Scared Stiff is a 1996 pinball game designed by Dennis Nordman and released by Bally, featuring horror show hostess Elvira. The game has a B-movie horror theme. Players progress through the Six Tales of Terror to level up the Stiff-O-Meter. The interactive backbox contains a player-controlled spinning spider, which is used to collect unique features and start special modes.

When Scared Stiff was introduced in 1996, it was designed to have moving rubber boogieman figures mounted over the slingshots. These were designed to move with the kicker arm each time the ball hit the slingshot. Very late in production, this feature was removed because the figures’ arms were thought to eventually break off. Additionally, the code in the machine’s ROM still supports the feature. Because of this, many owners, including me, have added the dancing boogiemen modification to their machines.

What makes this game special is that it hasn’t been restored. It’s all original, home-use only, with low plays, and it hasn’t received any major restoration work—nothing but routine maintenance. I did take the playfield apart just enough to install a new set of rubber rings, and I’ve kept it polished and maintained. I installed the dancing boogiemen mod and the skull pile LED kit to light the eyes of the Deadhead skulls. I also upgraded to a Color DMD and installed LEDs throughout.