Machine Description

Blackwater 100 was a unique pinball machine released by Bally in 1988, themed around the challenging off-road motorcycle race of the same name that took place in West Virginia. The Blackwater 100 race was known as one of America's toughest off-road competitions during the 1980s, making it a compelling theme for a pinball adaptation.

The machine featured rugged outdoor terrain artwork and incorporated motorcycle racing elements into its gameplay. The playfield design likely included ramps and obstacles meant to simulate the challenging conditions of the actual race, with various targets and scoring mechanisms representing different sections of the motorcycle course. As a solid-state machine from the late 1980s, it would have featured electronic sounds and digital scoring, though without the more advanced dot-matrix display technology that would become standard in the following decade.

While not one of Bally's most widely-produced or well-known titles, Blackwater 100 represents an interesting intersection of motorsports culture and pinball gaming during the late 1980s. The machine captured a specific moment in American motorsports history, as the actual Blackwater 100 race itself would eventually end in the early 1990s due to environmental and land use concerns.