Fireball
Bally, 1972
Old Chicago
Bally, 1976
Time Zone
Bally, 1973Now that I have resurrected a Bally Fireball and Time Zone from the dead, I'm curious what people consider to be the top 3 Bally EM pinball machines. I am growing fond of Bally EMs and find them pretty easy to get working. I haven't played very many Bally EM's (I need to play more), but my top 3 are:
1. Fireball
2. Old Chicago
3. Time Zone
1) Fireball
2) Air Aces
3) Bon Voyage
All have their unique qualities in my opinion. Many say Air Aces is a drain monster, which it can be. But that drop target bank is so much fun.
I can list several that I do not like:
1) Twin Win
2) El Toro
3) Ro Go
Curious to see everyone's input on this topic.
Quoted from DanMarino:I am growing fond of Bally EMs and find them pretty easy to get working.
Interesting that you say this.
I started out only wanting Gottlieb EM's. Had 5 or 6 of them before I bought a couple of Williams games (That are no longer here).
But the more I started playing, the more I realized that Gottlieb made the.... Well, the third best EM's behind Bally and Williams.
Williams always made the most creative rules, but the art was atrocious in most cases.
But Bally.. man.. those games are just really fun to shoot.
But now I have 4 Gottliebs and 5 Bally games. Sorry Williams 
From a maintenance standpoint I prefer working on William’s and Bally’s as well. The short throw relay stacks on Gottlieb’s can be finicky. I’ve sold my So76, Gridiron and Gold Strike in search of other Williams and Bally pins.
Currently have a Wizard, Time Zone and 4MBC. Would love to get an Old Chicago one day among a few others.
Haven’t played enough of them to say what I like the best. So if anyone in the Michigan area has a Bally project pin I’d be very interested 
I just dig Bally’s.
Quoted from gdonovan:Olympic Hockey
Melody
CC Moon Shot
Literally NONE of those are Bally...
Quoted from Daditude:Literally NONE of those are Bally...
True, but love my Olympic Hockey!
Quoted from Garrett:True, but love my Olympic Hockey!
You're not wrong. Great game.
1. Fireball (only seen at shows)
2. Grand Prix (See Mom's Organic Market in College Park Maryland for nice example).
3. Hot Tip (See Mom's Organic Market in College Park Maryland for nice example).
Runner up:
Little Chief (See Mom's Organic Market in College Park Maryland for nice example).
Distant placement:
1776 (Was one at Crabtown)
hundreds of pinball machines
.
Old Chicago
Edit:
Dang it... Grand Prix and Hot Tip are Williams. Same company now so it counts?
Quoted from Daditude:Literally NONE of those are Bally...
Wow! Bad senior moment on my part.
Bally Only?
Night Rider
Bazaar
Fireball
Quoted from Garrett:True, but love my Olympic Hockey!
I have mine in the restore queue, just got a "film" from Coos for the backglass that looks superb.
The Bally Trifecta:
Old Chicago
Hokus Pokus
Flip Flop
At one point I owned all three but my wife HATES the art on Flip Flop (I sorta have to agree but the game freaking rocks)
Quoted from truemagoo102:The Bally Trifecta:
Old Chicago
Hokus Pokus
Flip Flop
At one point I owned all three but my wife HATES the art on Flip Flop (I sorta have to agree but the game freaking rocks)
Why? I’ve watched gameplay video and it looks cool but why is it a keeper for you?
I dig Old Chicago. I like the crazy pop bumper design where those lower pops shoot the ball out of play and down the drain. So punishing. I also love spinners and drop targets. So Old Chicago has those.
I am open to a Williams Argosy or Hot Tip though.
Quoted from DanMarino:I dig Old Chicago. I like the crazy pop bumper design where those lower pops shoot the ball out of play and down the drain. So punishing. I also love spinners and drop targets. So Old Chicago has those.
I am open to a Williams Argosy or Hot Tip though.
Based off of that I'd highly recommend checking out Paragon (there is one at Spinners in Fredrick). Not an EM, but close.
Quoted from SantaEatsCheese:1. Fireball (only seen at shows)
2. Grand Prix (See Mom's Organic Market in College Park Maryland for nice example).
3. Hot Tip (See Mom's Organic Market in College Park Maryland for nice example).
Runner up:
Little Chief (See Mom's Organic Market in College Park Maryland for nice example).
Distant placement:
1776 (Was one at Crabtown)
hundreds of pinball machines
Old Chicago
Edit:
Dang it... Grand Prix and Hot Tip are Williams. Same company now so it counts?
So is "Little Chief"!
"Hi-Deal"
"Hi-Lo Ace"
"Delta Queen"
Quoted from truemagoo102:but my wife HATES the art on Flip Flop (I sorta have to agree but the game freaking rocks)
Oh, man. That's one of the best backglasses ever! I bought one just for the look. Not the game, just the glass.
Quoted from jrpinball:So is "Little Chief"!
"Hi-Deal"
"Hi-Lo Ace"
"Delta Queen"
I had a Hi-Lo Ace. I really didn't care for it. Having a Supersonic with the same top area, being able to return the ball to the shooter lane is something that I thought Hi-Lo Ace could have used.
To me, Bally spinners are the best (for EM games).
Quoted from Skidave:I had a Hi-Lo Ace. I really didn't care for it. Having a Supersonic with the same top area, being able to return the ball to the shooter lane is something that I thought Hi-Lo Ace could have used.
To me, Bally spinners are the best (for EM games).
The score reels trying to keep up on Night Rider is classic.
Old Chicago = great art, fun layout, fun bonus collect game
Hokus Pokus = 3 spinners, nuff said
Aladdin's Castle = sentimental reasons
Quoted from Skidave:I had a Hi-Lo Ace. I really didn't care for it. Having a Supersonic with the same top area, being able to return the ball to the shooter lane is something that I thought Hi-Lo Ace could have used.
To me, Bally spinners are the best (for EM games).
"Hi-Lo Ace" has almost exactly the same playfield layout as Gottlieb's "Bank A Ball"/"Flipper Pool". Has an extra bumper, but otherwise very similar. Busy and colorful artwork with the ever attractive card theme make it a great looker as well.
Quoted from chuckwurt:Grand Prix
Jungle Queen
Hot tip
Good games, but reread the thread title.
Quoted from TreyBo69:Good games, but reread the thread title.
They tricked me. I swear it didn’t say that. Haha
Not top 3 maybe but I love my See-Saw. German version.
The game is loaded
Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (4), Mushroom bumpers (2), Slingshots (2), Rollover buttons (7), Standup targets (6), Kick-out holes (2), Upper ball return gate, Right outlane ball return gate, Left kickback outlane, Up-post between flippers.
Quoted from drsfmd:Hmmm...
Joust
Hay Ride
Gold Rush
They just happen to reside in my lineup in that same order.
"Hay Ride". Very attractive, but as a typical '60s Bally, very brutal player. Hard to beat, but skill and patience can yield a good score every now and again.
Quoted from Kingpin22:El Dorado
Sing Along
2001
I'm pretty sure people aren't seeing the "Bally" part
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/list-your-top-3-bally-electro-mechanical-pinball-machines/page/1 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
Clarksville, MD
Duisburg