The Silent Bally Pinball Factory: How the World’s Pinball Empire Disappeared

Comments · 55

• TI

  @timwatson3879 · 6 months ago

  I worked for Williams Electronics - later Williams-Bally-Midway on North California Ave. for 5 years. (86-91) Three plants around Chicago area.

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• CH

  @Chris-c2r2k · 6 months ago

  I remember playing pinball at lunch time in high school at the local arcade for money. Got pretty good at it!

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• PI

  @pilotgrrl1 · 6 months ago

  When I was a kid, pinball machines cost a dime to play. You could get a lot of mileage out of $1.

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• CA

  @carlhohnholt3392 · 6 months ago

  Pinball is hot now,with Stern, spooky, selling out games before they come out is crazy and those machines cost over $9;500 dollars.

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• DA

  @Darealdareel · 6 months ago

  I worked for Game Doctors in 1976 an saw the very first microprocessor controlled pinball machine. It was cool ....that was in san jose calif. Oh yeah we refurbished old pinball machines. My first job in electronics....in silicone valley.  I remember  those names,Bally, Williams ,Chicago coin ,atari. I was 19 yrs old ....i had achieved my dream to work in silicone valley as a technician in th mid 70's ....those were th good ol days driving to work in a 68 roadrunner that i built. I even worked for P.S. Hurlbut making pinball cabinets for Atari....

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• MR

  @mrfuzzcat · 6 months ago

  The Bally bingo machines of the 1950-early 1960’s were magnificent pieces of engineering and manufacturing.

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• KB

  @kbruns33 · 6 months ago

  I have some fond early memories of going to Aladdin's Castle in the early/mid 80s.

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• DO

  @Dozenfury88 · 6 months ago

  Bally didn't survive long enough for the current pinball resurgence which is unfortunate.  Now Stern sells new machines for $8k-$14k each and can't hardly make them fast enough to keep them in-stock.  Nostalgia can be a powerful thing, and sales are strong both to private consumers with them in their homes and commercial bars/arcades.

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• JA

  @jamesrice4072 · 6 months ago

  We spent our early teen years playing all of them.❤

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• BO

  @BobKohan · 6 months ago

  He does not mention the first electronic pinball prototype that I worked on, "Bow and Arrow".

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• AR

  @areizman · 6 months ago

  Thanks for this well researched piece. I'll add a brief comment that may have been missed. In 1979 Bally spun off Pinball into it's own division headquartered in Bensenville, IL. I worked at both the Chicago and Bensenville factories. The Bensenville factory on O'Leary Drive would eventually be demolished along with the surrounding neighborhood and today lies under a runway at O'Hare airport. 😥

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• CL

  @clauramoore · 6 months ago

  What about the Gotlieb Pinball Company?

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