Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #047 - 1978 - December [International Arcade Museum]
indirect flipper shot, and the targets remain lit, replay after replay
awarded. By contrast, the Williams target is usually a bottom side
rollover - and end-of-ball shot - which resets after being used once.
This is just one of many examples of the confidence which the
Gottlieb designs show.
The 60's Bailys were designed by the late Ted Zale, who returned
to the use of an asymetrical piayfseid. The small-flipper Bailys a!!
share a strong family resemblance which matured sn 1968 and 69
with such sweet offers as Safari, Rockmakersf and Gator, This was
also the period of the captive-ball Bally, a gimmick which endears
many to the vastly overrated 1972 Fireball in the 1970's Baily
ceased to innovate, choosing instead to design everybody else's
game better than they could. The results have not been without
reward, but much of the current popularity of Bailys is for reasons
not in the best interests of pinball. One wonders what Dave Got
tlieb would think of this company.
Some specifics and further comments -
Bally — The Bally of 1963-65 depends too much on the origin
ality of their assymetrical playfields, captive balls, unusual targets,
and return gates. The second phase of small-flspper Bailys, from
1966 thorugh 1969 are more enjoyable, though there's plenty of
inconsistent material here. The three games already mentioned
from this period, along with Cosmos and Joust offer a consistent,
ususual, and recent alternative to current pinball trends. Large-
flipper Bailys are more mundate than the earlier models, and do
not become interesting to play until roughly the 1976 models.
El Toro and Odds & Evens are pleasant exceptions.
Bally is primarily a manufacturer of gambling devices and has
yet to show through their product that they are willing to give
pinball a chance on its own merits. They almost sent the industry
down the tubes in the 3Q's with their foray into pay-out pinbali,
and served up more trouble in the 50's with their Bingo games.
There is possible trouble ahead. Remember that pinball is newly
legalized in many jurisdictions, and not yet even recognized many
places in its truest form, with replay™ PinbaS! is on probation and
there are still plenty of people who find it guilty as charged, what
ever the charge.
A recent headline in the Philadelphia Sunday
.com
m
:
u
m
e had the following two head
Bulletin about the new ro
pinball arcades
m Its us Seamy Side" and "Is New Youth
d f Fad d Has
-
e
lines: "Flash, Tilt!
e
d
loa Drugs?"
Rage Tied
n to
arca with story tied only circumstantiallyto the
.
w
o
w
D as //w
w as a suggestion that pinballs were banned durring
headlines,
: well
p
t
the years
from
1951 to 1962. There is a strong sentiment amongst
t
h
many to condemn pinball on even the most circumstantial evidence.
Would it not be best for commercial pinbali to dress up sn its
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35
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