Algonquin, IL
Bensenville plant at 1:15-1:52
(Topic ID: 166810)
Here's what I believe was Lenc Smith (Cicero) and is now Churchill cabinet co. This was during their open house in 2014 when they started making MMr. They had a silkscreen room with TONS of playfields from many eras and manufacturers on the walls.
pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngQuoted from dudah:Here's what I believe was Lenc Smith (Cicero) and is now Churchill cabinet co. This was during their open house in 2014 when they started making MMr. They had a silkscreen room with TONS of playfields from many eras and manufacturers on the walls.
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Very cool. What is the story with them anyway? Seems odd to me there isn’t someone that can produce quality playfields in town and we are somehow stuck with Mirco in this new golden age of pinball.
Moe
Quoted from radium:Very cool. What is the story with them anyway? Seems odd to me there isn’t someone that can produce quality playfields in town and we are somehow stuck with Mirco in this new golden age of pinball.
Agreed, great to see those photos. I bet it all comes down to money and Micro most likely undercut them, unfortunately it's the old adage of you get what you pay for. For us, the price of Mirco's stuff doesn't always reflect the quality of what you receive.
Quoted from radium:Very cool. What is the story with them anyway? Seems odd to me there isn’t someone that can produce quality playfields in town and we are somehow stuck with Mirco in this new golden age of pinball.
Family owned cabinet business from way back in the day, got lots of coinop contracts in the 70's and here we are.
Regarding playfields, my guess is use clear it the cheapest way they can and you get what you pay for!
Just an FYI, Bally Manufacturing Corporation bought Lenc-Smith in the early 1970's. It became a 100% owned subsidiary at that time.Woody Smith stayed on leading the division. Then his son took over. Until he had some Legal issues with building contractors who were authorized to bill for excess work in exchange for doing remodeling work at his home.
Was just watching an old episode of Starcade on G4TV(yes the channel is back, not much on it yet but watching some old episodes of Starcade and Sasuke is always great) and at the end credit scroll, they always show the names of the companies whose games they use and other little bits and bobs. What caught my eye this time was there as a Bally company location of some sort in San Francisco. I forgot its official name, but it didn't sound like it was a production facility of any kind. Just curious if anybody knows what it might have been. A marketing arm? A service center?
Quoted from Miguel351:Was just watching an old episode of Starcade on G4TV(yes the channel is back, not much on it yet but watching some old episodes of Starcade and Sasuke is always great) and at the end credit scroll, they always show the names of the companies whose games they use and other little bits and bobs. What caught my eye this time was there as a Bally company location of some sort in San Francisco. I forgot its official name, but it didn't sound like it was a production facility of any kind. Just curious if anybody knows what it might have been. A marketing arm? A service center?
Bally Advance. Their Amusement machine distributor. Sales and service. Once route operators couldn't pay their bills when the video game craze imploded, those distributors also took over their debtor's equipment on location. Formerly known as Advance Automatic Sales. When Bally bought them out, the name changed slightly.
11 months later
I just added some pictures of Bally's Don Hooker to the Bingo Podcast thread.
In the post linked, there are a couple pictures from inside the Roscoe Bingo Plant:
There are a few posts before and after the linked one that you might like.
1 week later
3 weeks later
Yokosuka
2 weeks later
Quoted from matsellah:I worked Parts at the Bensenville plant in 1980. At the time, I thought the pay was fantastic.
You probably know a few of these folks from "Department 72"...
20230607_172837 (resized).jpg 2 weeks later
Quoted from MrBally:Bally Advance. Their Amusement machine distributor. Sales and service. Once route operators couldn't pay their bills when the video game craze imploded, those distributors also took over their debtor's equipment on location. Formerly known as Advance Automatic Sales. When Bally bought them out, the name changed slightly.
Speaking of Bally Advance, and their prior name of Advance Automatic Sales; here's a short article from the May-June, 1980 Bally-Who newsletter about Advance sponsoring the four Day Bally Service School in Hawaii. The grueling training (with a five hour time change from Chicago) was conducted by Bally's Arnie Aarstad and Midway's Andy Ducay.
20230628_172842 (resized).jpg20230628_172856 (resized).jpgAs shown in my earlier post #160, when the new from the ground-up Bensenville Plant came online, it was for Bally Pinball. Belmont (and the Fletcher, Roscoe, Vanguard and Rockwell buildings) continued operating for gaming equipment (Bingo and Slot machines). A few years later, all of the plants in the City of Chicago closed as all manufacturing and support moved into the Bensenville plant. The Corporate offices remained in Chicago, but moved to an office tower near O'Hare at Cumberland & the Kennedy.
Here is the announcement along with the last Bally slot machine built in Chicago. Also a pic of the new Corporate offices.....
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3 weeks later
I know I've already posted the next pic of Bally/Midway on W. Belmont in Franklin Park somewhere else on Pinside. Now I'm adding the actual groundbreaking article and picture from February, 1982. Also, there are some pictures of the completed building taken in 1983. Note that the Aladdin's Castle division offices were also moved into this building once it was completed.
20230726_095933 (resized).jpg20201111_163502 (resized).jpg20201019_153907 (1)a (resized).jpg20210104_164906 (resized).jpgI can't believe I just found this thread. The history is so interesting to see, being a product of the 80's I remember the arcades fondly, brings back a ton of great memories growing up. Thanks to all who posted such great pics and stories in this thread.
Quoted from MrBally:I know I've already posted the next pic of Bally/Midway on W. Belmont in Franklin Park somewhere else on Pinside. Now I'm adding the actual groundbreaking article and picture from February, 1982. Also, there are some pictures of the completed building taken in 1983. Note that the Aladdin's Castle division offices were also moved into this building once it was completed.
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Sad that the building was completed as the pinball market cratered and the video game industry was about to collapse.
3 months later
Bally Continental Ltd. in Antwerp, Belgium. Slots, Bingo pins, and the Bally Hover (Air Hockey) tables were primarily made there. While the plant primarily supplied all of Europe, Asia, and South Africa; many of the Hovers were exported to the US during the early Air-Hockey craze.
The building had 84,000 sq ft of plant, general offices, engineering, service parts and warehouse space. Flipper pins from Chicago were warehoused there for distribution.
I've also included a copy of Bally Continental's letterhead from the same era which shows the offices and part of the factory and warehouse area.
Some will like the motor cars in the photo as well. Alex and Freddy Wilms, who were running the place, owned two of the Mercedes' that you see in the building lot. Not sure about the 3rd one in the lot nor the one on the street..
Quoted from MrBally:many of the Hovers were exported to the US during the early Air-Hockey craze.
I (attempted to) operate one of those during that craze. The playing surface was terrible.
.................David Marston
Zemst
Quoted from dmarston:I (attempted to) operate one of those during that craze. The playing surface was terrible.
.................David Marston
That aluminum surface was awful when it got any dirt or liquid (Beer, Soda pop etc.) on it. Also, the claw-foot bathtub legs were really stylish.
Eventually, Midway started building air-hockey machines in Schiller Park with the 7 segment light bulb score display. Those had a plastic or formica playing surface and looked modern.
Photo of the factory location on River Road, before they moved to Grand Avenue in Franklin Park.
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Quoted from MrBally:Bally Continental Ltd. in Antwerp, Belgium. Slots, Bingo pins, and the Bally Hover (Air Hockey) tables were primarily made there.
They published at least one of their own parts catalogs too:
https://www.funwithpinball.com/resources/parts-catalog-list#BallyContinental
/Mark
1 week later
Quoted from MrBally:I know I've already posted the next pic of Bally/Midway on W. Belmont in Franklin Park somewhere else on Pinside. Now I'm adding the actual groundbreaking article and picture from February, 1982. Also, there are some pictures of the completed building taken in 1983. Note that the Aladdin's Castle division offices were also moved into this building once it was completed.
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Another take on post #169:
20231224_103353 (resized).jpgQuoted from Whistles:Some of those fellows look like they had good connections.
Speaking of good connections; Paul Vesper (aka "Skip) started out at Midway crimping pins onto wires and installing them into connectors in 1959.
Midway needed more space for tooling operations, R & D labs, PCB component compliance labs and plastic injection molding production equipment (think Gorf and Tron control stick handles). They leased a large building at 2939 Hart Street (Now Hart Court) for this. This was directly between the Grand Ave. and Belmont buildings in Franklin Park.
Keeping it pinball related, Midway made the circuit boards for Bally pinball machines.
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