Not mine. "Borrowed" from a net posting, originally posted in 2005; attributed to "HAWKXP" but a nice compilation none-the-less:

First pinball machines appeared in America in the 1930s.
They were countertop machines, without legs.


The most popular games were "Baffle Ball", "Bingo" and "Bally Hoo".


The first coin-operated pinball game was "Bally Hoo".
It was invented by Raymond Maloney,who became the founder of the Bally
Corporation.


Battery operated machines were designed in 1933.


The important part of the pinball machines, flipper, was invented in
1947.
It appeared in a pinball game "Humpty Dumpty" made by Gottlieb & Co.

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and here is some more.

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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 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.

1996 - Gottlieb goes out of business for good.

199? - Sega buys out Data-East

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).

* The popularity of the pinball is attributed to the Depression and the desire for cheap entertainment.

* The 10-year period of 1948 to 1958 is referred as the “Golden Age of Pinball” in the Unied States.

* Some players tried to cheat by shaking and lifting the machine. The tilt mechanism was invented in 1934 to counter this problem.

* In 1942, LaGuardia, New York City Mayor, smashed pinball machines in front of a crowd. Pinball was banned in New York City until 1976.

Thanks for sharing that.

Quoted from websherpa

* The popularity of the pinball is attributed to the Depression and the desire for cheap entertainment.

At the rate the economy is going there my be renewed interest in pinball.

thanks I needed this, I have to make a presentation for the next month at my job (first friday of each month, we have a pizza diner and somebody present something job related or not, my boss knowing about this hobby, talk about it to the big VP who come and asking to talk about pinball, hard to say no Probably just talk about EM, in case they ask me to make other(s).

You want to make an impact... bring a machine along.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

At the rate the economy is going there my be renewed interest in pinball.

Not the way they are built now...

Quoted from Hyann

thanks I needed this, I have to make a presentation for the next month at my job (first friday of each month, we have a pizza diner and somebody present something job related or not, my boss knowing about this hobby, talk about it to the big VP who come and asking to talk about pinball, hard to say no Probably just talk about EM, in case they ask me to make other(s).

Lucky... most people I work with have no idea what I do on the side, nor do they care.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

At the rate the economy is going there my be renewed interest in pinball.

Of interest to me is the whole tie in with Penny Arcades, Slot Machines and Coin-op in general... all of which was designed to take advantage of the most vulnerable consumers who might have the odd bits of loose change in their pockets and a less-than-exciting life.  

At some point pinball switched to a teenage past-time, a way to get away from parents, to show off their "skills" - the operators took advantage of that as well.

So the current trend for collectors to re-capture a bit of their youth by buying actual machines (which, when you think of it represent thousands of coins lost to end use operators) has, in a way, actually contributed to the pinball's decline.  By far, the most significant contribution, apart from the sheer cost of the machines, is the ability of modern CG technology to be more and more realistic, come in an economic home package, and the endorsement of "cocooning" for teenagers (i.e. keep them at home at all costs).

Pinball and arcades in general would need to adopt technology that is unique and not viable for widespread home use to have any chance of a resurrection. I dont think it is very likely to happen any time soon as they would need to draw the kids away from their computers, handhelds, etc. Also, parents nowadays dont want their kids to go to hangouts where there might be cigarettes, soft drugs etc.

Funny thing is, I just recently browsed thru a book about the current popularity of arcades in Japan. Of course it is all about video; Dance Dance Rev, Shooting and fighting games. They draw people in with a series of various claw games with substantial prizes at the entrance. They don't mention pinball, and probably due to maintenance and cost to bring in American machines there probably are few if any there.

Arcades have already adapted we just don't feel they represent the arcades we are used to.

The redemtion arcades are now the new "arcade" for youth.  Kiddie gambling or whatever you want to call it is the direction that arcades are headed in.  Most places do pretty well with redemtion stuff and you can see the trend changing pretty much everywhere.  

Cineplex is adding it to their theaters, Playdium has changed some of their complex over to redemtion, any arcade this day and age is geared toward redemtion, that's just the way of the future.  

Pinball games today last too damn long, period. Longer games = loss of revenue. Most arcade games even today last less than 5 minutes as most games are timed. On DDR you pay per level.... on driving games, you pay per race most times. So if someone plays for over 20 minutes on a pinball which on top of that needs more maintenance, why bother.

I would like to see the average time of a game on a woodrail, on a late-EM, on an early SS-pin and on a DMD. For me, it is the main reason why DMDs turn me off. They were designed in order to make it easier for the beginning player, but by doing so don't push the player as much to improve him/herself.

I play an EM for the first time and get my a** handed to me. But when I play a DMD, christ, the game lasts too damn long.

Quoted from Vengeance

Arcades have already adapted we just don't feel they represent the arcades we are used to.

The redemtion arcades are now the new "arcade" for youth.  Kiddie gambling or whatever you want to call it is the direction that arcades are headed in.  Most places do pretty well with redemtion stuff and you can see the trend changing pretty much everywhere.  

Cineplex is adding it to their theaters, Playdium has changed some of their complex over to redemtion, any arcade this day and age is geared toward redemtion, that's just the way of the future.  

Some redemption games out there are pretty fun. Just different. One that is irritating is Stacker... that stupid game that you practically see everywhere. Every once in a while I play, and I know they are fixed. I did get lucky 3 weeks ago though and managed to get the big prize.  

Quoted from Sparky

Some redemption games out there are pretty fun. Just different. One that is irritating is Stacker... that stupid game that you practically see everywhere. Every once in a while I play, and I know they are fixed. I did get lucky 3 weeks ago though and managed to get the big prize.  

I enjoy playing redemption games, I equate it to playing games at a fair or carnival without having to deal with the carnies hassling you every two seconds to play the game.

I really like the Simpsons Kooky Carnival redemption game that Stern put out, it's a token rolling game gut is actually pretty fun, I wouldn't mind putting one in the house just to have around as a fun added item.  

But when down in Niagara Falls Denise and I will spend a day at the Great Canadian Midway and just play a bunch of redemption games are try and win her something good.  It's a fun way to spend an afternoon for only about $40.  

Quoted from wbradley

Also, parents nowadays dont want their kids to go to hangouts where there might be cigarettes, soft drugs etc.

Funny that's what drew kids to arcades and other hang-outs with pinballs in the 60's and 70's ... maybe there will be backlash revisitation once kids realize they are being corralled?  (But likely not since the 2 working parent family always offers kids an unserpervised gamesroom somewhere.)

Quoted Text

Funny thing is, I just recently browsed thru a book about the current popularity of arcades in Japan. Of course it is all about video; Dance Dance Rev, Shooting and fighting games. They draw people in with a series of various claw games with substantial prizes at the entrance. They don't mention pinball, and probably due to maintenance and cost to bring in American machines there probably are few if any there.

I will ask a friend of mine who travels regularly to Japan.  It "might" catch on, but they prefer uprights that fit into smaller spaces and most assuredly there is NO ROOM in people's houses (and no basements) to house pinballs.  The rage are gambling machines called Pachinkos and Pachislos. Arcades and Gambling Pachinko Parlours in Japan (where it is illegal to gamble, by the way) are run by Koreans and the Yakuza and considered a base form of entertainment (and addiction).

Pachislo machines, in particular, are stripped down to their bare components and used in a home environment. The Japanese youth are very competitive, and unless they perceive that "pinball" is a "team" skill that suits their particular interests....  I would imagine that the South Park pinball would do well there given ththe Japanese affection for alll things to do with poop jokes.  

Quoted from Vengeance

The redemtion arcades are now the new "arcade" for youth.  Kiddie gambling or whatever you want to call it is the direction that arcades are headed in.    

We're comin gpretty much full circle.  Penny Arcades and Nickel Cranes were engineered as a way to rob youth of the few pennies they had in order to gamble for what they perceive was a bigger prize.  I for one have been addicted since youth to Compton's Penny Falls.