Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails called 'pins' and had hollows or pockets which scored points if the ball came to rest in them. Today, pinball is most commonly an arcade game in which the ball is fired into a specially designed cabinet known as a pinball machine, hitting various lights, bumpers, ramps, and other targets depending on its design. The game's object is generally to score as many points as possible by hitting these targets and making various shots with flippers before the ball is lost. Most pinball machines use one ball per turn, and the game ends when the ball(s) from the last turn are lost. The biggest pinball machine manufacturers historically include Bally Manufacturing, Gottlieb, Williams Electronics and Stern Pinball.
Gottlieb was an American arcade game corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is best known for creating a vast line of pinball machines and arcade games throughout much of the 20th century.
WMS Industries, Inc. was an American electronic gaming and amusement manufacturer in Enterprise, Nevada. It was merged into Scientific Games in 2016. WMS's predecessor was the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded in 1943 by Harry E. Williams. However, the company that became WMS Industries was formally founded in 1974 as Williams Electronics, Inc.
Stern is the name of two different but related arcade gaming companies. Stern Electronics, Inc. manufactured arcade video games and pinball machines from 1977 until 1985, and was best known for Berzerk. Stern Pinball, Inc., founded in 1986 as Data East Pinball, is a manufacturer of pinball machines in North America.
Pin-Bot is a pinball machine released by Williams in October 1986. It was designed by Python Anghelo and Barry Oursler.
Patrick M. Lawlor is a video game and pinball machine designer.
FunHouse is a pinball machine designed by Pat Lawlor and released in November 1990 by Williams Electronics. Starring a talking ventriloquist dummy named Rudy, the game is themed after the concept of an amusement park funhouse. FunHouse is one of the last Williams games to use an alphanumeric display; the company switched to dot matrix the following year.
The Machine: Bride of Pin-Bot is a 1991 pinball game designed by Python Anghelo and John Trudeau, and released by Williams. It is the second game in the Pin-Bot series, and is the last game produced by Williams to use a segmented score display rather than a dot-matrix screen. It is also one of the few pinball games produced that uses a variable-brightness segmented display.
The Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show is an annual pinball and arcade game festival held in Tacoma, Washington, United States.
The Wizard of Oz is a Jersey Jack Pinball, Inc. pinball machine designed by Joe Balcer and released in April 2013. It is the first US pinball machine with an LCD in the back box as well as the first one to have color on the monitor produced in the US since the Pinball 2000 games. Although it is not the first pinball machine with a LCD worldwide because MarsaPlay in Spain manufactured a remake of Inder's original Canasta titled New Canasta, with an LCD screen in the backbox in 2010.
Tee'd Off is a pinball machine designed by Ray Tanzer and Jon Norris and released by Gottlieb in May 1993.
Zaccaria, was an Italian company of pinball and arcade machines that existed in Bologna from 1974 until 1990. The factory was sold to tecnoplay.
Playmatic was a Spanish manufacturer of pinball machines, producing approx. 63 different models between 1968 and 1987. Although American pinball manufacturers create playfields by directly painting the artwork on a wooden surface, then add a layer of varnish or clear coat, Playmatic and other European manufacturers included the artwork on a durable plastic sheet laid over the flat wooden surface, resulting in added durability of the artwork image.
Taito of Brazil was a pinball and arcade manufacturer located in São Paulo, Brazil. The company originally started out as Clover Electronic Amusement in 1968, then became Taito of Brazil in 1972 by Abraham "Abba" Kogan, the son of the founder of the parent company Taito located in Japan. This subsidiary was originally an importer of existing U.S. and Japanese machine components to be assembled within the country. However, the taxation on imports had been growing steadily, and the government's belief that pinball is a game of chance and considered a gambling machine, led to strict import rules. By 1976, within rules created by the Electronic Processing Activities Coordinating Committee (CAPRE), it became illegal to import pinball machines. This created a problem, since the popularity of arcade games in Brazil had been growing exponentially for many years.
Sorcerer is a 1985 pinball machine designed by Mark Ritchie and released by Williams Electronics. The table is placed in the "Internet Pinball Data Base Top 100 Rated Electronic Pinball Machines" chart.
Inder was a Spanish manufacturer of pinball machines which was in business between 1970 and 1993. Francisco Maestre was the director of Inder for many years. Inder experimented with the use of CRT monitors in their pinball machine's backboxes. The result was a hybrid game called Flip VI which came out in 1990. In 2010 the Spanish company Marsaplay produced 25 prototypes of New Canasta, which is a remake of Inder's original Canasta pinball machine.
Sega, S.A. SONIC was a Spanish coin-operated amusement machines company established by Sega Enterprises-related shareholders incorporated by Bertram Leroy Siegel as MD in March 1968, which lasted until its dissolution in 2006 – under the management of Eduardo Morales Hermo, as Marketing Director first, Vice President and CEO, who acquired the company from original shareholders Martin Bromley, Richard Stewart & Raymonf Lemaire in 1994. By 1972, the company was a pioneer of the import of the video arcade games to Europe, starting with Pong, followed by Space Invaders, Galaxian and Asteroids. They produced pinball machines between 1972 and 1986. First, they imported American pinball machines during the sixties and seventies and later decided to make their own. Their most successful pinball machines were produced under the brand name SONIC. In 1973 the company moved to new, larger facilities located in Parla, becoming registered as Sega.S.A Sonic, although commercially it continues to use the name Segasa.
Eight Ball Deluxe is a pinball machine designed by George Christian and released by Bally in 1981. The game features a cue sports theme and was so popular that it was produced again in 1984.
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games or merchandisers.
