pinballmachineinfo.com

pinballmachineinfo.com

Believe it or not, historians can actually trace pinball back to the medieval ages. It’s a stretch, but during the 15th century the King of France, King Louis XIV, narrowed a billiard table so that players would have to shoot balls from one end with a stick or cue in order to knock down pins on the opposite side. Eventually, like using a peach basket for basketball, resetting the pins became too long of a process and they were instead fixed to the table. Holes were added as targets.

The game was called “Bagatelle”, and is a far cry from the modern game of pinball involving flashing lights, blazing sounds, and little silver balls. Modern pinball can instead be traced to 1863 ... (more)

Believe it or not, historians can actually trace pinball back to the medieval ages. It’s a stretch, but during the 15th century the King of France, King Louis XIV, narrowed a billiard table so that players would have to shoot balls from one end with a stick or cue in order to knock down pins on the opposite side. Eventually, like using a peach basket for basketball, resetting the pins became too long of a process and they were instead fixed to the table. Holes were added as targets.

The game was called “Bagatelle”, and is a far cry from the modern game of pinball involving flashing lights, blazing sounds, and little silver balls. Modern pinball can instead be traced to 1863, when British inventor Montegue Redgrave began manufacturing bagatelle tables in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1871, Redgrave replaced the cue with a coiled spring and plunger, making bagatelle less like billiards and more like the arcade sensation we know and love today.

Today, most pinball machines include the following features:

Bumpers: Round knobs that actively push the ball away when struck. In most modern machines they light up when this occurs.

Stationary Targets: Like the original pins introduced in the age of Louis XIV, these are targets that fall down when struck by a player’s ball.

Bullseye Targets: Like a darts board, striking the center of a bullseye target lands the player more points than around the periphery.

Holes: In older versions of pinball, “gobble holes” are difficult to hit but award the player instant free games. In more recent machines, holes generally move the ball around the table and add significant points to a score (which, when added, can reach a free game).

Kickers/Slingshots: These are the targets that quickly propel a ball away upon impact. They can speed up a game and make reaction time – since it is difficult to predict their response – a significant challenge for an amateur pinball player.

Flippers: These are the tools used to propel the ball up into the field of play. They usually react based on precision timing presses of buttons on each side of the machine.

Pinball is a game based on timing and technique. It’s also one of the first games to challenge a player based on physics, and although it has changed significantly since the original game of “bagatelle”, it is still popular in arcades today.


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