Bad Cats & Cat Eaters

During my last pilgrimage back to Chicago I stopped by Logan Hardware again to buy some records and play some video games. I picked up my favorite Devo release, available on vinyl for the first time. At least I think it was never released on vinyl, but in any format, the Hardcore Devo demo tracks compilation has been out of print for 20 years. ( In gathering links for this post I was saddened to learn that Devo Drummer Alan Myers succumbed to cancer shortly after the release date. ) The last time I was at Logan Hardware, took a pic of 720 video game screen that’s still my cover photo on Facebook. This time I picked up a puffy sticker featuring Alf riding a skateboard, and I played some Bad Cats pinball for the first time in many years.

Yes, Alf is gracing the pages of Skate and Annoy once again. I still don’t get Alf. The copyright date on the box says 1988. I think these might be N.O.S..

Here’s the backglass from Bad Cats, which according to the Internet Pinball Database, dates back to 1989. I remember this game making an impression on me the first time I saw it. Firstly because the art looked like it came from Bill Ward of Cracked fame as well as various other adult comics. Secondly, the animated panel in the top glass features a lady whacking a cat with a broom, and the cat would spin. It was just one of those weird little esoteric pinball game visions, and absurdly amplified snapshot of life. The whole wacky world makes sense in the context of the game theme, but then you get to the weird “pinball python” snake with a human head in the bottom right. As whole, Bad Cats felt like something that snuck by the Williams company brass while they weren’t paying attention.

Here’s a detail of the upper right portion of the backglass featuring a skateboarding cat about to pull a Lance Mountain style acid drop from the roof of a house.