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Brief History of PIN BALL Machine

• When I was young, I was a friend of the person called as "God of Game" by the SEGA Enterprise’s service engineer, who was collecting fee of pin ball machines and doing check and repair of them. 　Although SEGA was manufacturing some pinball machines in Japan, there were a few amount of supply.
• Most pinball machines were manufactured in Chicago, USA. There were five main venders: Williams, Gottlieb, Bally, Chicago Coin and Midway Games.
• Harry Williams, who established Williams Manufacturing, introduced designs to propel the ball out of a bonus hole and to ring a bell to reward the player by first using electrically powered solenoid to pinball machine in 1933.
• Gottlieb first introduced player-controlled FLIPPERS to keep the ball in play longer in 1947.
• And then the pinball machine had advanced the game features by using electromechanical relays and scoring reels in 1950s and 1960s.
• These electrical parts of relays and reels were replaced to microprocessors and circuit board in 1970s.
• The video game boom led to the end of the boom for pinball in 1980s.
• The Williams's pinball was my favorite ones, because the procedures for making SPECIAL turn on were complicated and pleasant contents.
• Here are some of the typical and nostalgic pinball machines he was playing with me at the time.　
• Please note that these photos were not taken by me, but were downloaded from the "The Internet Pinball Database" website.

Nostalgic Pin Ball Machine by Williams

	Heat Wave 1 player, 3-or-5 ball (C) Williams 1964 7 roll-over buttons advance thermometer when lit. When thermometer "Blow Your Top", drop target and two side roll-over lanes register replays. This was found at Korakuen Amusement Park in Tokyo, Haneda airport, Oriental Nakamura in Nagoya and Futamigaura Sea Paradise in Mie, etc.
	Alpine Club 1 player, 3-or-5 ball (C) Williams 1965 Mountain climber feature that carries over game-to-game and scores SPECIAL when climber reaches peak! Hitting center target when lit. Opens "Free Ball" gate and advances value of kick-out holes from 300 to SPECIAL! This was found at Korakuen Amusement Park in Tokyo and Pearl Queen in Mie, etc.
	River Boat 1 player, 3-or-5 ball (C) Williams 1964 Lighting 3 jokers with any 1 ball lights swing target and the top center roll-over to score SPECIALS. Completing "straight" lights bottom roll-over for SPECIALS. This was found at Korakuen Amusement Park in Tokyo, and Pearl Queen in Mie, etc.

Nostalgic Pinball Machine by Gottlieb & Bally

	Bank-a-Ball 1 player, 3-or-5 ball (C) Gottlieb 1965 Making ball numbers of 1 to 7 or 9 to 15 lights center Target to score the 8 ball and SPECIAL. Dropping the numbers of 1 to 8 or 8 to 15 lights "Low" or "High" Rollover for SPECIALS. First pinball machine produced with Flipper Return Lanes. This was found at a certain Hakone Hotel in Kanagawa and Sakuraya Department Store in Ise, etc.
	Paragon 1 to 4 players, 3 ball (C) Bally 1979 Ball in paragon saucer scores 500 pts, advances bonus and spots lit letter. Completing 'P-A-R-A-G-O-N' lites paragonsaucer for SPECIAL and 25,500 pts. This was found at Kokubunji Amusement Center in Tokyo.