Phantom Of The Opera

Released April 1990 - Production approximately 2400

The Phantom of the Opera is a 1989 Data East game, based on the Gaston Leroux novel from 1911 
apparently, rather then the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical - although from memory this premiered
in the West End of London at about the same time.   The aim of this article 
is to explain the rules of this deceptively simple game, and to hopefully persuade you that, 
if a good example is on offer, then you should give serious thought to buying it.

What was apparent to me when playing the game when it was first released were the sound effects
and music.  I think this was one of the last Data East games not to use the BSMT sound 
board, but the 'old' board is put to excellent use.  It's interesting that it doesn't 
particuarly sound 'Data East', which I feel games such as Checkpoint and Back To The Future do.
However high quality the music, though, it will not make a bad game good - so now we will 
move on to the game itself.

A standard plunger shot sees the ball at the top left of the playfield, where it will descend 
through one of three rollover lanes, denoted by musical notes. One of these lanes will be 
flashing, and if you are lucky enough to drop it through here - lane change is inoperative at 
this point - then the Organ is opened (more of this later) and lOOX ball in play is awarded. 
Whether the organ is opened or not, after the first points are scored the flashing lane stops, 
and then a standard lane-change-make-all-three-lanes arrangement comes into play. Making all 
three starts Jackpot building for a timed period, where all switches add 1000 to the jackpot, 
up to a maximum of 2,000,000 points.

Making all three starts Jackpot building for a timed period, where all switches add 1000 
to the jackpot, up to a maximum of 2,000,000.  In the unlikely event of making all three 
again before the timer runs out, the clock for 2x build is reset, if you get all three again
within the timed period it's reset for 3x and so on presumably to infinity x, though 4x is my 
limit. From the three top lanes, the ball drops to the pop bumpers (standard triangle 
positioning, 1000 each hit) and from there to the main play area.

The two main features of Phantom are the Catwalk ramp, and the Organ. The Catwalk starts to 
the left of the bumpers, continues round the back of the playfield and finally deposits the 
ball in the right return lane. Each time the ramp is made, a letter is added to P-H-A-N-T-O-M 
and the score advances by 20K, 25K and so on, until the whole word is spelt, when the ramp is 
lit for unlimited millions. This is one way to reach the high score table but the shot is timed, 
and you are doing well to shoot more than 2 or 3 ramp shots in succession. Lastly, shooting the 
ramp twice in succession on the last ball doubles your score, which is of course potentially the 
highest scoring shot of the game.   I recall (I hope correctly) Wiliams also used this feature 
at around the same time.

If the Catwalk is one high scoring area, the other is the Organ - situated in the top right 
corner of the playfield - which is also the key to multiball. The Organ is a short wide ramp 
(4" wide and 5" long) with three targets at the end. Making all three targets (or of course 
making the flashing top lane at the start of the ball) opens the organ - a motor tilts the 
ramp upwards - and locking the ball (which travels under the playfield to an upkicker on the 
left, which will then in due course kick the ball via a ramp to the left return lane) initiates 
multiball.
When the second ball has scored some points, the first ball is returned to play and the idea is 
to lock both balls in the Organ within 10 seconds of each other to enable 3 ball multiball. 
With all three balls in play, making one of the Organ targets opens it for a timed period for 
the Jackpot shot.  With the jackpot made, the organ closes and you then have to make all three 
targets to reopen it - and the jackpot also resets to lOOK or so, so the first make is the best.

As well as the Catwalk and the Organ, Phantom boasts a spinner lane on the right that
takes the ball back up to the rollover lanes, and also two holes and two banks of three spot 
targets. The centre hole is the Magic Mirror, which is guarded by a vertical swinging target 
affair, which snaps back when the ball has passed to give the illusion that it has disappeared 
(well, that's the idea!).  The Magic Mirror advances the bonus multiplier, from 2x to 5x, then 
lights the outlanes for extra ball, then awards bonus hold, and from then on just scores a few 
thousand points. The second hole, to the right of the playfield, is the trapdoor, awards 
various discrete awards, such as opening the organ, lighting the ramp for millions shot, lOOK 
and so on, before shooting the ball back onto the playfield. (Magic Mirror balls are also 
ejected from the trapdoor).
The two banks of targets ('Grasshoppers' to the left and 'Scorpions' to the right - not up, 
on my Gaston Laroux to tell you why...) need both to be made to award either lOOK, 50K and 
Bonus Hold, Light Extra Ball and Special. The award lit is decided at the start of each ball, 
and only making the award or losing the ball will change it.  It's worth noting that Phantom is 
bit cheeky with the extra balls. If the targets are made, it is the trapdoor that is lit for the 
extra ball. You might think that you would get the extra ball AND a trapdoor award, but no, 
it's just the extra ball, which  leaves  you  feeling  somewhat shortchanged.

There is the standard flipper and slingshot arrangement, with return and out lanes on both 
sides. (On a technical note Phantom was the last Data East game to have directly controlled 
bumpers and slingshots, in practice this means that the slingshot switches especially must be 
well adjusted or you run the risk of weak and sloppy kicking).  The return lanes light the 
Catwalk and the spinner lane respectively for 'Mystery Score', which remains a mystery because 
the game doesn't actually tell you what you scored! The outlanes score 25K and can be lit for 
extra ball, while the left outlane has a kickback. Once used, this can be relit by the trapdoor, 
which on these occasions awards the trapdoor award as well!

A discussion of this game cannot be concluded without a mention for Paul Faris' excellent 
backglass.  At this time Data East were still screen printing their glasses, and Phantom is 
(I think) unique in that both sides of the glass are printed. The reason for this is that 
the disfigured face of the phantom has been painted on the rear of the glass, but covered 
with a mask on the front.
Therefore, normally you see the masked face, but when flashlamps behind are turned on the
phantom is revealed in all his horror! This effect  could  have  been  achieved  with 
conventional hidden artwork, but it was obviously felt that the extra quality of the effect 
was worth the extra cost. As well as the mask, the phantom's hat, the title script and some 
detailing around the score displays are printed on the front of the glass.  With good use of 
mirroring, the glass looks superb, but is of course more difficult to look after, plus when on
site people often scratched the artwork on the front of the glass, resulting in pristene glasses
being something of a rarity today.

In conclusion, I think the game is great, with good gameplay coupled to superb sounds and 
graphics.  There has been critisism levelled that the game is too simple, with not enough to 
hold the interest, but though I would say it is not a particuarly 'deep' game it has certainly 
managed to hold MY interest - as with any game, however, it is very much a matter of personal 
taste, so if you find one I recommend you give it a few plays and see what you think.