Pinball is as American as apple pie. Pinball is an American invention and the machines are still made primarily in the U.S.A. by companies such as market leader Stern and smaller companies such as Jersey Jack Pinball, American Pinball, spooky Pinball, Chicago Coin and a few other boutique company.
Often the pinball machines you might find “on location” at a bar or arcade will be newer machines by Stern or some Bally or Williams classics from the previous heyday of pinball, the 1990s.
Pinball nearly died in 2000 when the great pinball companies Williams, Bally, Gottlieb, Sega/DataEast all left the marketplace but Stern was reborn and started the long climb back to today when pinball is hotter than it’s been in a long, long time.
The roots of pinball stretch back to the 1930s but didn’t really get going until the invention of the play controlled flippers based games in the 50 and 60s.
“wizards play down on Pinball Way, on the boardwalk way past dark”
Bruce Springsteen
Above: 1972 Gottlieb World Series electro-mechanical pinball machine showing all of the action under the playfield. Note: on this game the “coin eject” button has been set up as a coin button. Pressing it gives free credit for two games. The second game is started by pushing the red start button.
The 70s saw growth in arcades but not alot changed until the late 70s and early 80s when pinball went from pure electromechanical based machine to computerized machines.
Then in the 90s game design explode with more memory, sound, speech, amazing mechanisms and light shows.
How To Start a Pinball Game
From the very start pinball manufacturer have been challenged on how to communicate the operation of the machines to would be first time players. The start button serves as a way to start a game and to add more players but it’s use is not always intuitive to new players.
Read the price card on the lower right of the pinball machine. Put in the appropriate number of quarters, dollars or tokens. Then find the start button.
Every pinball machine has a start button. Old ones might have a metal button. Some have a blinking plastic button. Some even have an oversized button that says START. Newer machines standardized on having the start button on the left side.
On older machines like this Bally machine, the start button might be incorporated into the coin door making it harder to find. Look for the round metal button on the right side – inconveniently the same metal color as the rest of the coin door! Note, the longer, smaller protrusion on the left side is the coin eject button. Pushing it in will clear a clogged coin.
Once you push start a ball will eject into the shooter lane on the far right.
Locate the flipper buttons on the side of the game. Pull back the plunger (some machine use a button or even a gun to eject the ball) and get ready to flip!
You won’t need to use the start button again until your game ends. You can play a credit, put in more money, play a free “matched” game if you got lucky or even an earned free game if you did well.
Adding Multiple Players
Another feature of the start button is adding a second, third or fourth player. (The Six Million Dollar Man machine allowed up to six players!)
Put in the required coinage for multiple players. Then hit the start button. Before using the flipper, push the start button a second time to add a second player. (and a third for a third player and so on). Then plunge the ball to start. At the end of each ball it will be the next player’s turn (unless it says “same player shoots again”).