Hidden text in the artwork

Breaking News, 1-may-2005

John Popped in
John Popadiuk visited this site and explained the meaning of the quote Duke. It was the nickname of his father. "He passed away before WCS was finished and never played any of my games. So he lives in the machine now. "

Extra, Extra, Read all about it!
Our Star Reporter from Germany, the PinWitch, managed to track down Pat McMahon and got some interesting remarks from him concerning the hidden texts. Pats remarks are now added to this page and marked red.  Beside the comments on the hidden texts Pat also stated that "The cats on the glass belonged to the designer & programmer. The female fig. on the cabinet side was patterned after John's wife." 

His masters voice
Wade Domet finally blew his cover. 
Finally an old  friend was willing to talk about the more hidden details of John's youth.
Read the full story in the Wade section.

Wade in action at the World Cup Soccer of '94

The artwork of Tales of the Arabian nights contains lots of words and sometimes even sentences that have nothing to do with the game itself and are only found after a careful examination. 

I'm told this is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of pinball but I don't understand them. To my defense I might state that I'm both not a native speaker nor a pinball scholar, I'm just a moderate Dutch speaking player.

Just because I do not understand them I'm fascinated with these hidden texts. I hope the list presented below will inspire you to give tell me what you know or think about it. I will add this information to the list.

The images are there to help you locate the text. They are not detailed enough to actually read or even see the text.

Text Location Meaning
Fullers II Back glass. Bow of the sailing ship. Fullers ll is a bar on the northwest side of Chicago
Karen LK Jack Back glass. Both sides of the bow of the sloop Karen & Jack are the names on the dingy, they both bartend at Fullers.
ketch u at scotty's Back glass. On the beaker in the sultans hand Ketch you at Scotty's refers to Scott Ketchum. He used to run Scotty's bar on Long Lake near Hayward in northwest Wisconsin.
Freddy Jones On the water pipe "Pat McMahon (the back glass artist) is a fan of the Freddy Jones Band, a local Chicago band that has had some moderate success in the US. Thus the homage in the back glass art. Homepage of the Freddy Jones Band"

Louis

Freddy Jones was the name of a band I had friends in.

 
mc mahon Back glass. Near lamp The signature of the artist.
Bennet s Back glass. On one of the pots with gold just below the hero. Notice the cat as well. Cats are also thanked  for their "feline support" during attract mode. Bennet S. refers to Bennet Snyder, a plant worker who had more than just a passing interest in belly dancers. He provided me with photos to aid in the costuming of the female figures.
Maxi Back glass. On the other pot with gold just below the hero.  is actually just Max.(a nickname I've had since grammer school.) You'll find a Max hidden in just about every thing I've done.
DZ Back glass. On the stirrup on the horse. Dave Zabriski. Composed the music.

Zab refers to Dave Zabriskie, the musical mastermind who orchestrated the sounds. His initials also appear on the stirrup on the backglass.
JP Back glass. On the horse harness. John Papadiuk. Designer of the game.
J Back glass. On the jacket of the thief J was the initial of the guy I patterned the face after.
taaSuts (?) On the dagger on the plastic shielding the ramp diverter. Think I misspelled this one. My spelling checker suggest tarsus, but I consider a reference to a birds bone unlikely.

Couldn't find the taaSuts.
Imax / Wade Playfield. At the base of the sword blade.  imax, is actually just Max.(a nickname I've had since grammer school.) You'll find a Max hidden in just about every thing I've done. I'm driving myself nuts trying to remember what, or who the hell Wade is. It's a short drive.
H.W. - the ball is wild Playfield. Jet return lane exit A quote from Harry Williams. On my machine the text has faded.
wade Playfield. Near the tigers head in the loop "Wade is Wade Domet, a friend/mentor of John’s from Toronto. Wade was on the wcs backglass, he’s shooting the ball in the net."

 hope this helps, Jim Schelberg 

I just did a search of my name and was thrilled to find my name under "hidden text", on your site. Yes I am the Wade Domet that is a friend of John Pops, as I call him. John started working for me when he was 14 years old, helping me move machines from location to location. I always like to say that, " I taught John everything that he knows". But that would be arrogant of me!. Let me just say, "That the greatest compliment a student can pay a teacher, is for the student to surpass the teacher" .

Wade Domet
DOHO To the left of the right slingshot. I used to think this was an abbreviation of Documented Occurrences of Hidden Objects. Think I got that idea from Uncle Willy. Other seem to be quite sure this is not what it means, although they all are vague about the true meaning. 
zab To the right of the left slingshot. Zab refers to Dave Zabriskie, the musical mastermind who orchestrated the sounds.His initials also appear on the stirrup on the backglass.
Pop 2nd Under the right slingshot POP - was my nickname given to me by Ward Pemberton (former bally Designer when we worked at the Bally Pinball Division). John Popadiuk
Duke lnk Under the left slingshot DUKE - was my dads (John Sr.) nickname. John Popadiuk