Truck Stop Bally Pinball Machine

The history of pinball reaches all the way to 1770’s. They gained mainstream attention after the spring launcher was patented in 1871.

Other major inventions considering the game were the introduction of the coin operation, electrification and active bumpers in the 1930’s and the introduction of player controllable flippers in 1947. In the 1970’s solid-state circuit boards were used to modernize the devices.

Solid-state technology led to a pinball boom in the 1970’s in the arcade halls, which was later superseded by the video game boom in the 1980’s. The pinball boom saw a later revival in the 1990’s.

The so called modern pinball machine is operated by using a spring loaded plunger to plunge metal ball into the playfield of different kinds of obstacles and targets. The player is then trying to keep the ball in the playfield with the aid of two flippers that are controlled by two buttons on each side of the machine.

The aim is to hit the ball with flippers into the targets that are on the playing field. Each target is worth of certain amount of points. Pinball machines are equipped with lights and loudspeakers and are generally themed after movies or other phenomena of popular culture.

The machine recorded is Truck Stop Bally from 1988. In the audio you can hear the plunging of the ball, sound of the flippers and the sounds that are created when the ball hits it’s targets.

Sound, photo, video: Antti Makkonen