The History Of Pinball From 1930 Until The Golden Age Of The 1950's
Following the introduction of "Whiffle Ball" in 1931
, David Gottlieb of D. Gottlieb & Co. created his own version of the game, "Baffle Ball". Because of the popularity of these new-fangled gadgets, distributors for D. Gottlieb & Co. were having difficulties obtaining enough of these machines to sell. One representative, Raymond Maloney, decided to do something about this, and went about forming his own company, Lion Manufacturing, and created a pinball game called "Balyhoo".
This game could be purchased for the low price of $19, and customers could also buy this game in bulk, paying $18 each if they purchased five machines, and $17 each for lots of ten machines purchased. It could be purchased as a table top game, or as a floor model with legs.
The popular Ballyhoo sold more than 75,000 units, and due to the success of the game, Maloney changed the name of his company to Bally Manufacturing, and this company would go on to be one of the leaders in the pinball industry at the time, especially when the game entered the Solid State era. The company closed for business in 1988, and sold its assets to another company, Williams, which used the Bally name until it shut down operations.
Cheating At Pinball By Tilting The Machine
In 1932, a man by the name of Harry Williams, who was working for Pacific Amusements, created what is known today as the "tilt" mechanism. Many people were trying to lift the games in order to better their chances of winning, which was causing damage to the machines. Williams went on to organize Williams Manufacturing in 1944 with Sam Stern, a now well-known name in pinball circles, but he discontinued the manufacturing of pinball machines in 1999.
Because many of these games now involved winning prizes, many people used tilting as a way to win and collect prizes and money. The invention of the tilt mechanism put a stop to this, allowing each player a fair chance of winning a game. There are a few different versions of the tilt mechanism, all performing different functions.
The Roll Tilt: This involves the use of a metal ball that rolls along a slanted guide. This mechanism senses if the machine has been lifted from the table or floor.
The Playfield Tilt: This mechanism can sense if the machine has been lifted, then slammed or dropped to the floor or table top.
The Slam Tilt: This is a group of contacts that prevent the player from slamming the front door of the machine.
The Plumb Bomb Tilt: This is an all-round tilt mechanism, with a metal rod that dangles from a metal circle. This mechanism can sense any motion or tilting of the machine.
By now, pinball machines were becoming more and more popular, and with new technologies being introduced all the time, these machines were getting better. But, they weren't quite the pinball machines we know and love today. There still need to be the addition of flippers, which we will discuss below.
Bumpers And Flippers
As more and more people began playing the popular games such as Baffle Ball, they started wanting to play games that were more challenging. In the beginning, in order to give the ball in play any kind of direction, the machines had to be moved around a little bit.
Bump Up The Challenge With Bumpers
In 1936, pinball was once again reinvented with the addition of bumpers to the games. A new game was introduced by Bally in December, called "Bumper". This game had a scoring device, which came to be known as a bumper, named for the game it originated in. "Bumper" was advertised as a pinball game with "no pins, no pockets" for scoring, but bumpers instead. And, with the introduction of bumpers came scorekeeping devices. Each time the ball hit a bumper, a point would be scored and recorded.
To market this new machine, Bally created a descriptive advertisement, which would have seemed very enticing to clients at the time. The ad began with the phrase, "Just pure unadulterated action and suspense!", and the excitement that built within the advertisement made the game seem really exciting for pinball lovers who now wanted to give this new game with bumpers a try.
Bumpers became so popular that other pinball machine manufacturers also began using them in their games, and by 1937, nearly half of all of the pinball machines being manufactured had bumpers instead of pins and pockets. Not only were these popular in novelty machines. They were also added to machines that offered payouts.
Flipping For Flippers
Now that pinball machines had bumpers, something new had to be added. This happened in 1947 when D. Gottlieb & Co. introduced their newest pinball game: "Humpty Dumpty". This game had a revolutionary new addition of flippers, which gave the player more control over the direction of the ball in play, and turned pinball into more of a game of skill rather than a game of chance. Before the addition of flippers, players had no control over the direction of the balls, especially once the tilt mechanisms were put into place.
An early advertisement for the "Humpty Dumpty" pinball game claimed that "the combination of controlled Flipper Bumper action and controlled ball action provides amazing earning power...a proven shot in the arm for any location"
Early machines had three sets of flippers (three flippers on each side of the machine). Players were able to control where the balls went by hitting them with the flippers, and this is still how the game is played today. It's actually just a simple matter of physics. The part of the flipper that touches the ball, and the angle that the ball hits the flipper at, control the direction of the ball in play. Of course, how hard the ball is hit has a role as well.
Bumpers and flippers may seem like simple inventions by today's standards, but, they are still used in every pinball machine manufactured today. Bumpers and flippers have become an integral part of the machines, and without them, well, we might as well go back to playing bagatelle.
Following the addition of bumpers and flippers to the game, pinball began to really surge in popularity. Not only did these additions make pinball more challenging for players, the flippers added the ability to have some control over the game, allowing for longer playing time and higher scores.
Pinball continued to grow in popularity throughout the 1940's, and was actually the most popular game in most arcades. By 1947 new technologies allowed players to achieve scores up into the hundreds of thousands, and by 1949, players were able to reach scores of one million (today's machines allow players to achieve scores in the billions). In 1948, the pop bumper was created, and a drop-in coin mechanism was introduced in 1949. Some of the more popular pinball games of the 1940's included Humpty Dumpty, Zombie and Stage Door Canteen.
New York City Mayor Outlaws Pinball
On January 21, 1942, New York City Mayor Fiorello Henry La Guardia, in a symbolic gesture, smashed pinball machines in front of a large crowd. This action came as a result of the banning of pinball, because it was deemed not to be a game of skill, but a game of chance, and a form of gambling. The ban on pinball remained in effect until 1976.
Pinball and World War II
Just like most manufacturing industries during the war, pinball manufacturers were not releasing many new pinball machines for sale. But, to keep players interested (and there were many soldiers enjoying these games during furloughs), manufacturers introduced kits that would allow owners to change the artwork on the game, making it seem like an entirely new one.
Following the War, the popularity of pinball seemed to explode, leading to what would ultimately become known as the "golden age" of pinball. This was a time that saw many changes to the game, and a whole new generation of players learning to love the excitement of pinball.
The Golden Age of Pinball
The years 1948 to 1958 are considered by many to be the 'golden age" on pinball. Machines now had wooden legs and side rails, and in the 1950's, the wooden legs became metal. Early 1950's pinball machines had scoring levels that in the back glass, each having a separate light. Later in the decade, digital scoring systems were invented, adding a whole new dimension to the game.
The 1960's
The game of pinball was still evolving in the 60's, and this and still considered to be a game of chance in many states. Because there were laws against pinball machines awarding players with replays, the pinball industry came back with a way to combat these laws, the "extra ball". The first game to have this feature was "Flipper, from Gottlieb. Next came the drop targets, and the first game to have this feature was Vagabond, introduced in 1962.
Pinball continued its rise in popularity well into the 1970's and went on to influence pop culture with its pinball machine design.
by: Howard Symington
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