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It's a big country... Someone's got to tear it up!
Red: Let's rip some road!

Red & Ted's Road Show (often just called Road Show) is a 1994 pinball machine released by Williams Electronics. It was designed by Pat Lawlor, Dwight Sullivan, and Ted Estes, with artwork by John Youssi. Country singer Carlene Carter provides the voice of "Red"; Tim Kitzrow (of NBA Jam fame) voices "Ted".

Red and Ted are a couple of demolition experts on a cross-country trip in their bulldozer, wreaking havoc and having fun along the way. As they go from day to day and city to city, help them blast obstacles, buy souvenirs, and rack up those miles. Watch out for Flying Rocks and angry taxi drivers, keep the radio playing country music, and — most importantly — collect those paychecks. Stay on your toes when the machine starts rumbling, because Red and Ted will be watching you the whole time. And if you can get to the West Coast, you might be able to start Super Payday for big bonuses!

Players have mixed feelings about Road Show. On the one hand, it's a solid pinball game, with lots of depth and humor to keep players entertained. On the other hand, it feels like an evolutionary amalgamation of Pat Lawlor's earlier games, especially FunHouse (1990) — but following blockbusters like The Addams Family and Twilight Zone is a challenge for anyone. Regardless, Red & Ted's blue-collar humor resonated with a lot of players, and the table remains highly popular in truck stops and rural establishments.

A digital version was formerly available for FarSight Studios' The Pinball Arcade before their license to all Williams and Bally tables expired on July 1, 2018. However, it has since reappared in Volume 4 of Zen Stduios' Pinball FX3 Williams Collection.


"Hey look, Ted, tropes!":

  • Alien Invasion: This happens in Seattle.
  • Art Evolution: Compared to Rudy from FunHouse (1990), Red and Ted's "PinMation" heads feature more detail, including eyelashes and hair.
  • Ash Face: Completing Atlanta's "Worker Trapped" mode results in the hapless victim covered in soot.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever/Notzilla: San Francisco gets attacked by a giant reptile monster.note 
  • Blah, Blah, Blah: Nashville has the "Change the Station" mode.
    Ted: "It's...talk...radio!"
    Red: "Change the station!"
  • Blind Driving: Implied when two balls are locked, since Ted falls asleep.
    Red: Keep your eyes on the road.
    Red: Wake up!
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the Spring Break mode, hitting a target sometimes shows a guy banging his hands against the display. The shaker motor also activates to simulate his actions.
  • Cap:
    • The display will only show the last ten digits of each player's score, but scores over 10 billion will be displayed in full on the high-score screens.
    • You can only get credit for up to 9,999 miles in the end-of-ball bonus.
    • The bonus multiplier tops out at 6x value.
  • Company Cross References:
    • The police car in Ohio is Car 504 from High Speed, and the officer's name is "Officer Steve Speed".
      Officer: "Okay, buddy, pull over now!"
    • In Kansas City, the broadcaster warning about the tornado is from Pat Lawlor's Whirlwind.
      "The storm is coming ... return to your homes."
    • Fittingly, the alien fleet invading Seattle—as well as the robots that show up in New Orleans—are the Invaders from Twilight Zone, right down to the same sound effects.
    • Given the game's status as a Spiritual Successor to FunHouse (1990), it should come as no surprise that there are several references to that game:
      • One of the signs outside of Bob's Bunker says "Frenzy? Bwa ha ha ha!"
      • Collecting the Lunch Time bonus shows a weinermobile on the DMD with the point bonus. Or, in other words: "It's lunch time! Get yourself a hotdog!"
      • Red is essentially Rudy's Distaff Counterpart, with many of her lines echoing his. (Among other things, she can remark "What'd I ever do to you?" upon being hit by the ball.)
      • Starting multiball is near-identical to FunHouse, with the ball entering Ted's mouth... only for him to eat it instead of spitting it back out.
    • Los Angeles' mode is nicknamed "Earthshaker!", and you get to hear Red imitate that game's Title Scream at the end of the mode.
    • The Jackpot animation is the same as the Super Jackpot animation in The Getaway: High Speed II.
    • Finish multiball without scoring a single jackpot and Red remarks "You missed EVERYTHING!"
  • Country Music
    • The "Radio Riot" mode actually has Shout Outs to real-life country music stations.
    • The instrumental bridge of Carlene Carter's "Every Little Thing" plays during multiball and any West Coast city mode. Hit a jackpot or start Super Payday, and the the song jumps to the final chorus.
  • Creator Cameo:
    • Carlene Carter appears on the billboard in the backglass.
    • The driver of the red Corvette in the backglass is Pat Lawlor.
  • Determinator: The taxicab driver, who's out to get revenge on Ted for smashing his cab in New York. Twice.
    Cabbie: I have returned for you, mister bulldozer man!
    Red: Oh no, not him again!
  • Double Entendre: Ted, after scoring two or more jackpots in multiball.
    Ted: "I feel like I've been rode hard and put away wet."
  • Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Super Payday starts with Red and Ted accidentally destroying the Earth while fighting the current crisis (alien invasion, monster attack, or earthquake).
  • Easter Egg:
    • Pressing both flipper buttons when the marquee at Bob's Bunker reads "Uranium Ore $3/chunk" activates Construction Mania.
    • Entering your name as "TED" in the high scores will cause Red to go "Hmmmmm, Ted."
  • Faux Horrific: In Nashville, Red and Ted freak out about talk radio.
  • Hot Pursuit: A police chase breaks out when you get to Ohio.
  • Human Popsicle: Red and Ted try to thaw out some folks in Minneapolis.
  • I'm Not Afraid of You: Said word-for-word by the taxi driver in New York, after destroying a taxi cab.
  • It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans: Going to New Orleans lands the duo in the middle of a Mardi Gras parade, and Ted decides to clear the pedestrians in the most expedient way possible.
    Ted: I knew I shoulda brung more than one T-shirt.
  • Karma Houdini: Red and Ted never suffer any serious consequences for their actions, due to Rule of Funny.
  • Kitsch Collection: The tacky souvenirs you can win or buy (with points from your score) throughout the game.
    Red: We came here for this?
    • Each city has a souvenir associated with it, such as a deck of cards for Las Vegas. During the end-of-ball bonus count, you get extra points if you have the souvenir for any of the cities you've played. These bonuses stack, so having multiples of a souvenir can really pay off if you play that city.
    • Some of the available souvenirs are pinballs that will light/award an extra ball or special as soon as you buy them. You can't sell them in Albuquerque, though.
  • Large Ham: Both Red and Tednote  have their moments.
  • Locked in the Bathroom: Happens in Atlanta, with a worker trapped in a porta-potty. Red and Ted help blast him out. Successfully helping this guy shows him in Ash Face.
    [BOOM!]
    Ted: See? That didn't hurt a bit.
  • Mars Needs Women: The Alien Invasion in Seattle.
    Red: Hey look, Ted, aliens!
    Ted: I think they like ya, Red.
  • Medium Awareness: How Ted responds after a tilt.
    Ted: Now, that's pinball.
  • Name and Name: Red and Ted.
  • No Body Left Behind: Minnesota's "Frozen People" round specifically states not to shoot the Blast Zone. If you do, the round ends immediately and any still-frozen people disintegrate into piles of ash.
  • No OSHA Compliance: At the start of the round where you use an extra ball you collected, a construction worker is crushed by a dropped wrecking ball.
  • Ow, My Body Part!: Ted complains about his head after multiball is finished, if only one jackpot is claimed.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: Red and Ted - the former is the latter's boss, after all.
  • Protagonist Title: Red and Ted are the lead characters.
  • Score Multiplier: Shooting either ramp after passing through the opposite inlane will advance the bonus multiplier by one, to a maximum of 6X. One more shot after that will light Extra Ball (though this can only be done once per game).
  • Shout-Out: The "Rubber Nose" souvenir is a caricature of Roger Sharpe, the pinball player who got New York City's ban on pinball machines overturned.
  • Skill Shot:
    • Launch the ball into the Blast Hole without hitting anything else to get a free souvenir and a score bonus.
    • Shoot the ball into Bob's Bunker without hitting any other switches/targets to collect the secret "Bob's Lotto" score award.
  • Songs in the Key of Panic: If no multiball jackpots are scored, intensified music plays as the player is prompted to shoot the main lock to restart multiball.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: How Red and Ted approach anything they can't knock down.
  • Take That!: One of the random signs in the window of Bob's Bunker is "Secret Video Mode", apparently a mocking reference to the absent "secret video mode" from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  • Take That, Audience!:
    • If you finish multiball without getting a single jackpot, Red shouts "You missed EVERYTHING!"
    • One of Red's quotes when starting a new game is "Jerk alert!"
  • The Taxi: One of the first encounters is with an irate taxi driver in New York City. He returns to get revenge in Dallas (driving a cab on a monster truck chassis) and Salt Lake City (for a Wild West showdown).
  • Toilet Humor: You blow up a port-a-potty in Atlanta.
  • Unusual Euphemism: If Red is hit enough times.
  • Vanity License Plate: The Corvette on the backglass has "GAME BIZ" plates.
  • Villain Protagonist: Downplayed. Sure, Red and Ted are very much destroying everything in sight with their bulldozer, but they seem oblivious to the damage they're causing.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: From time to time, such as when Red questions Ted's lowbrow tastes.
    Ted: whistles
    Red: Jerk alert!
    Ted: Aww, Red.
  • Viva Las Vegas!: One of the stops.
    Red: Hey look Ted, slot machines.
    Ted: There goes Friday's paycheck.
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Subverted; when the Payday Multiball is started, it sounds like Ted is choking on the ball similar to Rudy, but he ends up swallowing it.
  • We Buy Anything: Going to the Trading Post in Albuquerque lets you sell (some of) the souvenirs for more points than you paid for them.
  • We Sell Everything: Bob's Souvenir Bunker.
  • We Will Meet Again: The cabbie makes this threat at the end of the New York City mode. He makes good on it in Dallas and Salt Lake City.
  • Wingding Eyes: One of the beach party attendees is a man with spirals in his eyes.
  • Wizard Mode: Super Payday, available at any of the West Coast cities. Lock two balls without draining before time runs out and Ted will slam the bulldozer's blade down, which shatters the Earth(!) This is followed by a multiball frenzy with everything lit for maximum points.
  • World of Ham: Two road-ripping rednecks with a bulldozer and dynamite — what else would you expect?
  • Zonk: Most of the available souvenirs can either raise a player's end-of-ball bonus (based on visited cities) or result in extra balls or specials. However, a few souvenirs are joke items that have no effect on gameplay (though they can be sold at a profit in Albuquerque if your bonus multiplier is high enough).

Red: Don't be a stranger!

Alternative Title(s): Road Show

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