/10 (170 ratings/122 comments) [ Add Your Rating! ]
Manufacturer:Williams Electronic Games, Incorporated, a subsidiary of WMS Ind.,
Incorporated (1985-1999) [Trade Name: Williams]
Model Number:50003
Common Abbreviations:FH
MPU:Williams WPC (Alpha Numeric)
Type:Solid State Electronic (SS)
Production:10,750 units (approximate)
Serial Number Database:View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site)
Theme:Happiness - Circus/Carnival
Notable Features:Flippers (3), Pop bumpers (3), Manual plungers (2), Ramp (1), Standup targets (4), 3-bank standup targets (1), Cellar holes (3), Dual right inlanes, 2- or 3-ball Multiball. The ramp has a diverter that guides the ball either to the left inlane or the left outlane for a left plunger skill shot attempt. Upper loop has a "trapdoor" that opens briefly when an upper loop shot is made.
Concept by:Pat Lawlor
Design by:Pat Lawlor, Larry DeMar
Art by:John Youssi
Mechanics by:John Krutsch
Music by:Chris Granner
Sound by:Jon Hey
Software by:Larry DeMar, Brian Eddy
Notes:Ed Boon is the voice of Rudy.

According to Brian Eddy, he did not do work on the sound for this game as is sometimes stated. He stated at Expo 2004 that he did only display effects and some flasher effects for this game.

Reportedly, about 200 of the first playfields made were manufactured with "Diamond Plate" covering. Additionally, several years later and due to dwindling replacement stock, a set of NOS replacement playfields was manufactured which also had the Diamond Plate covering, although these are also reported to suffer from having the red color 'bleed' around the center playfield clock.

Also, early production models of Funhouse have the Williams System 11 sound board (part no. D-11581) hooked up to the WPC board (via an adapter), because the WPC sound board wasn't yet ready for distribution.

Larry DeMar shares with us some of the design efforts:

There was a mechanical clock created for Fun House. However it was a very
different design than the clock which was used in Twilight Zone.

Cost was one of the issues that led to the removal of the mechanical clock but the initial design which used two solenoid-operated stepper wheels rather than an electric motor was not reliable and Pat was uncomfortable with getting it fixed in the time frame we had to finish the game. So John Krutsch started work on the later design which was finally used in Twilight Zone.

Rudy "names" each player and addresses that player by their name. Most interesting in a multi-player game but in my opinion a feature that we put a lot of effort into which had very little impact on the quality of the game (most people just didn't notice).

The concept of [naming one of the players] "Slick" was that Rudy didn't like you and was picking on you, which we thought would cause buddies to rib each other in multi-player games but no one noticed this either besides discovering certain "rare" phrases like "zooooooooooooooooooooom"!

Matt Walsh comments further:

Light inserts on the lower playfield take the place of the clock's functionality.

Each player who starts a game of Funhouse is given a name...like Chucky, Spunky, Bucko, and Slick. That name sticks for your player for each ball. It's not that obvious; I'm sure many people don't even notice that.

Originally, the idea was that each of those names was to have it's own 'personality' such that Rudy would use varying phrases for each person. But all that remains of this feature is that some of Rudy's phrases will have the player's name inserted in. Well almost. If the player receives the name "Slick" - which is only possible in a two or more player game - the semi-derisive phrases will be used.


Williams used this game theme once before on Williams' 1956 'Fun House' which had three trap doors.
Marketing Slogans: "The Game is Watching You"
Photos in: Pinball Trader pp. Issue 27
Arcade Treasures, page 136
The Complete Pinball Book, pages 163-164
The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, page 128
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book A-F
Rule Sheets:Funhouse Rulesheet (Apr/16/1991), by Mark Phaedrus
Owners List URL:http://www.robsgameroom.com/RGR/FHOwn... (External site)
Additional Info:View at PinLinks.org (External site)
This info was sourced from www.ipdb.org