The Ancestors of the modern pinball game were much like Pachinko machines. They
were not upright like Pachinko machines, but they did have many pins and holes
in the playfield. Balls came down from the top and scored varing amounts of
points depending on which hole they eventually fell into. This is probably how
the term pin-ball came about.
The Early Years
The coin-operated industry began in 1931 with the production of Ballyhoo.
It was built by Raymond Maloney, who later founded the Bally manufacturing
company. It was not untill 1936, however, until the term "pinball"
was coined. In 1934, the infamous tilt mechanism was devised. People realized
they could manipulate the game to their advantage by shaking it, so manufacturers
had to come up with a way to stop the cheating. Supposedly, one of the ideas
that did not make it into production was pounding sharp pins or nails onto
the side and bottom of the machine (this was quickly rejected on the assumption
that players would get so mad that they would really inflict some damage
on the machine.) One of the earliest implementations involved a ball on
a pedestal that would fall off when the machine was moved around too much.
On modern machines, there are two tilt sensors: the standard movement tilt
and the slam tilt. Slam tilts are used to detect major abuse (such as slamming
your hand into the front of the coin door or dropping the machine) and are
just a couple of leaf switches that signal a slam when they touch each other.
The movement tilt is detected by a pendulum and bob mechanism that moves
around inside a ring. A tilt (or tilt warning) occurs when the metal pendulum
rod touches the metal ring. 1947 was the big year. Humpty Dumpty - the first
game with flippers - was released by Gottleib. The flippers were not set
up as we know them today, however. There were three set of two flippers
located at three different spots going up the playfield. They were facing
each other, as flippers do today, but the pivot point was at the bottom
of the flippers. Iin January 1948, a company called Genco placed the flippers
at the bottom of the playfield in their game Triple Action. The configuration
was still a little unusual: the flippers were facing outward, not inward.
The first game that had the flippers set up as we know and love them today
was probably Spot Bowler, a 1950 Gottleib game. If you have not seen one
of these older games, you might be surprised at the size of their flippers.
They were about the size of two pinballs in length, much like some of the
small flippers used in today's games (such as the leftside flipper on The
Addams Family). It was not until 1970 that games started using the longer
flippers on a regular basis.
One of the darkest days in pinball history came about on January 21, 1942.
Pinball was banned in New York City because it was viewed as a game of luck
rather than a game of skill (ergo, playing pinball is gambling!). To "Celebrate"
the ban, Mayor Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (as in LaGuardia airport) smashed
a number of machines in front of a largely supportive crowd. The ban lasted
until 1976. Free games (replays, matches, etc.) continue to be illegal in
New York City to this day, although the law goes unenforced.
In 1960 the idea of an earnable extra ball first appeared in Gottleib's Flipper. This was done in response to the laws of many areas that made it illegal to award replays.
The first drop targets were introduced in Williams' Vagabond game in 1962. The
next major change came in 1975. The first non-relay-based game, called Spirit
of 76, was produced by Micro. It marked the beginning of the switch from electromechanical
to solid state games. The first widely available solid state game (only 100
Spirit Of 76's were made, mostly due to an unattractive playfield) was Freedom
from Bally in 1976. Many games in the1976-1979 period were made in two versions
(both solid state and electromechanical) as manufacturers refined the process
of moving to the new technology. In 1979, the first talking game was produced:
Gorgar, from Williams. In the early 1980's, many games started using magnets
to let their player try and save the ball (called magna-save by Williams). Black
Knight and Jungle Lord are two good examples of this. The next major revolution
in pinball was not until 1991, when Data East came out with the first dot-matrix
display in their game Checkpoint. Starting around 1992, all games from all manufacturers
have employed a dot-matrix display.
So where are we today? Pinball has come a long way in the last six years or
so, particularly in complexity. It will also continue to advance with the technology.
One important advent in pinball history is the introduction of pinball simulations
on home computers. While there are some good SIMULATIONS out there nothing beats
the feel of having a full sized machine in front of you with real bells, buzzers
and flippers.
In summary, pinball is a great game with a glorious past. As far as the future
goes, who knows what revelations and changes it will bring. I can tell you this
much, it won't be long after the first colonists settle on the planet Mars that
the first pinball machine will arrive to challenge, frustrate and entertain
them.