Bally Slot Machine History

Bally Slot Machine History
Bally Slot Machine History Games
Bally Slot Machine History Museum

Bally Slot Machines. Bally Manufacturing was founded in 1932 they were manufacturing Pinball and slot machines, they later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. Bally Money Honey. Decades of Bally Slot Machine Development Efforts. Slot machine development advanced from a fully mechanical machine to an electro-mechanical device in 1963 with the Money Honey slot machine by Bally Technologies, a company formerly limited to the manufacturing of pinball machines. Bally Manufacturing Co. Released 868 different machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1930. Other machines made by Bally Manufacturing Co. During the time period 1090 was produced include Air Aces, Bow and Arrow, Flicker, Gold Bars, Hi-Deal, Bow and Arrow, Relay, Tahiti, Golden Gate 75, and Challenger.

For years now, the Bally name and casino games have gone hand in hand. Made famous on the Las Vegas strip and having spread from there, the Bally brand of slot games is really something to behold. Though the company most casino-goers know as Bally Gaming is actually, technically, referred to as Bally Technologies now, it is still the producer of some of the finest slot games you will find at just about every brick and mortar casino in the United States and abroad.

Bally may have existed for a while and is considered to be an old-schooler of the casino industry, it has adapted with the times. As more digitally-based slot games replace the once popular reeled games, Bally has been right there to offer innovative gaming solutions at every turn.

List of Bally Slots

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Fireball
Fu Dao Le
Playboy Platinum
Playboy Muy Caliente
Quick Hit
Shadow Princess
Super Red Phoenix
Wonder Woman Gold/Wild

Bally Slot History

As is the case with most companies that have been around for as long as the casino industry in the United States has existed, the years have come with a whole host of changes. If you want to truly trace Bally’s history back to the very beginning, you will have to go back to the pre-World War II days, more specifically, 1932. At this point in time, Bally was known as Bally Manufacturing and was actually a subsidiary of a larger company, Lions Manufacturing.

During this era, Lions—and by extension, Bally—was known for their exciting and innovative pinball games. Their games quickly rose through the ranks of arcade game popularity, and before you could bat an eye Bally Manufacturing was the go-to pinball producer. Around the same time that their pinball games were doing extremely well, Bally Manufacturing ventured into the casino business and began producing slot games. Though their slots were nowhere near as popular as their arcade games, the Bally brand, as a whole, continued to grow. Shortly thereafter, the outbreak of World War II saw Bally change their focus to the war effort. For a period of time, Bally stopped producing pinball and slot games altogether. By the end of the war, however, business had picked back up where it left off.

The company enjoyed success for the next decade or so, but following the death of Bally founder, Ray Maloney, in 1958, the company began to suffer and bleed money. Left to Maloney’s two sons, Bally’s performance suffered and eventually the company ceased to exist entirely. While this looks to be heading towards a sad ending, the assets of Bally Manufacturing were purchased by a colleague of the late Maloney and slot games were back on the production lines.

A breakthrough game that was released during the early 1960s is what really helped propel Bally to the peak of the casino gaming industry. In fact, by the end of the 1960s, almost all of the slot games that existed across the large state of Nevada were produced by Bally; a testament to how much people loved their games.

The success of the 60s bled into the 70s and 80s, at which point things got even better. Once Bally made the intelligent move into the video casino game space, there really was no looking back. By tying in casino games with popular video games of the time, Bally took a stranglehold on both the slot and video gaming categories. Slowly, Bally went from being a regional powerhouse to one that was known the world over.

In 2006, Bally was a much larger company with many different divisions, and the slot-making arm of the company was rebranded as Bally Technologies. To this day, that is the name of the company, though we aren’t discounting any future changes to the company name.

Top Bally Slot Titles

Michael Jackson King of Pop

If you have never heard of Michael Jackson, you probably haven’t listened to too much music. Michael Jackson was, and still is, one of the most popular pop icons of the 20th and 21st centuries. With so many fans from all over the world, Bally did well to capitalize on his immense popularity. The game, which can be found almost anywhere, is as extravagant as Michael was. The game consists of 5 reels and 25 pay lines. In addition, there are 2 bonus rounds and 2 wilds. All while you play, you will be serenaded by some of Jackson’s biggest hits, making the game that much more fun.

Pawn Stars

Being that Bally really reached peaked popularity in Las Vegas, and that one of the most popular TV shows to ever come out of Vegas was “Pawn Stars,” it is only right that the two joined forces. Having first hit the casino floor in 2012, the Pawn Stars slot game from Bally was yet another example of the company capitalizing on massive pop-culture icons. The game is complete with bonus rounds and plenty of free spins, and features clips of the “Pawn Stars” cast that play while you are playing.

While there are many other Bally slot games from which you can choose, the abovementioned games do well to highlight the types of themes you will find. What’s more, in addition to the games you will find at brick and mortar casinos in the United States and around the world, Bally slot titles are also found in abundance at online casinos as well. This is a growing theme amongst brick and mortar slot game makers, but one that serves the overall casino industry quite well.

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Home . . . . Site Index . . . . About Us In 1963 Bally revolutionized the slot machine. It re-introduced a 1941 console slot. That's right, the 1941 Bally Club Bell Console, a three coin multiplier, was in existence in 1941. Bally

In 1963 Bally converted the console to a casino slot, refined the hopper payout, and created a front opening case. That was the formula for success.

In 1968, Bally introduced the Model 831, the first three line payout slot machine. The multi-coin, multi-line slot machine is still the standard today, 30 years later.

Needless to say, with these innovations, Bally took over the slot business and drove the giants, Mills and Jennings, virtually out of the business.

In 1969, Bally introduced the Model 847 Continental, a four reel, six coin multiplier with a right-to-left payout sequence, as well as the more traditional left-to-right payout.

In 1970, Bally introduced the Model 889, a three line progreesssive, with each coin played adding to the jackpot's value. As you can see, each of of the Bally innovations revolutionized the way slots are played.

Another interesting new concept in slot play, was the Bally Model 935 Reel Dice that was introduced in 1972. The goal of the reel dice was to have the two reels with dice symbols equal the 'proposition' that showed up in a window on the left side, next to the two reels. Unfortunately, this slot concept never became very popular.

Fortunately for collectors, all these revolutionary machines are over 25 years old and can be purchased for home use in most states. In addition, collectors are also lucky because there are several detailed repair manuals and trouble shooting guides available for all 1986 slots to keep your slot in tip-top condition.

Marshall Fey, one of the publishers of Bally Service Manuals, states that ' Bally Electro-Mechanicals are well constructed and, consequently, very dependable requiring a minimum amount of servicing. The mechanical components need little attention except for occasional lubrication. If there is an operational problem, it is generally attributed to electrical parts. Once located, most malfunctions are generally easy to remedy, because what appears to be a maze of wiring is actually a combination of simple circuits.'

Now-a-days, it's not unusual for slot collectors to include Bally's 1960s slots along with their 1930s slot collection. Those who play slots in today's casinos often prefer the Bally 1960s slots because of their similarity to the casino slots.