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The Birth Of Pinball : 1800s - 1900
The "ancestor" of all pinball machines is acknowledged to be the
19th century "Bagatelle-Table",
a sort of hybrid between a "pin table" and pool table. Players tried
to hit balls with cue sticks and
get them into pockets or slots surrounded by nails and pins. Another
step towards the modern
pinball form occurred sometime at the end of 19th century, when
inventor Montague Redgrave patented a device called a "ball
shooter", which was based on the recently invented steel spring.
"Ball-Shooter" Drawing, Circa 1830's
Games similar to this pictured below were first popular in bars and
cafes in France and America,
but they were not coin operated - Players first exchanged money for
balls to play with, then if players obtained a high enough score,
they would be awarded free drinks, meals and or cigarettes. Soon
after came the introduction of the first coin-operated Bagatelle and
"Bingo" pin tables.
Bagatelle Table Ad
Bingo Pinball Ad
Pinball - The Early Years : 1930s - 1950s
The first
coin-operated "pinball machine" was invented in 1931 by Automatic
Industries and was called "Whiffle Board". But the gaming industry really began in the mid 1930's
with the production
of a game called "Ballyhoo". It was invented by
one Raymond Maloney, who later started the Bally
Manufacturing Company of Chicago, IL.
"Whiffle Board", Automatic Ind., circa 1931
"Ballyhoo", Bally Mfg, circa 1934
The pinball machines of this era had wooden legs and wooden rails on
the sides of the machine,
not like today's modern marvels of chrome
and steel.
"Ballyhoo" Ad, Circa 1934
It is thought the term "pinball" came into play at this time most likely
due to the fact that the all the machines of this era had many holes
and pins in them. In 1933, electricity was first introduced to
pinball by adding a battery to the machine and in 1934, the first
automatic scoring mechanism
would appear in the form of a "clock" counter, as well as the first
"sounds" in a pinball machine
by way of electromechanical chimes, bells and buzzers. The
popularity of the pinball machine rose dramatically during the mid
to late 1930's in part due to the Depression and the need for
low-cost entertainment for the masses. Since many pinball operators
in the 1930's gave away prizes based
on high scores, some players tried to cheat by shaking and lifting
the game, so in 1935, the "tilt" mechanism (a control that determine
how hard a pinball machine can be "shaked") was thought
up by Harry Williams, founder of the famous Williams Manufacturing
Company, in response to
players learning how to control the game to their advantage. Modern
day pinball machines employ two such "tilt devices", one that
measures the movement of the game side to side, and another
called the "slam tilt" that is used to movement up and down and
prevents such acts as
"slamming" your hand into the machine or
trying to drop the machine.
The "slam tilt" consists of a couple of "leaf switches" that detect
a slam when they touch each
other, while the "movement tilt" uses a pendulum and bob device that
freely hangs inside a metal detection ring. A tilt warning occurs
when either the leaf switches meet or if the free-swinging pendulum
rod touches the metal ring. Most modern machines give one to three
warnings (user adjustable) before ending the game. Also in 1935, the
first "backglass" appears with lighted
scoring. As more features were added, pinball machines are then
outfitted with electrical transformers so they could be plugged into
standard 110V electrical outlets; with that advance,
in 1937, the first "coil bumpers" were introduced on Bally's
"Bumper" pinball machine. In 1939,
"disc bumpers" are then introduced to the game.
Pinball From The 50's to the 90's
Pinball machines really grew in popularity after World War II. The
ten year period of 1948-58 is referred to by some as the "Golden
Age" of pinball, due to the invention of flippers in 1947 by
the D. Gottlieb Co. in a game called "Humpty Dumpty", and was one of
the main reasons for
the renewed interest in pinballs at the time.
"Humpty Dumpty"
Gottlieb, circa 1947
"Humpty Dumpty"
Sales Flyer, circa 1947
In 1948, a firm called Genco placed one set of flippers at the very
bottom of the playfield in a
machine called "Triple Action" - But
the setup was still a little unusual by today's standards;
the
flippers were facing outwards, not inwards like today's models. See
the picture below:
"Triple Action",
Genco Mfg., circa
1948
The first game that had a modern flipper arrangement was the "Spot
Bowler", a 1950's D. Gottlieb Co. machine. Take a look at the picture
below if you have not seen any of these games - you will
be
surprised at the smaller size and position of the flippers - it
was not until the
mid 70's that most pinball machines adopted the longer 3 inch
flippers we play with on today's modern machines.
"Spot Bowler" Playfield,
D. Gottlieb, circa 1950
"Spot Bowler" Ad, D. Gottlieb,
circa 1950
It was also in the mid 70's that solid-state (or electronic) pinball
machines were first introduced, starting yet another huge wave of
public popularity due to new games innovations, features,
Game reliability and cool design features like
electronic scoring, alphanumeric scoring,
electronic sounds and finally electronic speech, which lasted well into the
late 80's.
"Spirit Of 76" Ad, Micro Games, circa
1975
"Joker Poker",
D. Gottlieb, circa 1978
The late 80's saw Williams and Bally merge to become the dominant
player in the market, and in the 90's they both produced some of the
most amazing pinball machines concepts ever dreamed of like Medieval
Madness, Cirqus Voltaire, Twilight Zone, Theatre Of Magic, Monster
Bash, Scared Stiff, Tales Of The Arabian Nights and the most popular
pinball machine in modern history, Addams
Family (with over 20,000 produced), along with many other
modern-day collectible classics,
and finally the last
pinball machines of the golden era of pinball manufacturers, Cactus Canyon
and
the "Pinball 2000" machines, which combined video movies over
standard pinball action.
![[full]](Images/revengefrommars.gif) .
"Addams Family", Bally Mfg., 1992 "Revenge From Mars" (Pinball 2000),
Bally Mfg, 1999
Pinball Today : The Next Century
Pinball has come a long way in the last ten years or so,
particularly in complexity, rulesets and
game quality. Pinball will continue to advance with the introduction of
high-tech devices
and
advances incorporated into machine,
such as LED's, LCD's, color dot-matrix displays,
and
today new color LCD
and plasma flat panel monitors replacing the traditional pinball playfield.
"Virtual Pinball", TAB Austria,
2002 "Ultrapin"
Digital Pinball,
Global VR, 2006
Pinball has now become a "in" item with high-profile celebrities,
baby boomers, business exec's
& families, and has become a fixture
on many TV shows and commercials, movie sets and many
magazine shoots,
perhaps due to the "nostalgia factor" and the advent of personal
home game rooms, or realization that a individual can now easily
purchase a pinball machine, or the fact that playing
a few good games of pinball after a hard day's work can be a
tremendous stress-reliever!
Coke commercial with David Arquette shown
playing one of three classic pinballs in his
actual home collection in the foreground.
In 2004, the industry is left with just one major designer and
manufacturer, Stern Pinball, based
in the Chicagoland area and run by Gary Stern, the son of Stern
Electronics' founder Sam Stern. Stern has released quite a few
interesting and collectable titles over the past few years, and
hopefully will continue on in the tradition of great firms like
Williams and Bally on future releases.
"Indiana Jones", Stern Pinball, 2008
Stern Pinball's ratio of "home sales" to commercial sales has risen
from practically zero to an estimated 35% - 60% of their total sales
in just the last 3 years, which is an encouraging new
market for them to sell into in the coming years as operator and
commercial account orders
continue to dwindle.
There have been some rumblings of other firms within the coin-op
community having aspirations of jumping into the pinball machine
game, but nothing
seriously has been reported or announced to date. It will be very
interesting to see
what the future holds for pinball over the course of the next
century...
As for the state of used or "pre-owned" machines, supplies are very
tight and getting tighter,
with ASP (average selling price) of good quality of pre-owned
pinball machine of popular titles
from the late 80's to 90's now appreciating at a rate of 10% - 25 %
or more per year, as more
and more individuals discover (or re-discover) the pleasures of
pinball ownership and supplies
dry up. Just a few years ago, America had all the machines it ever
needed to meet domestic
supply; but now it is estimated that over 60 % of all the pre-owned
pinballs now sold in the US
come from overseas sources in countries such as Western Europe and
Latin America, due
to the increasingly high demand from all sectors of American
society.
Surprising Pinball Facts:
Did you know that it was illegal to own a pinball machine in New
York and other states
at one point in
time? Pinball machines were officially
banned in New York by Mayor LaGuardia
on
January 21,
1942 because the administration viewed the game as a "game of luck"
rather
than a "game of skill",
hence making a pinball machine a gambling device (in their eyes).
To
celebrate the new ban, Mayor LaGuardia proceeded to smash a large number
of
pinball
machines directly in front
of large crowd of welcoming onlookers!
From the Las Vegas Mercury Newspaper, Thursday, March 28,
2002 -
"In their earliest incarnations, some pin
games (so named for the pins that dotted the playfield, guiding
the
ball
into holes with point values) such as Bally's 1933 Rocket offered
cash payouts to the player if
he landed
the ball
in certain holes. It wasn't unusual to see such games taking their
place next to conventional slot
machines.
The
advent of payout machines, versus nonpaying "novelty" machines
manufactured by many of
the
same companies,
raised some sticky questions about this new form of entertainment:
Was pinball a
game
of skill or luck? The answer would mean the
difference between a harmless game and a form of gambling- even
if
the "payout" was a free game.
Some states decided the latter and
banned pinball machines. In January 1942,
for instance, New York
Mayor Fiorello Henry LaGuardia banned pinball as a form of gambling,
smashing several machines
in a publicity stunt.
Also, the passage of
the Johnson Act in 1950 outlawed interstate shipping of
certain
types of pinball machines, as they were
deemed gambling devices. Pinball manufacturers such as
Williams and
Gottlieb responded by mounting a campaign
of their own under the aegis of the Coin Machine
Institute; these
pinball makers eliminated payout machines and
sought to show that pinball was a wholesome
pastime that had no
connection to gambling--especially with the advent
of flippers in 1947, which
turned pinball,
more than ever, into a
game of skill.
Still, the ban in New York lasted until
1976; free games in the form of
awarded replays are still illegal
in
New York and in other cities, though the laws are rarely enforced."
Modern Pinball History Timeline
1951 - The first "slingshot" kickers were introduced.
1953 - The first two-player pinball machine is released.
(pinball machines before this were
strictly one player affairs)
1954 - The first multiple player pinball machine, "Super
Jumbo", is released by D.Gottlieb.
1956 - The first "multiball" feature is featured on Bally's "Balls-A-Poppin"
pinball machine
1957 - The first use of a "match" bonus feature (a number in
your final score is matched at
random
to a number the machine picks, resulting in a free game, or
"credit") in
pinball
is introduced.
1960 - The first "add-a-ball" (extra ball) game called "Flipper"
is developed by D. Gottlieb.
The
add-a-ball award was developed to counter various laws in effect
during this
period that
made it illegal for a game to award replays in certain parts of the
country
because it was consider a "gambling" activity.
1962 - The first drop target was introduced by Williams
Manufacturing in the "Vagabond"
pinball
machine.
1963 - The first "spinners" were introduced.
1964 - The first "mushroom" bumper (common in all of today's
modern games) was
introduced by Bally
1966 - The first
digital scoring pinball machine, "Rally Girl" is produced by a French
company
called Rally.
1968 - The first modern flippers (three inches) are
introduced on
Hayburners II by Williams
1975 - The first solid-state, or electronic pinball machine,
"Spirit
of 76", was first introduced
by
Micro. It marks the beginning of the switch from electromechanical
(EM) machines
to
"solid-state", or electronics-based pinball machines.
1976 - The first widely available solid state pinball machine
was introduced by Bally and is
called
"Freedom".
Many of the games from the mid 70's were produced in two
versions (both electronic and electromechanical), and the first
"wide-body" pinball,
"The
Atarians" is introduced by Atari. Also in this year, the long-time
pinball machine
manufacturer, Chicago Coin, makes it last game - The company is
taken over by
Sam
Stern and renamed "Stern Electronics". Gottlieb is sold to Colombia
Pictures.
1977 - The first electronically produced sounds in a pinball
machine were introduced. Also
the
first photographic backglass display is introduced by Bally on "Lost
World"
1979 - The first "talking" or electronic speech game was
introduced by Williams and was
called
"Gorgar", along with the first machines to have a continuous
electronic
background
"soundtracks". This was also the year in which the very last
electro-
mechanical
pinball machine is made by Gottlieb
1980 - The first "multi-level" pinball machine is produced by
Williams as "Black Knight:
1984 - Colombia Pictures, owner of Gottlieb, decides to
close. Company is taken over
by Premier
Technology.
1985 - The first "alphanumeric" game display is introduced
1986 - The first automatic replay percentage feature is
introduced. Also the first pinball
machine that
uses a actual photo on the glass is introduced by Gottlieb on "Raven"
1987 - The first pinball machine with stereo sound (Laser
War) is produced by Data-East.
1988 - Bally Manufacturing is taken over by Williams
Electronics, but the two companies
continue to
produce separate lines of pinball machines under both names.
1990 - The first solid-state (electronic) flippers are
introduced by
Data-East.
1991 - The first "dot-matrix" game display is introduced by
Data-East in "Checkpoint"
along
with video "modes" that animate certain parts of the game part on
screen.
Also in
the year, electronic plungers become common and the "ball-saver"
feature
is
introduced, in part due to laws in the UK (England) governing games
of chance.
1994 - Sega buys out Data-East
1996 - Gottlieb goes out of business for good.
1998 - The first pinball machine with a video screen
integrated into the design is introduced
by
Williams in their new "Pinball
2000" series machines.
1999 - After just two Pinball 2000 releases, Williams
Manufacturing (WMS) exits the pinball
machine
business for good, but continues on as a maker of gaming devices for
the
global
gambling industry. Also in this year, Gary Stern buys Sega Pinball,
renames
the combined
firms Stern Pinball and continues on as the only pinball producer
in the world
today (as of early 2004).
2002 - A prototype of the first truly digital pinball machine,
Virtual Pinball,
is introduced at
the 2002
IAAPA Amusement Show in Orlando by
TAB Austria,
and comes with a
a flat panel
monitor replicating the playfield and housed in a non-standard cabinet.
2006 - The first digital video pinball machine that replicates the look,
play and feel of a
traditional pinball machine,
UltraPin, is introduced by
GlobalVR, and
features
twelve
re-created classic pinball machine playfields from Funhouse,
Eight Ball,
Pin-Bot, Medieval Madness, Black Knight 2000, Attack from Mars, F-14 Tomcat,
Fathom, Firepower, Strikes and Spares, Sorcerer and
Xenon all in one unit.
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