Past Times Pinball History Ep 6: Gottlieb's Flipper and Add-A-Balls

Past Times Arcade·video·6m 18s·analyzed·Dec 12, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.022

TL;DR

Gottlieb's Add-a-Ball innovation enabled legal pinball in banned territories by rewarding balls instead of credits.

Summary

Past Times Arcade presents a historical walkthrough of Gottlieb's Add-a-Ball pinball innovation from 1960 onwards. The episode explains how Add-a-Ball games were specifically designed to circumvent pinball bans in major U.S. cities (Texas, Chicago, LA, NYC, etc.) by awarding extra balls instead of currency/credits, thus sidestepping gambling laws. The segment features multiple examples from the Flipper Series and related machines, highlighting the wedge-head backbox design innovation and the cultural/legal significance of machines like Bank Shot in lifting New York's pinball ban.

Key Claims

Flipper 1960 was the very first Add-a-Ball game ever made.
high confidence · Past Times Arcade host, stated as historical fact during machine demonstration
Add-a-Ball games were created specifically to bypass pinball bans in Texas and other major cities (Chicago, LA, NYC, Milwaukee, New Orleans) by awarding balls instead of currency to avoid gambling classification.
high confidence · Past Times Arcade host, citing Alvin Gottlieb and Wayne Ness's design rationale
Wayne Ness stated the wedge-head backbox design was created to prevent games from being slid too close together and allow player space near flippers.
high confidence · Past Times Arcade host, attributing credit to Wayne Ness as a designer on Flipper 1960
The Diamond Jack had a production run of only 650 units, while The King of Diamonds (the non-Add-a-Ball version) had 3,200 units.
high confidence · Past Times Arcade host, comparing production numbers of two variants
Majorettes was only released as an Add-a-Ball game with production of 425 units.
high confidence · Past Times Arcade host, discussing machine rarity
Roger Sharpe played Bank Shot in a New York courtroom to prove pinball was a game of skill, lifting the ban in New York.
high confidence · Past Times Arcade host, discussing historical significance of Bank Shot/Bank Shot Add-a-Ball
Not all Gottlieb games were made as Add-a-Ball versions; Northstar does not have an Add-a-Ball equivalent.
high confidence · Past Times Arcade host, discussing which games received Add-a-Ball treatment
Flipper Series games introduced the wedge-head backbox style, which became a significant design trend over the years.
high confidence · Past Times Arcade host, summarizing design impact at episode conclusion

Notable Quotes

“The whole state of Texas outlawed Pinball. It's 1960, and they realized that that was going to be the opportunity for them to put these into Texas as well as other municipalities such as Chicago where it was made, LA, New York, Milwaukee, New Orleans—major cities that outlawed pinball.”
Past Times Arcade host@ 1:18 — Explains the regulatory context driving Add-a-Ball innovation
“Because if you could earn a credit in the form of currency, they considered it to be gambling. Whereas the concept here is, instead of earning a free credit or a free play, you earn a free ball. So you're not earning anything in the form of currency.”
Past Times Arcade host@ 1:38 — Core explanation of the legal loophole that made Add-a-Ball possible
“You would get that knock if you beat the score or beat the game, you get a free credit. Whereas Free Fall would also knock, except it would count up your ball.”
Past Times Arcade host@ 4:18 — Demonstrates mechanical difference between replay and Add-a-Ball machines
“Roger Sharpe actually played Bank Shot to lift the ban in New York in a courtroom. He called his shots and proved that it was a game of skill, which lifted the band in New York.”
Past Times Arcade host@ 5:34 — References pivotal legal moment in pinball history
“So this was made 1960, as I mentioned. Following that, we have what's called The Flipper Series.”
Past Times Arcade host@ 1:58 — Marks the distinction between the initial Flipper machine and the follow-up Flipper Series

Entities

Gottliebcompany Alvin GottliebpersonWayne NesspersonDavid Gottliebperson Roger SharpepersonPast Times ArcadeorganizationFlippergame Flipper Paradegame

Signals

?
historical_signal: Add-a-Ball games represent a clever legal/business innovation designed to circumvent pinball bans by substituting ball credits for currency credits, enabling market entry into banned territories
high · Alvin Gottlieb and Wayne Ness created Add-a-Ball specifically for banned territories; machines explicitly say 'balls to play' instead of 'balls in play' to distinguish the mechanic
?
design_innovation: Wayne Ness introduced wedge-head backbox design on Flipper 1960 to create physical spacing between adjacent machines, improving player experience and ergonomics
high · Host describes wedge-head design preventing games from being slid close together and providing space near flippers for side-by-side play
?
historical_signal: Roger Sharpe's Bank Shot demonstration in a New York courtroom established pinball as a game of skill, lifting the statewide ban and setting legal precedent
high · Host credits Sharpe with playing Bank Shot in court, calling shots and proving skill-based gameplay lifted New York's ban
?
collector_signal: Add-a-Ball variants had significantly lower production numbers than non-banned versions (e.g., Diamond Jack 650 vs. King of Diamonds 3,200; Majorettes 425), making them rarer collectibles
high · Host cites specific production figures showing 2.5-5x difference in unit numbers between Add-a-Ball and replay versions
?
historical_signal: Multiple major U.S. cities had pinball bans in 1960 (Texas, Chicago, LA, NYC, Milwaukee, New Orleans), creating target market for Add-a-Ball workaround

Topics

Add-a-Ball innovation and legal circumventionprimaryPinball regulation and municipal bans (1960s)primaryWedge-head backbox design innovationprimaryGottlieb manufacturing and game variantsprimaryRoger Sharpe and New York pinball ban liftsecondaryGame of Thrones and Avatar modern releasesmentionedProduction numbers and machine raritysecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Host speaks enthusiastically about Gottlieb's historical innovations and design significance. Tone is educational and celebratory of pinball's legal and mechanical evolution. Emphasis on cleverness of Add-a-Ball solution to regulatory challenges.

Transcript

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[Music] today's episode of Pas time pinball history is actually going to feature numerous Games first we're going to talk about got Le flipper 1960 there's two things that are historically significant about this game this is the very first game to feature this backbox style called a wedge head and Wayne NES who was one of the designers on this game is credited as saying the reason why these wedge heads were created this way is so that you could not slide the games too close together to get some space near the flippers here so you check between the games you see how close these heads are you can see that it actually creates enough space so that players standing side by side won't interfere with each other but the more historic uh thing about this game 1960 got lead flipper is that it is the very first adab ball game and you'll notice a significant feature on these games that's different from other ones is it'll say balls to play as opposed to balls in play now why this game was created Alvin got Le son of David got Le and Wayne NES got together and what they realizes primarily Texas the whole state of Texas outlawed Pinball it's the 1960 and they realized that that was going to be the opportunity for them to put these into Texas as well as other municipalities such as Chicago where it was made La New York Milwaukee New Orleans major cities that Outlaw pinball because if you could earn a credit in the form of currency they consider to be gambling whereas the concept here is instead of earning a free credit or a free play you earn a free ball so you're not earning anything in the form of currency you're continuing to play on that quarter or nickel or dime that you spent so these ATT balls were specifically made to actually go into territories where pinball was outlawed because you could earn some currency so this was made 1960 as I mentioned following that we have what's called The Flipper Series so this is flipper parade 1961 flipper fair is also a 61 we have two more down here and these are all adab balls flipper clown is a 1962 as well as flipper Cowboy check out this Playfield real quick this might look familiar as a very popular game not called flipper Cowboy we actually have the addaball version of that so we're going to spin around here let's start down here actually so this is cowpoke cowpoke was re-released a few a few years later this is the adal version of Buckaroo kind of a neat thing about this is that that guy will actually kick the horse and the horse I'm sorry the horse will kick the guy and the guy will spin uh every time you earn an extra ball so this is an adab ball there he goes this is an attab ball of Buckaroo we have a few more here let's go back over this way let's jump around a little bit we have Diamond Jab Diamond Jack was released also as king of diamonds so this game the production run was only 650 whereas King of Diamonds which was released for everywhere else that basically was allowed to play Pinball they released 3,200 of those so much less uh production for the adab ball games majorettes was only released as an adab ball game they only made 425 of these not all games were made as balls for instance Northstar does not have an attab ball equivalent here let's walk on down flipper pool is an adab ball of a game called Bank ball ice show is an addab ball of ice review and again you notice it says balls to play down here Subway cross town is the replay version meaning you can earn a credit sing along is indeed a replay game whereas the adall version is called Melody dominant know replay version addab ball is called Playmates and we have a couple here at pastimes just to show you the difference so we have sky jump and we have freef fall this is the replay version meaning you can earn a credit check that credit window out right there you would get that knock if you beat the score or beat the game you get a free credit whereas freef fall would also knock except it would count up your ball so see if we can get both of playfields maybe in the same shot here we go so you notice this one right here says wow when Star is lit and this one here says special so special would earn a credit a wow would be an extra [Music] ball we move on down hit the deck has one called Neptune so this is a credit right you notice this says ball in play three we have pin up on the floor which is another addab ball of Kingpin Gold Strike is a an adab ball of El Dorado so we have quite a few attab balls here on the floor they made an adab ball of this game which is released called team one it was primarily made for Italy it was a soccer theme completely different artwork on that Sure Shot we featured this in one of our morning Brew sessions the out of ball is called bankshot which is historically significant because Roger sharp actually played bankshot to lift the ban in New York in a courtroom uh he played in front of if you look at picture online they're wearing suits and he called his shots and proved that it was a game of skill which lifted the band in New York we have Buccaneer and ship a Hoy replay ad ball it looks like we have two more here examples we have Jacks open and then we have lucky hand too so Not only was flipper and The Flipper series significant because it was the birth of adal and it was the birth of actually legalizing pinball in a lot of major cities where it was illegal but also it ated the wedge head that you can significantly see was a style of got Le over the years so come on in check out The Flipper series along with all these beautiful wedge heads at pastimes [Music] arcade