Vintage Pinball Machines

Gusher by Williams

What exactly would be considered vintage pinball machines? Well, when I think of vintage pinball machines, I think of the old woodrail pinball machines, which were made back in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Woodrail pinball machines had wood rails down the side of the machine, and a wood frame around the back glass. If you’ve got a game room with a bunch of vintage pinball machines, you’re going to want to have at least one woodrail machine. I used to own a woodrail machine called “Gusher”. It was lots of fun - my dad bought it for me from a bar back in the late 60’s.

If you’re a little younger than me, you will probably consider some of the machines that came out in the 1960’s and 1970’s to be vintage pinball machines. I really think that this was the heyday of pinball machines, back before video games were invented and pinballs were the only game in town. Back in the era of vintage pinball machines, there were thousands and thousands of different models, from manufacturers like Williams, Bally, and Gottlieb.

Drop-A-Card - A Simple, Fun Vintage Pinball Machine

One of my favorite vintage pinball machines was called Drop-A-Card. It was a poker themed machine that had playing card drop targets along both sides and along the top. It was a very simple machine, but offered hours of enjoyment, possibly because it was fairly easy to win free games. I remember putting my quarter on the glass and waiting for the guy before me to finish playing his free games so I could play. Drop a card had the older, smaller flippers that say “FLIPPER” on them. As machines got a little newer, they had bigger flippers that were quite often another color, with yellow rubber around them.

Back in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, all pinball machines were what were known as Electromechanical, or EM machines. They had reels that turned around to show the score, or lights that shown through the backglass. If you’re looking for vintage pinball machines, you would probably be talking about any of the machines that were built before 1977. In 1977, the advent of the Solid State, or SS pinball machine came about, and the industry was changed forever. Now, circuit boards and digital displays took over.

Williams introduced their first solid-state pinball machine called “Hot Tip” in 1977 and because of this new technology, they and Bally thrived in this era as they both sold large amounts of games with fancy sound effects, speech, and game features that only a computer could make possible. In fact, during this time companies put out machines in both styles, and Hot Tip was one of those. Here are pictures of both backglasses, so you can see the difference.

Hot Tip Electromechanical

Hot Tip Solid State

Solid state pinball machines can be really cool, with all the music, talking, and computer effects. Still, there is just something about the old EM machines that can’t be beat, with their spinning reels and bells and lights!

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