Having raised to such fame in the 80s and 90s, people are often curious as to "What are Bally, Williams and Midway Pinball Machines?". Bally, Midway and Williams were truly the titans of pinball in the 1990s, and were almost solely responsible for taking pinball into its 'golden age', where gameplay was at the forefront of their development, innovation was key, and the games themselves seemed to almost get better and better with every release.
The company released almost too many hits to count. Medieval Madness, Cirqus Voltaire, White Water, The Getaway, Funhouse, The Addams Family, The Twilight Zone and many, many others all were Bally, Midway or Williams machines, and are now some of the most fondly remembered pinball machines ever made. Below is a brief history to how the company was founded.
Bally and Midway
Of the three companies, the oldest established company is Bally Manufacturing, founded at the start of 1932 to make amusement machines such as pinball machines and slot machines. They continued on to become big players alongside Gottlieb and Williams in the Electromechanical era of pinball machines, and continued going strength to strength in the early solid state era of pinball machines.
Midway on the other hand were founded in 1958, and began by producing primarily slot machines, and did not attach their names to pinball at all. This came much later.
Williams Electronics
Williams was started by Harry Williams in 1943, and began life manufacturing fortune telling machines, and electromechanical games aside from pinball. When branching out into Pinball, Williams were at the forefront of changing and shaping pinball more into what we know it as today.
How the companies merged.
All three companies have long individual histories, but the pinball giant from the 90s actually came froma conglomeration of all three into one single corporate entity.
The complete merging of these three companies is a very long history which happened in stages over time, starting with Bally's acquisiton of Midway in 1969. Bally continued releasing pinball machines under their name, whilst Midway continued to develop and release video arcade machines under their name. Eventually, Bally and Midway were both absorbed into Williams in 1988, becoming WMS Industries.
Despite all being the same overall company, games would be marked with any one of the three company stamps, or sometimes even a combination of the three. For example, Attack From Mars was released in 1995 under the Bally and Midway name, whilst Medieval Madness was released under the Williams name in 1997, despite coming from the same pinball designer. In fact, some games (such as Cirqus Voltaire) is marked as a Bally machine, but has the manufacturer on the playfield as being marked as Williams.
Key Claims to Fame by Bally-Williams
the company made a huge number of industry-changing developments. All of these pushed pinball forward to rise into the huge game it became in the 90s, and why pinball has such a dedicated following even to this day. Below lists some of the key innovations and achievements that the group brought to pinball.
First Inward Facing Flippers on a Pinball Machine
Electrically operated, player controlled flipper buttons were introduced by Gottlieb years prior, however Williams were the first manufacturer to have the two flippers facing inwards directly above the game's drain/out hole. Prior to their introduction, flippers were placed seemingly oddly around the table. This all changed with the 1950 game 'Lucky Inning', which featured small, inward facing flippers. Pinball continues to be played this way to this day.
First Speech in a Pinball Game
As far back as 1979, Williams were adding industry-changing innovations to their machines. One such change came with 1979's 'Gorgar', which featured the first ever speech in a pinball machine. Gorgar had a vocabulary of seven words which could all be strung together to make different sentences, allowing the game to directly taunt or congratulate the player for completing objectives.
First Electronic Multiball Mode
In 1980, Williams released the first ever solid state game to include an achievable multiball mode. 'Firepower' allowed players to lock three balls to begin a high scoring mode where the added number of balls on the table meant greatly enhanced scoring potential. Multiball continues to be a staple mode of pinball machines today.
First Standard Dot Matrix Display in Pinball
Whilst Data East pioneered dot matrix display technology with their 'Checkpoint' machine, Williams' Terminator 2 introduced what would be considered to be the 'industry standard' DMD. This new piece of technology allowed the game to feature fully animated graphics, and even the first ever pinball machine 'video mode'. Pinball machines used these kinds of displays for over 20 years following the game's release.
Best Selling Pinball Machine of All Time
In 1992, Bally-Williams released the best selling pinball machine of all time - The Addams Family. With over 20,000 units produced and sold, some consider it to be the 'perfect' pinball machine. It featured very easy to understand rules, and a special patented system that could make shots on behalf of the player.
Most Patents on a Single Pinball Machine
Immediately following The Addams Family, Bally-Williams gave the design team free reign to create a game as deep and complicated as they wanted. The result was the incredibly complex 'The Twilight Zone', which boasted more playfield features than any other game ever made, and one of the most sought after pinball machines of all time.
What Happened to the Company?
With so many incredible developments, and so many adored pinball machines, people often wondered how a company as prolific as Bally-Williams could fail. Unfortunately, the company and its pinball division met its end in 1999 following the release of their Pinball 2000 cabinets in an attempt to try and resuscitate the pinball industry. Pinball had been declining in sales since the middle of the 90s, and the costs of production was rapidly outrunning the demand for machines. After retiring from the pinball industry in 1999, WMS Industries turned their attention to producing more in the ways of gambling equipment such as slot machines, where the company found much better success.
The company still exists today, but now owned by a ;arger gambling entertainment giant 'Scientific Games'.
Bally and Williams' games are amongst the most fondly remembered pinball machines of all time, and some of the greatest ever produced as voted by players. I fact, a good quantity of the classic machines that are sold at Home Leisure Direct are Bally Williams designs. If you want to find out anything more about Bally, Williams or Midway pinball machines, feel free to give us a call on 0800 622 6464 or 01454 413 636.