Having survived a couple of World Wars, countless recessions, the indignation of lifestyle police, and most recently the video game phenomenon it appeared that pinball was just too tough to kill. That’s why it was a surprise when WMS Industries, the dominant player in the industry for the past decade and the maker of Williams and Bally machines, announced that it was getting out of the business several years ago. Shed no tears for WMS, who is making money hand over fist with their video poker and slot machine division. In fact, following the announcement that they were getting out of the pinball business the company’s stock experienced a small but substantial gain.
Until the 1980’s, pinball dominated the arcade. In the late 1970’s and on the heels of the film adaptation of The Who’s pinball themed rock opera ‘Tommy’ arcades featured row after row of new machines from over a half dozen US based manufacturers. Countless other machines were made worldwide. The first shot of the video game industry didn’t make much of a dent–’Pong’ was revolutionary, but its gameplay was downright dull compared to pinball. It also required two players, another downside in the often solitary isolation of the arcade. The first real challenge to pinball was the second generation of video games, including ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’.
Pinball hung in there, however, and through the early eighties continued to make some solid games. The ones that come immediately to mind are games like Firepower (which helped launched the now ubiquitous multi-ball feature), Black Knight (offering an early version of the looping ramps found on many modern machines) and a couple of fun machines from Bally Paragon and Flash Gordon. Several games were spun off from video games, including a couple of good ones”Spy Hunter and Space Invaders and a number of not so good ones based on the Pac Man video games. Bally even made a game called Baby Pac Man that was a video/pinball hybrid. For awhile, the choice between pinball and video games was similar to the choice between Pepsi and Coke: both were equally pervasive and it was simply a matter of personal preference.
It was the late 1980s”when video games became more technologically advanced and began to offer superior play experiences”that pinball lost its way. Depending on the manufacturer, they did it in different ways. Gottlieb and others made simple, traditional games that just couldnt compete with their video counterparts. Bally and other manufacturers went the opposite route”by cramming so much onto a playfield that the game hardly resembled traditional pinball. Some of Ballys late 1980s games”with so much playfield gimmickry going on”were nearly unplayable. By this point”and in large part due to the paucity of compelling pinball machines turned out during this era”video had taken over the arcade. Some larger arcades continued to offer a few pinball machines to placate hardcores, while some eliminated pinball altogether.
In the 1990’s, pinball began to experience a bit of a comeback driven by well designed, enjoyable games that finally got the balance between traditional gameplay and modern technology right. Williams was at the forefront of the return to excellent design and gameplay, and its hard to think of a Williams game from this period that wasnt a fun game to play, if not a borderline classic. The mainstream media began to notice the renaissance, and noted that the average pinball machine received much more repeat business than the average video game and about the devotion of the pinball player.
With the century drawing to a close, it seemed that the Williams/Bally outfit had found a niche and would be able to grind out pinball machines for the aficionados forever. The final nail in the coffin, however, was a lot of societal changes beyond their control. For one, video games and video arcades became less profitable as companies like Sony and Nintendo were able to transform a lot of the high end gameplay to the home platform. Meanwhile, trends like new urbanism,which saw a return to downtown storefronts and the growth of online shopping combined to hurt traditional shopping malls. Eventually the WMS corporate braintrust decided to pull the plug on pinball and concentrate on their highly profitable gambling machine business. From a business standpoint, it probably made sense but that didnt make it any easier for lifelong pinball enthusiasts to reconcile with.
Pinball still soldiers on, with something of a hipster revival of the games in cities like Seattle and Portland where lovingly restored machines sit alongside new offerings by Stern Pinball, the only remaining manufacturer in the world. At this point, it appears that the only hope for pinball players is that some effort will be made to preserve the machines that already exist.
Ross Everett is a respected freelance writer experienced in travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, falconry and deep sea diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.