History

Note: This page is a work in progress. Please help get it to a completed state by adding any useful information to it.

I am very, very slowly working on adding info here, but anyone who wants to add more info, feel free.

5 Cheating and Pinball

As long as pinball has been around and accepting coins people have been trying to figure out how to cheat the machine out of free games. In some of the podcast interviews with designers there is mention of some way in which they used to get free games. Looking through many pinball machines and pinball schematics through the years, I have seen many devices and circuits intended to prevent cheating and abuse. Sometimes the purpose of these isn’t obvious until you consider ways people might try to cheat.

The obvious device is the pendulum TILT mechanism that evolved from the non-resettable stool pigeon. Since then there has been a long evolution of new mechanisms as people found new ways to cheat. The following is a list of other anti-cheat devices:

1. Ball roll tilt mechanism to prevent player from changing the playfield angle by lifting the cabinet
2. Anti-slam switch in coin door to prevent people kicking coin door to trip leaf switches and add credits
3. Anti-slam switch in back box to prevent people from adding points by banging on back box
4. Guards on inside of leg bolts to prevent people from removing a leg bolt and using a wire to reach in and trip coin mechanism
5. Metal shielding under bottom of cabinet in front to prevent access to coin box and coin door switches
6. Metal guard around credit stepper to prevent people from using a wire to reach in and add credits
7. Careful selection of switches and operating position. For example, on credit stepper the switches are normally forced OPEN at the limit to prevent a back box slam from adding a credit.
8. Lock-out switch on SS games that blocks switch operation when the coin door is closed.
9. A delay relay in Bally games that used a #455 flasher as a timer to make the machine appear dead for many seconds after a slam event. This may have been more focused on avoiding abuse.
10. Coin drop circuitry in Bally Bingo pinballs that require the coin drop switch to actuate for no longer than a fixed time length to defeat coins dangled on strings, etc.
11. Coin mechs with magnets used to grab ferrous based slugs
12. "Cutter" coin mechs used to cut coins on strings
13. "Biff bars" under the flippers used to keep from easily putting a drained ball back in play
14. Kick off switch on EM motor board. Originally used to shut game off, but existed after power switches were added.
15. Spring type coil with a bent nail in center used as tilt mechanism in the 40's
16. Metal rails installed inside some woodrails just above playfield.
17. Metal rails installed on outside of game.
18. Glass back glass. Plexiglass was tried, but people found they could drill a hole in the credit window to reach in with a wire and add credits. A drilled credit window is shown in this IPDB picture: Gottlieb Sunset backglass, drilled hole

www.flippers.be has an article on How to cheat playing pinball machines that is mostly focused on game play vs. game design.

6 The Transition from Electromechanical To Solid State

During the electromechanical,or EM, era of pinball Gottlieb had been considered the "king" of pinball, being by far the most popular of games, with Williams following in a strong second place. When the transition went to solid state, this order changed and eventually let to the demise of Gottlieb. The first commercially available pinball machine was Spirit Of '76, manufactured by Micro Games. Right after Spirit Of '76 was made, Bally Pinball began manufacturing solid state games as the first major manufacture to make the change. Williams followed soon after, while Gottlieb waited out for some time expecting solid state to never last. Gottlieb's hold out Of solid state hurt business for them and they never fully recovered, and was purchased by Mylstar electronics in 1983, and then Premier Technology in 1984, who then completely closed their doors in 1996.

8 Pinball 2000

In 1998, Williams Electronic Games was dealing with a pinball division that hadn't offered a profit for several years. To try and turn this around CEO Neil Nicastro, of Williams Electronic Games gathered the seven design teams together and gave them the Pinball 2000 initiative. This was a project to come up with a new style machine that people would buy and play, otherwise Williams Electronic Games would be shutting down its pinball division down.

9 The Last Manufacturer

Stern Pinball was formed in 1999 when Gary Stern bought Sega Pinball. This was not the first time that someone from the Stern family owned a pinball company, as Sam Stern owned Stern Electronics as well as being a part of Williams. Stern Pinball is currently the only company manufacturing pinball machines, holding that title from 1999-present. They have managed to survive on a low-production business model, with games costing ~$4600 for the standard price.

10 2011: The Renaissance Of Pinball

This Section is not considered completely accurate yet as 2011 is still in progress and much can still happen, along with other information still needing to be added

2011 has been dubbed "The Renaissance Of Pinball" for many reasons, including the formation of new pinball manufacturers along with several groundbreaking projects.

Stern Pinball has announced a 50% increase in profits, while also hiring several highly famed people in the industry including George Gomez, Steve Ritchie, and Lyman Sheats.

Jack Guarnieri of Pinball Sales Inc. announced in 2011, that he will begin manufacturing pinball machines under the name Jersey Jack Pinball, with his first title being Wizard Of Oz, with a promise that his second game will be an unlicensed title, a highly demanded concept from collectors. Jersey Jack Pinball has also hired on famed people from the pinball industry, including Joe Balcer, Jerry VanderStelt, Dennis Nordman, Greg Freres, Jim Thornton, Keith Johnson, Chris Granner, and Matt Riesterer to form his first design team.

Retro Pinball, a company aimed at remaking classic EM pinball machines with SS innards, a project started in March 2007, has finally begun shipping its first remade game, King Of Diamonds. They promise that once their first game is completely out of the door that they will move on to continue reproducing other classic games in a similar fashion.

John Popadiuk recently updated his website to announce a new pinball machine he is going to build and sell called Magic Girl. It will be a 13 game run, with the price starting at $15,995 for pre-order before October 31, 2011, with the final cost going to be $17,995. Not much other information is available as of this writing (7/23/11).