{"id":8933,"date":"2017-09-22T06:50:20","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T05:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/?p=8933"},"modified":"2017-09-28T11:38:52","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T10:38:52","slug":"terra-technica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pinballnews.com\/site\/2017\/09\/22\/terra-technica\/","title":{"rendered":"TERRA TECHNICA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just across the border at Kleinhaugsdorf from Austria to the Czech Republic on the Czech side is the Excalibur City Shopping Centre.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Part<\/a>
Part of the Excalibur City shopping centre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is owned by Ronald Seunig who has been collecting jukeboxes for many years. He has long searched for a suitable place to house his jukebox collection, but then decided to build his own ‘time-travel’ museum in the Shopping Centre complex to house them. \u00a0There are now more than 600 jukeboxes, numerous arcade games, and – more importantly for us – around 200 pinball machines in his 6,000m\u00b2 (65,000 sq ft) building, named Terra Technica.<\/p>\n

\"Promotional<\/a>
Promotional banners for the grand opening<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The road to the Terra Technica building<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The pinball machines come from\u00a0G\u00fcnter Freinberger, while the arcade games are provided by\u00a0Andranik Ghalustians.<\/p>\n

The Terra Technica museum is split into six sectors, each representing a different period of time.<\/p>\n

Zone 1 – 1880 to 1920<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This starts in the pre-jukebox era, where people still enjoyed recorded music. \u00a0The museum wants to show how people listened to music during these years – such as via the Edison cylinder players.<\/p>\n

\"Music<\/a>
Music players of various types<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Player<\/a>
Player pianos, gramophones and other music players<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A coin-operated orchestrion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zone 2 – 1920s to 1930s<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This was the time when the amplifier was invented by John Gabel and the first selective jukeboxes were produced, meaning each recording no longer needed a separate needle and pickup for each recording.<\/p>\n

Jukeboxes were pieces of furniture and mainly built by carpenters. \u00a0The familiar names of Wurlitzer, Rock-Ola, Seeburg and AMI came to prominence, with Wurlitzer having special success.<\/p>\n

\"Early<\/a>
Early jukeboxes were built like pieces of furniture<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pre-flipper bagatelle games were also made popular during this time.<\/p>\n

\"Pre-flipper<\/a>
Pre-flipper games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The famous Ballyhoo game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zone 3 – 1938 to 1948: The Golden Age<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is the so-called Golden Age, possibly due to the introduction of materials such as Catalin and Bakelite which allowed shiny, bright colours to the jukebox.<\/p>\n

Jukeboxes are getting to be real eye-catchers and become extremely popular, especially in the US.<\/p>\n

Rock-Ola produces the Tone Column jukebox, with the rare ‘Mystic Muse’ model and the war-time ‘President’ of which only three were produced.<\/p>\n

\"Brightly-coloured<\/a>
Brightly-coloured jukeboxes on display include the Rock-Ola Tone Column<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Rock-Ola Mystic Music jukebox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A unique Rock-Ola exhibit?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"More<\/a>
More colourful jukeboxes alongside the Humpty Dumpty and Singapore games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zone 4 – 1950s to 1960s: The Silver Age<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is called the ‘Silver Age’ because of all the chrome trim found on jukeboxes from this era.<\/p>\n

Jukeboxes started having much larger selections of recordings, with Seeburg’s revolutionary M100A model increasing the choice from the standard 24 tracks up to 100.<\/p>\n

In addition, the record changing and playing mechanisms became much more visible instead of being hidden inside the cabinet.<\/p>\n

Artists such as Elvis, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles along with many others helped make the jukebox very popular and iconic.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A warm welcome awaits from Elvis tribute act, Rusty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Chrome<\/a>
Chrome everywhere<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Pinballs<\/a>
Pinballs include Flipper Parade, Slick Chick, Gigi, and Egg Head<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Gottlieb's<\/a>
Gottlieb’s Ice-Revue from 1965<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zone 5 – 1970s and up: Super Heroes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You walk downstairs to reach Sector 5, where you find the electronic pinball machines with more vivid colours and the ability to play basic music.<\/p>\n

Jukeboxes, meanwhile, made the record-playing mechanism less visible, turning it more into an enclosed console.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
An upscale living room from the era<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This was also the era of disco where DJs played the music, making jukeboxes less popular. \u00a0Seeburg’s response was to build huge, powerful speakers.<\/p>\n

\"Huge<\/a>
Huge jukebox speakers are introduced to help attract customers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Seeburg<\/a>
Seeburg jukeboxes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The original Batmobile from the 1989 Batman movie starring Michael Keaton is here in the museum, surrounded by super hero statues and matching pinball machines such as Batman 66 Super LE, Iron Man, Superman, Hulk, etc.<\/p>\n

\"Batman,<\/a>
Batman, Batgirl and the Batmobile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Batmobile<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More European companies (especially in Germany and France) got more into the Jukebox business, producing multiple models with large numbers of music choices for use in urban locations, and smaller selections for more rural sites.<\/p>\n

Rock-Ola was the only company which produced nine totally different designs with 100 or 160 music selections. \u00a0Other companies merely changed the interior mechanisms for their various models.<\/p>\n

Pinballs were becoming increasingly popular now, introducing licensed themes such as Buck Rogers, The Rolling Stones and Kiss.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
From one high speed model to another<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, jukeboxes began to change from playing records to using CDs.<\/p>\n

Zone 6 – The New Era: The Removal of Jukeboxes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

CDs are now common as a music format, leading to modern replicas of classic designs appearing.<\/p>\n

Microprocessors became far more powerful, making pinball increasingly digitally inside.<\/p>\n

LEDs begin to replace incandescent lamps, making pinball machines much brighter and colourful.<\/p>\n

In addition to these zones, there is also a\u00a0800m\u00b2 area for video games, including arcade machines, consoles, handhelds and home computers. \u00a0There are also a few computer game-themed pinballs such as Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros and Street Fighter II.<\/p>\n