Pinball

History of Pinball

Pinball has gone through periods of social acceptance and rejection since the 1930s. With historic roots in bar and pub culture, pinball had early associations with gambling and the mob. While varying by state, pinball might be untaxed and require no permits. In such cases, the laundering of money could easily be accomplished one quarter at a time. Pinball machines faced bans in cities throughout the United States because of gambling concerns, for example in New York City, pinball was banned from 1941 until 1976. Many games from this time period through today have sought to distance themselves from this affiliation with clear labeling “for amusement only.”

The roots of pinball can be traced to outdoor ball and bowling games such as bocee and croquet and indoor pub and bar games, such as billiards or carrom, popular during the 15th through 18th centuries. The most significant predecessor was Bagatelle, a game developed in France. This game's popularity was especially motivated by its play at a 1 111 party thrown by the king's brother. Bagatelle is played on a narrow table with various pins across the playing field, through which the player shoots the ball [Page 481]using a cue, with the goal of sinking the ball into holes for points. This game's popularity in 19th-century America is evidenced by an 1863 political cartoon portraying Abraham Lincoln at play. Bagatelle eventually was outfitted with a glass panel over the playing field to keep the ball within the game and prevent damage to the playing field, an innovation continued in pinball machines.

In 1871, Montague Redgrave of Cincinnati, Ohio, transformed this game with the invention of a spring-powered plunger mechanism to shoot the ball. The spring-powered plunger rapidly replaced the cue in Bagatelle and remains present in modern pinball machines as the means of entering a ball into play. By the early 1930s coin-operated versions of Bagatelle were gaining popularity in the United States. Several companies, such as Gottlieb & Co., Lion Manufacturing (later changed to Bally), and Pacific Amusements, entered the production of these machines, developing new technologies and manufacturing machines. With the introduction of electrification, pinball designs gained new innovations, such as the bonus ball, and the invention of the tilt mechanism in 1932.

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