History Pinball / Varkon

* AntagonistTitle
* AppealToNovelty
* CoolGate[=/=]PortalDoor: Varkon is seen through a stone circle leading... ''somewhere.''

* HeroicFantasy

* SpellingBonus: V-A-R increases the bumper values, while K-O-N raises the bonus multiplier.

* FeaturelessProtagonist: The hero's only known features are that he's male, Caucasian, and has blone/white hair. Even his face is never seen.

Responding to the rising popularity of arcade video games at the time, in 1982 Creator/WilliamsElectronics released ''Varkon'', a PhysicalPinballTable designed by Tony Kraemer with art by Seamus [=McLaughlin=].

While games like ''Pinball/{{Caveman}}'' and ''Pinball/BabyPacMan'' attempted to combine pinballs with video games, ''Varkon'' took the simpler approach of disguising a pinball table as an arcade game. The game featured two playfields: the upper one shows a warrior confronting a magic portal, through which the lower playfield -- with the demonic face of Varkon -- showing through. Both playfields are tilted away from the player and viewed through a mirror, which the player sees vertically, while lightning bolts and scores are projected over the action. Players control the flippers with two joysticks, while buttons controlled the rollover lights. Hitting targets on the upper playfield enables the lower playfield, so the player can attack Varkon directly.

As a pinball, ''Varkon'' plays reasonably well, given the limitations of the design -- the small playfield results in a fast and simple game that still manages to have a fair amount of challenge. The plexiglass upper playfield and the inverted display throw new players for a loop, at least until they've had a few games to become accustomed to the ball's behavior. Unfortunately, arcade operators were uninterested in ''Varkon'', and only 90 machines were made; the few that survive today tend to be hoarded by pinball collectors looking for a truly novel game in their collection.

'''Bottom:''' The ''Varkon'' playfield]]

* SpellingBonus: V-A-R increases the bumper values, while K-O-N raises the bonus multiplier.

While games like ''Pinball/{{Caveman}}'' and ''Pinball/BabyPacMan'' attempted to combine pinballs with video games, ''Varkon'' took the simpler approach of disguising a pinball table as an arcade game. The game featured two playfields: the upper one shows a warrior confronting a magic portal, through which the lower portal -- with the demonic face of Varkon -- showing through. Both playfields are tilted away from the player and viewed through a mirror, which the player sees vertically, while lightning bolts and scores are projected over the action. Players control the flippers with two joysticks, while buttons controlled the rollover lights. Hitting targets on the upper playfield enables the lower playfield, so the player can attack Varkon directly.

[[caption-width-right:300:'''Top':'' The ''Varkon'' cabinet\\

Responding to the rising popularity of arcade video games at the time, in 1982 Creator/WilliamsElectronics released ''Varkon'', a PhysicalPinballTable designed by Tony Kraemer with art by Seamus McLaughlin.