This is the first (but certainly not the last) game that I’ve owned more than once. The first time around, I picked it up in a pretty sweet trade. I traded a 60-1 Galaga/Ms. Pac-Man for it straight up. The coolest part of that deal was that I wasn’t even in town when it happened. My buddy, Mike, arranged the whole thing on my behalf while I was in Virginia for work. When I got home, there was a Dracula machine waiting for me; and I got home on Christmas Eve, which only added to the magic. It was like Santa Claus had dropped it off.
Much like the fate of my first Creature from the Black Lagoon machine, my original BSD fell prey to my video arcade phase of 2010-2011. If memory serves, I sold it in order to get a Warlords cocktail machine (another game that I owned twice. Ha!).
This second one is in better shape than my first BSD. I had it shipped from a guy in ID.
As far as modifications, I’ve added LEDs (including spotlights to light up the notoriously dark middle of the playfield, a strip above the rollovers, and another strip by the apron), blood red flipper bats, and a Color DMD. I also replaced the infamous “Ron Jeremy” Dracula, with a much more menacing one, and swapped out the ill-fitting tombstone cover (not sure what compelled Williams to do this) with one that fits its cross shape.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula has got to be the best bang-for-buck pin of the DMD era. This game is brutally difficult – miss a shot and you will be punished severely – but when you’re in the zone, a more satisfying game cannot be found. It’s all about gambling for points by stacking multi-balls. Stack all three and you get 30 million points per shot.
This game also features the famous “Mist Multi-ball,” which utilizes a magnet under the playfield to give the illusion that a captive pinball is moving on its own. It’s pretty trippy.
Zombies Ate My Arcade 