Pinball Special! Pt.1 of 2

July 24, 2020

Pinball Special! Pt.1 of 2

This post might be controversial. I know pinball isn't even a video game, but without pinball it is very possible Video-Games wouldn't exist.

The Origins of Pinball

The origins of pinball sprouted from games played outdoors by rolling stones or balls across grass, like Bocce or Bowls. These games eventually evolved into a sort of billiards played on the ground. All these outdoor games evolved into indoor versions, what was the very first game of pinball.

Tilting is shunned within the pinball community, but the very first games of pinball required tilting to play. There were no spring launchers, so you had to tilt the ball in every direction you wanted it to go. You also had to keep track of the score in your head. There were no scoreboards, so if you wanted to boast a high score, you had to be very convincing.

The spring launcher was invented in the late 18th century. This was invented because of inspiration from a french game, which was a kind of Pool-Bowling hybrid. A ball rested on one end of the board, and there were some pins on the other. The idea was that you would hit the ball with your pool cue to knock down the pins. But this game was very inconvenient. The pins took a very long time to reset, so they eventually became fixed to the board. Then, in western Europe, a game called Japanese billiards was invented. It was very like the earlier game from France, but the pins were metal, and the goal was to ricochet the ball off of the pins and into little holes, and this was how you scored. This was also the first game to use a spring launcher.

Spring launchers finally became mainstream in 1869. This was because of a British inventor named Montague Redgrave. He was manufacturing Bagatelle boards in america, (Bagatelle is the name of the french pinball inspiration). He got the patent for Improvements of Bagatelle, when all he really did was add a spring launcher. He didn't even invent spring launchers! But finally, the spring launcher was mainstream.

Coin operation was introduced in 1931. It was the same year David Gottlieb's Baffle Ball was introduced, and brought pinball into the mainstream. The game resonated with americans who wanted cheap, instant entertainment in the depression era economy. The year after, Raymond Moloney, who was a distributor for Gottlieb was fed up because of how slow Gottlieb put out Baffle ball units to sell. In his frustration, he founded Lion Manufacturing, and made Bally Hoo, A pinball game of his own design, to combat Baffle Ball. The game was a smash hit. It was bigger, and thus more challenging. It sold 50,000 units in just 7 months, and Moloney changed his company's name to Bally as a result of his games success.

In 1933, electricity and bumpers were included. There was finally an electric scoring system to commemorate your success in the game. This first electrified game was called Contact, and was made by Pacific Amusements in California. The designer of Contact, Harry Williams, would go off to form his own company, called Williams Manufacturing. By the end of 1933, there are about 150 pinball companies in America, most of which are in Chicago. Chicago will remain the pinball manufacturing capitol of the world to this day.

Flippers were finally introduced in 1947. Funnily enough, by our old friend, David Gottlieb. That's right, the same David Gottlieb who made Baffle Ball, and is considered the father of pinball. His game, Humpty Dumpty, was the first pinball game to have every feature of a modern pinball game. He would start the design, and wrap it up. His design had 3 pairs of flippers. The first to have just 2 was Triple Action, a game designed by Steve Kordeck. The flappers we facing outwards, instead of the standard inward design. The inward design was introduced by, once again, David Gottlieb. The giant of pinball. He would introduce the design in 1950, and had an iron grip on post WW2 pinball.

Finally I can wrap up this part 1, knowing that pinball is what we know it as today. Check in next week for part 2.