Joe Cicak's Story
JC: "Over the months ahead, I designed and pieced together the machine with the help of friends John, Gerald, and an arcade manager named Larry. The full acrylic upper playfield was scrapped because it was too hard to affix the mechanisms to it. It was replaced with the idea of a window. The reverse slant of the lower playfield fitted the theme of falling into an alternate universe, and also afforded greater visibility - allowing a bigger lower playfield with a viewing window small enough to keep the upper playfield from seeming sparse. When the first prototype was completed, I was actually amazed to find how much fun it was to play. The interplay between the upper and lower fields was more fun than expected. After several friends agreed with my assessment, we decided to fly it off to Chicago. I wasn't familiar with whitewoods at the time, so I gawdied it up with paint and magic marker graphics and sent it off with Gerald, the born salesman of the group. I fully expected Gottlieb to laugh and show him a big room with dozens of other similar prototypes sent to them by hopeful inventors. But, to my surprise, they bought the concept on the spot."
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