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History of pinball


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I am sorry if something similar to this has been posted, but I couldn't locate anything. I think this is fairly accurate and feel free to amend if something is not accurate. I found it very interesting and good to know when friends and family ask me about pinball history. Enjoy reading.......

 

 

HISTORY OF PINBALL

 

1931 – First coin-operated pinball machine called ‘Whiffle Board’ and the first commercially successful pinball machine called ‘Baffle Ball’ introduced by D. Gottleib Co (later known as Gottleib). Baffle Ball sold over 50,000 units and established Gottleib as the first major manufacturer of pinball machines.

Pinball game called ‘Ballyhoo’ invented by Raymond Moloney, who distributed for D. Gottleib Co.

 

1932 – Bally Manufacturing Company in Chicago started by Raymond Moloney but company originally called Lion Manufacturing.

Electricity introduced to pinball by adding a battery and first automatic scoring mechanism would appear in form of a ‘clock’ counter. First sounds added by way of electromechanical chimes, bells and buzzers.

 

1935 – Tilt mechanism introduced by Harry Williams, founder of Williams Manufacturing Company. First backglass with lighted scoring introduced. Over 145 companies were making pinball machines in the USA, mostly based in Illinois, Chicago.

 

1937 – First coil bumpers and electrical transformers added to machines so they could be plugged into 110V electrical outlets. Competition became fierce and only 14 companies making pinball left.

 

1939 – Disc bumpers introduced.

 

1941-1945 – few pinball machines were produced due to World War 2 as manufacturing companies switched over to support the war effort and shortages of materials and parts.

 

1948 – ‘Golden Age’ of pinball due to the invention of flippers Gottleib. in a game called ‘Humpty Dumpty’. These machines were all electro mechanical. Many cities in the USA outlawed pinball machines due to the popular perception that pinball was a game of chance, not skill and therefore was a form of gambling. Many people associated pinball with the mafia and a dangerous distraction for children.

 

1951 – Slingshot kickers on playfields introduced by Gottleib.

 

1953 – First two-player machine introduced and also the use of score wheels and plastic ramps on playfields.

 

1956 – First multiball feature on a pinball machine by Bally.

 

1957 – First use of a ‘match’ bonus feature, resulting in a free game or credit.

 

1958 – Midway Manufacturing began (responsible for the game Space Invaders).

 

1960 – First add-a-ball (extra ball) developed by Gottleib.

 

1964 – First mushroom bumper (common in all of modern pinball) introduced by Bally.

 

1966 – First digital scoring system used on a pinball machine.

 

1968 – First modern day 3 inch flippers introduced by Williams.

 

1969 – Bally Manufacturing purchased Midway.

 

1975 – Solid State or electric pinball machines introduced with new game innovations, features, game reliability and design features. It marks the beginning of the switch from electromechanical (EM) to solid state (SS).

 

1976 – New York City pinball ban overturned as pinball was really a game of skill and not chance. This was proved by a young magazine editor named Roger Sharpe, one of the best players in the area. He demonstrated his talents in front of journalists and photographers and the City Council overturned the ban.

First wide body pinball machine made. Long time pinball machine manufacturer, Chicago Coin is taken over by Sam Stern (father of Gary Stern) and renamed ‘Stern Electronics’ (now Stern Pinball). Gottleib is sold to Columbia Pictures.

 

1979 – Very last electromechanical (EM) pinball machine is made by Gottleib.

 

1980 – First multi-level pinball machine is made by Williams.

 

1981 – Bally merged it’s pinball division with Midway to become Bally/Midway Manufacturing.

 

1985 – First alphanumeric digital pinball machine scoring display is introduced by Gottleib. Data-East Pinball started by taking over Stern Electronics.

 

1987 – First pinball with stereo sound by Data-East and the first automatic ball- save feature by Williams.

 

1988 – Bally/Midway Manufacturing is taken over by Williams Manufacturing to become the dominant player in the pinball market, but Williams obtained the right to use the Bally brand for it’s pinball machines since Bally had left the pinball market to concentrate on casinos and slot machines. Into the 90’s, Williams produced some of the most amazing pinball machine concepts ever dreamed of like Medieval Madness, Circus Voltaire, Twilight Zone, Theatre of Magic, Monster Bash, Scared Stiff and the most popular pinball machine in history, Addams family (over 20,000 produced).

 

1990 – First solid state (electronic) flippers are introduced by Data-East.

 

1991 – The first dot-matrix scoring display introduced by Data-East.

 

1993 – First use of ceramic, or non-magnetic pinball introduced by Bally Williams.

 

1994 – Sega buys out data-East and is re-named Sega Pinball.

 

1996 – Gottleib goes out of business and closes down.

 

1998 - Last pinball machine made of the golden era of pinball manufacturers, called Cactus Canyon by Midway (Bally Williams).

 

1999 – Williams Manufacturing exits the pinball machine business for good but continues on as a maker of gaming devices for the global gaming industry. Gary Stern buys Sega Pinball and renames as Stern Pinball.

 

2013 – The first ‘new age’ pinball machine that replaces the static backboard/backglass with a LCD monitor and also introduced full, multi-coloured LED lighting throughout the entire playfield along with other innovative enhancements in introduced by Jersey Jack Pinball. Only two companies making pinball machines, both in the US - Stern Pinball and Jersey Jack Pinball.

 

2016 - several more companies making pinball machines including Heighway Pinball, Spooky Pinball and Dutch Pinball.

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I'd recommend mentioning the name of each pinball for your historical milestone.

There is a very long list similar to this at the Australian Pinball Museum which highlights all the "Historical Pinball Milestones", that list at least names each machine.

 

People may want to know what machine featured the tilt mechanism...

1935 – Tilt mechanism introduced by Harry Williams, founder of Williams Manufacturing Company. ....

Oh and by the way.... it wasn't 1935.... "Advance" in 1933 was Harry Williams first machine with a tilt mechanism...

 

Also... 1936 was first coil bumpers, not 1937 - they were on "Bumper" .

 

I haven't read the rest... but good job on making a list.... I know how hard some info can be to find, and then how much work goes into trying to confirm its accurate... it can take many hours just to compile a list like you have done.

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yer that part isnt fully accurate about the first tilt mech, I restored a 1934 Bally and it had a tilt mech, aka anti cheat

 

also have done a 1936 Rock-ola that had a transformer for mains power, and it isnt the earliest example that EM game, so that date of 1937 is a little wrong also

So while it did not have EM bumpers, the machine did have a transformer and was an EM game.

 

There is a part where you have said the popular perception that Pinball machines were gambling machines and thust outlawed.

That common perception is correct because they were gambling machine, my 1936 rock-ola has an electro-mechanical Payout mechanism in it, just like a poker machine, The 1934 Bally I did also had a Payout mech, however it was removed at sometime to abide by gambling law, Probably the reason why that machine didnt get smashed up. It would have been still used for gambling because the Player would have had to have gone upto the counter to get their payout.

Now There is also a chance that My 1934 Bally never had the payout installed, The payout mechanism were often factory Options, where you paid a few bucks extra to install the payout mechanism. that feature may never have been installed so there is a chance it was never removed because that box wasnt ticked.

 

The Rock-ola also had factory options for a Gumball payout, a ticket payout, or a coin payout mech. Either one of those mech's was an extra $10 when you purchased the machine from Rock-ola. Bally had the same sort of deal.

The part about the Mafia is correct, during Prohibition the mafia setup and owned Speakeasy's and they often had pinballs and other gambling devices like trade simulators and slot machines. Pinball machines came around the last year of Prohibition however underground speakeasy's continued mostly for gambling which was outlawed.

 

But there is allot of things over looked In the history of pinball, there are so many pinball machines from that era that most likely dont exist any more or are so rare, not everything is known about it, so some of the features on them arent fully known because of that, even though they maybe documented and known to have existed.

Edited by jason1
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My understanding is it was Harry Williams that introduced the tilt. He allegedly walked in and saw a player shaking a machine Harry built. He was that pissed he put a simple tilt mechanism in the machine that would kill the power and needed the site operator to reset it so the machine was powered again. He didn't even name it. It was a player that yelled out, "I tilted it", that he heard and the name stuck. No idea what year it was.

 

I also believe it was Raymond Moloney founder of Bally that was responsible for introducing payout on pinballs. It was extremely popular and copied by all makers. This link between a payout machine and pinball resulted in over 50 states in the US to ban pinball deeming it a gambling device. Over time the states toned down the link but it was a big struggle for some states to change the ruling.

 

Gottlieb was the first to write on every machine they made, " A Game Of Skill" to help in the machines being classified as non payout machines.

 

Gottlieb's introduction of flippers was a point in time many states changed there views agreeing it was truly a game that required skill and was not totally based on luck.

 

New York was one of the last states to overturn the ruling and that was decided by a playoff between the then state governor and a pinball player. A number of games were played and the pinball player showed he could indeed control the outcome of the game.

 

It was this demonstration that had the governor overturn his state's ruling and classified the game as a true game of amusement.

 

My info comes from a collection of resources but the documentary "TILT" has many of these points.

 

I'm certainly not out to contradict what you wrote, simply setting out examples of debate.

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I haven't read the rest... but good job on making a list.... I know how hard some info can be to find, and then how much work goes into trying to confirm its accurate... it can take many hours just to compile a list like you have done.

 

Thanks guys for reading and commenting. Much appreciated. You are right, very hard to confirm due to such a long time ago and many people from this era and no longer around. Either way, I find it very interesting how this wonderful game and somewhat of an addiction to many of us came about.

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Gottlieb was the first to write on every machine they made, " A Game Of Skill" to help in the machines being classified as non payout machines.

 

Im not sure how correct that part is, Only because I have seen game of skill On pretty much every machine that had a payout, lol

Same Goes for most gambling trade stimulators that were made before the time of pinball machines.

Some games had for your amusement only.

 

both the Bally and the Rock-ola had game of skill. On the Rock-ola they Even made a secret Door that covered where the coins came out. lol

 

So that Attempt to try and fool Authorities With "game of skill" would have Originated from those trade stimulators and other Penny arcade machines that had payout devices or Used for gambling

Bally was a pretty shifty company, they Mass produced a crazy amount of Illegal Gambling machines in those days from trade stimulators of so many types, all supposedly for game of skill or for your amusement only lol

 

My understanding is it was Harry Williams that introduced the tilt. He allegedly walked in and saw a player shaking a machine Harry built. He was that pissed he put a simple tilt mechanism in the machine that would kill the power and needed the site operator to reset it so the machine was powered again. He didn't even name it

 

I cant confirm who put the Anti-cheat system first on a pinball, As I dont know.

But Tilt switches were put on other types penny games well before Pinball machines were made and sold.

Id Assume he was the first to put on a pinball, and it would have only been after a couple of titles as that 1934 Bally I did had one,

But the system at the time was named and it was called an Anti-cheat, they did use that name on pinball sales Brochures as a sales pitch to operators.

 

The first Tilt Switches were a little metal ball Sitting on a cup like thingy Visible on the play-field, the ball would be pushed up when coin is inserted, if the game was shaken the Ball would fall and the game was cancelled. That system Was referred to as a tilt also by patrons but Officially it was called an anti-cheat.

He may have changed the design to what it is today over many years, But saying that

The rock-ola I did again had a similar system to the modern Tilt switch. That rock-ola was far more advanced Internally than what Bally had in their machines at the time.

@ddstoys Might be able to tell us some more from his Observations, as he has a few very early pins

 

this stuff is very interesting, Ive posted a picture of an early tilt Mech, the ball is missing from this photo however

 

tilt.png.8b3e0cdf0e6f7f155caec70743e07351.png

Edited by jason1
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Very interesting stuff. Imagine what it was like around the 1930's in Chicago with so many pinball companies all trying to achieve success. Completely different time and would have been bloody exciting. Things definitely change over time. I wish pinball was that popular again.....................(but then again, maybe not).
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@jason1 exactly as I wrote........I'm certainly not out to contradict what you wrote, simply setting out examples of debate.

 

There are that many variations of what happened. Everyone that has ever written a book about the subject usually has a slight difference of who or what and when.

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@jason1 exactly as I wrote........I'm certainly not out to contradict what you wrote, simply setting out examples of debate.

 

There are that many variations of what happened. Everyone that has ever written a book about the subject usually has a slight difference of who or what and when.

 

Nah I know your not out todo that. Im just elaborating a bit further from some of my observations. all is good your input is good.

and you are right, there would be so many different examples on the history, im only running off my observations Of pinballs at the time and Trade stimulators that share so much in common

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The history is pretty shady was more the point I was trying to make. A lot of people trying to take credit for ideas from hundreds of home builders in those days.

 

yer thats true, Ive seen stuff in rock-ola machines that predate the same tech in a Bally, but for what ever reason Bally got the credit for it. They stole ideas from each other, that is for sure. I think history has been Kind to Bally and they received credit for stuff they didnt originally ad to machines till after some other manufacturer did it first.

So yer totally agree. its all very interesting,

 

it would be interesting to hear from people on their observations on Old 1930's pinballs

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Yeah my 1934 exhibit rebound has a tilt mech with the ball on the pedestal if you knock the ball off your game is not counted. It is also electromechanical it has a bell and two coils that kick the ball around the playfield and it also has a wire ramp into a seperate playfield area

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Gottlieb was the first to write on every machine they made, " A Game Of Skill" to help in the machines being classified as non payout machines.

I believe that phrase first appears on Melody Lane in 1960.

 

New York was one of the last states to overturn the ruling and that was decided by a playoff between the then state governor and a pinball player. A number of games were played and the pinball player showed he could indeed control the outcome of the game.

I don't think that's correct. Roger Sharpe gave a demonstration to show that skill was involved. There was no playoff of any kind, as far as I know:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball#Pinball_and_gambling

http://gizmodo.com/how-one-perfect-shot-saved-pinball-from-being-illegal-1154267979

 

It was this demonstration that had the governor overturn his state's ruling and classified the game as a true game of amusement.

I don't believe any governor was involved. The demonstration was to a committee of the New York council. This is according Roger Sharpe himself, from his book "Pinball!". (It's still possible to get this out-of-print title from second-hand booksellers. Well worth it, IMO.)

 

Cheers,

 

Michi.

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