The Addams Family is the best selling pinball machine of all time, having sold 20,270 units. Manufactured by Midway (under the Bally name), it is a solid state electronic game. It was based on the 1991 movie of the same name, and features custom speech (mostly drawn from the movie) by the movie's stars, Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston.

In October 1994, a "Special Collectors Edition" (called "The Addams Family Gold") featuring specially designed accents, i.e. golden siderails, a golden lockbar, golden legs and a slightly enhanced software program was created for the game. (Only one thousand Collector's Edition units were produced.) A few original games also were enhanced with golden features to celebrate the new sales record.

Notable Features

The machine has a number of notable features, including:

• A Thing hand that comes out of a box and uses a magnet to pick up and store the ball when it lands in the appropriate spot.
• "The Power", a magnet in the middle of the playing field that, when activated, can cause the ball to go in unpredictable directions.
• When a ball drains and a riff from the theme music plays, the flippers will occasionally flip in time to the "snap snap" sound in the theme, followed by Gomez announcing "Why, thank you, Thing."
• A small flipper that is sometimes played by the Thing (the first CPU controlled flipper in history). When activated, Thing will attempt to hit the swamp shot. If Thing fails, the game recalibrates Thing's timing to hit the shot more successfully in future attempts. (Thing Flips data may be reset by the operator at any time.)

Game Modes

The game contains 13 bonuses, which are obtained by shooting the ball into the electric chair. The bonuses are:

3 Million: Awards the player 3 million points. This can prevent the player from obtaining the 6 Million point award, depending on the game's difficulty setting. Gomez shouts, "3 Million!"

Graveyard At Max: Sets each graveyard bumper to the maximum value of 50,000. Gomez shouts, "Out to the cemetery! Come on everybody!"

Hit Cousin It: Each target counts as 200,000 additional points, awarded at the end of the ball assuming no tilting or slam tilting occurred. If the ball hits It, an additional 50,000 points is added per target. Truly skilled players can get multiple It hits off the top right flipper. This bonus round lasts 20 seconds. Gomez shouts, "It's Cousin It!"

The Mamushka: Each target is worth 250,000 additional points, awarded at the end of the ball assuming no tilting or slam tilting occurred. This bonus round lasts 20 seconds. Gomez shouts, "The Mamushka!"

6 Million: Awards the player 6 million points, and automatically spots the "3 Million" window depending on the game's difficulty setting. Gomez shouts, "6 Million!"

Quick Multiball: Lights the Quick Multiball light. A player hits the ball to Thing to receive an additional ball in play. During the multiball, the player can hit the vault for additional points. The value of hitting the vault starts at 5,000,000, and increases indefinitely by 1,000,000 whenever the player hits the vault or gets a bear kick. The bonus terminates when one of the two balls is lost. Gomez shouts, "Quick Multiball."

Fester's Tunnel Hunt: Awards the player 5, 10, and 15 million points for hitting the swamp, chair and vault, in any order. Points are given only for the first hit. The bonus terminates when all three are hit, or when 20 seconds elapses. Morticia says "Look darling, just what we've been searching for."

Seance: Awards the player 5, 10, and 15 million points for each bear kick or staircase shot. The player has 20 seconds to shoot either ramp three times. ("The Power" magnets are activated to make the round more difficult.) Gomez says, "Seance. Knock three times."

9 Million: Awards the player 9 million points. Gomez shouts, "9 Million!"

Thing Multiball: A timer decrements steadily from 15,000,000 points. The player must get the ball to Thing before the bonus terminates. If he is successful, then he is awarded the number of points left on the timer. He is also given another ball, and each hit to the vault yields that point value. After the second ball is awarded, the bonus terminates after losing one of the two balls.

Raise the Dead: Each set of 4 hits to a bumper in the graveyard yields 3 million points, awarded to the player after the ball assuming no tilting or slam tilting occurred. The bonus terminates after 30 seconds. Gomez shouts, "Raise the dead! Out to the cemetery! Come on, everybody!"

Lite Extra Ball: The extra ball becomes available, and is earned by shooting the ball into Thing's saucer.

Question Mark: "Tour the Mansion" -- is lit when all the other mansion rooms have been lit. Awards 50,000,000 points, lights the extra ball, lights the "special", maximizes the graveyard value, and starts each mode automatically, one after the other. If the ball drains, the round ends.

Marketing Slogans

• "A pinball experience for the whole family!"
• "Now there's some `thing' special in pinball!"