Slot Machine Co., Established in 1980, Is your Casino's answer for slot machine parts and gambling equipment needs. Play some of the hottest titles from Bally slots online like Quick Hit Platinum for free at Vegas Slots, No Signup and No Registration Required! 5V/12V Bally Power Supply $ 44.95 Add to cart; 24V Bally Power Supply $ 44.95 Add to cart; Printer Paper $ 9.95 Add to cart; GEN 2 PRINTER RS232 $ 125.00 Add to cart; UBA 10 BILL ACCEPTOR $ 225.00 Add to cart; CC-16-D 24V COIN COMPARITOR $ 59.99 Read more; BOX OF 10 #259 WEDGE LIGHT BULBS $ 9.99 Add to cart; WBA cash can $ 14.99 Read more; Slot.
If you like slot machines, then you probably know the Bally name. This iconic brand has had a presence in the American casino and gaming industry since the 1930s.
It provided the slot machine designs that changed the way people play, and the company had a hand in the historic spread of casinos across the United States.
While Bally has had its ups and downs through several mergers and acquisitions, the brand survives to continue its mission of providing entertaining and innovative machines.
Where to play slots like Bally
Free to play Bally slots online
Most Popular Bally Slots
It shouldn’t be surprising that Bally has a large catalog of slots available, given their time in the industry. Many of their classic Atlantic City slot machines have been made into online games. These five favorites are a great place to start.
- Quick Hit Super Wheel Wild Red – This mouthful of a machine features 5 reels and 30 paylines along with a lot of features and bonuses. While the design is inspired by traditional slot machines, the gameplay is completely modern. Lucky players will get a chance to spin the Super Wheel to unlock instant winnings, multipliers, wilds or loaded free spins. There’s also a range of Quick Hit jackpots on the line for every spin.
- Triple Cash Wheel – Another machine that mixes a classic design with a lot of modern bells and whistles. This slot machine plays three separate games simultaneously for a total of 15 reels and 60 paylines. On top of the exciting base game, Triple Cash Wheel includes a big bonus game that lets players earn instant credits or free spins with big multipliers.
- Lucky Tree – A fun Asian-themed 5-reel slot machine game with 30 paylines and several bonus rounds. The titular Lucky Tree adds a little excitement to each spin, with the potential for a breeze to send extra wild spaces tumbling down onto the reels. Lucky Tree also features a free spin bonus round and a special pick bonus round, which lets players turn over mystery tiles to try and create matching sets of animals for big bonuses.
- Acorn Pixie – A beautiful slot machine that brings an enchanted forest and its pixie inhabitants to life. The 5-reel machine with 30 paylines includes a touch of magic, which can flip losing spins around with a lucky 2×2 cluster wild that can appear to fill gaps. The bonus round is based around an extended version of the game, with 6 rows to fill and permanent wild spaces that branch out from the bottom to help fill out the reels with winning paylines. Players can choose to skip the basic spins and simply pay to play a number of free spins in the bonus round.
- Fu Dao Le – A very popular Asian-themed slot machine that features numerous ways to win. This 5-reel game doesn’t use traditional paylines, instead it allows any one of 243 potential left-to-right combinations to trigger a win. The game also includes 4 Red Envelope progressive jackpots that can be won with a lucky spin or through the Match-3 bonus game. There are also free spin bonus rounds, multipliers, stacked wilds and mystery spaces.
Mobile Gaming – Bally Slot Apps
Players interested in Bally games should be happy to hear that their interest in technological innovations extends to making many of their games available for play on mobile devices. This includes all of the top 5 picks listed above. While Bally does not have a dedicated slot game app, players should be able to find their slots listed on several different apps for iOS and Android phones. Free apps usually provide some free coins each day with an option to buy more for anyone who wants to play a longer session. Locations that allow players to bet real money on online slots should be able to find Bally machines on casino apps.
In general, Bally online slot games should play well even on mobile devices. Their clean designs scale well with smaller screens and should be easy to read, although games that use expanded reels may get a little cramped during the bonus round. Certain features such as the U-Spin wheel may not be fully supported on mobile apps. Players may have to settle for just pushing a “spin” button instead of actually spinning the wheel. It should be a small price to pay for the convenience of playing these great games on-the-go or at home.
Bally’s Innovations & Features
Throughout the company’s history, Bally has been a leader in general slot machine innovation. Aside from their historic contributions, they continue to provide improvements such as larger screens in cabinets and faster software. These important technological developments have been accompanied by some fun gameplay innovations too.
Following the merger with Alliance Gaming, Bally’s slot design shifted to focus on providing an engaging and fun experience along with the thrill of gambling. Its primary competitor, IGT, felt that gamblers didn’t want more complicated systems.
This directly led to innovations such as their Thrillions system, a twist on classic linked progressive jackpots. Beginning with their classic Betty Boop, Popeye and Blondie themed machines, the rollout in 1999 put the focus on smaller jackpots that were triggered more frequently.
Running off of the same philosophy, players will probably notice the common Quick Hit feature on Bally slot games. This non-progressive jackpot system provides a full range of payouts with frequent minor pots and rarer, proper jackpots for the big strikes.
Bally hasn’t forgotten the joys of large community-linked payouts though. Players looking for larger more traditional progressive jackpots in modern machines can stick to the Red Envelope series, which includes fun games such as Fu Dao Le, Heavenly Riches and Super Rise of Ra.
The U-Spin bonus game is probably Bally’s most visible success. Starting with the Cash Spin slot machine, this eye-catching innovation provided a thrilling change to the typical bonus round format.
Lucky winners get to actually spin the digital wheel at the top of the machine for a chance to win large credit payouts, free games or even progressive jackpots. The real thrill comes from the built-in gesture control, which reacts to the speed and direction of the player’s swipe. The U-Spin wheel adds the fun of a game show to basic slots gameplay.
In general, players will see that Bally’s attention is focused on providing interesting and exciting bonuses. Bally slots can include large, expanding reels that provide more ways to win, or even simple money bag bonuses that let players pick one of three mystery bags with the chance of a big payout.
The introduction of the Buy A Bonus feature in the recently released Acorn Pixie machine clearly shows where future development is headed. The option for players to just pay for one last shot at the bonus round before they leave shows Bally’s commitment to a fun experience.
The Winding Tale of Bally
The actual Bally company began not as a slot machine company, but as a pinball developer. Raymond Moloney founded the Bally Manufacturing Corporation in 1932 in Chicago. The name came from its first product, the Ballyhoo.
The Ballyhoo pinball game was an early coin-operated piece that filled bars across America. In 1936, Bally used its experience and connections to expand into the growing gambling industry by creating the Bally Baby, a small mechanical slot machine.
Bally would mostly cease production of gaming machines during World War II to provide manufacturing power for the war effort. This didn’t slow down their product development though, with their tall “Hi-Boy” model releasing after the end of the war in 1945. This iconic design, while very basic by modern standards, created a look that would inspire the one-armed bandit for decades. Raymond Moloney’s death in 1958 triggered a rough patch for the company, with Bally almost falling into bankruptcy before a buyout and revival in 1963.
The revival was built upon the release of Money Honey, an innovative electromechanical slot machine. Featuring an electric hopper, the machine was able to handle larger and more complex payouts than purely mechanical machines. This raised expectations for slots and set up Bally as a market leader. By the end of the 1960s, it was estimated that Bally controlled nearly 90% of the worldwide slot machine market.
The 1970s and 1980s would see Bally use its profits to grow into a large umbrella company. Bally built the Park Palace Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City in 1979 as its first foray into casino operation.
Its electronics division attempted to enter the home video game market with the ill-fated Bally Professional Arcade.
Their acquisition of Midway Manufacturing in the 1960s would bear fruit as it dominated the arcade and home video game markets through its distribution of hits like Pac-Man and Space Invaders.
By the end of the 1980s, Bally owned the Six Flags chain, a set of health and fitness clubs and multiple casinos. This expansion proved to be draining. The Bally parent company would begin to separate and sell off its diverse divisions in the early 1990s to avoid financial hardship.
The slot machine division, now a subsidiary branded as Bally Entertainment, would be acquired in 1996 by the Alliance Gaming Corporation.
Founded in 1968, Alliance had its own long storied history. It began as Advanced Patent Technology, with a focus on developing new electronics and medical products.
Starting in 1979, the company tried to enter the rapidly growing gambling industry by buying the United Coin Machine Company and developing the Colorado Belle casino near Las Vegas.
Its 1985 merger with Omega Gaming allowed it to enter the video slot market. The next decade would see more property development, several rebrandings and a few mergers until it settled as the Alliance Gaming Corporation in 1994.
The merger with Bally Entertainment was a somewhat messy affair. Alliance Gaming hoped to compete for space against the dominant IGT in the newly developing riverboat and Native American casinos by joining with the still powerful Bally in 1993.
Early negotiations failed though, as Bally Entertainment ultimately sought a merger with WMS Industries. After a few lawsuits and a hostile takeover attempt, Alliance Gaming won out in 1995 with the merger completing in 1996. Bally ultimately became a subsidiary called Bally Gaming and Systems.
Following the merger, Bally grew and adapted to the changing markets by innovating gameplay. They focused on building more entertaining machines and providing powerful systems for casinos.
In 2006, it would go through its final name change, with Alliance Gaming renaming themselves Bally Technologies. After 8 years, Bally Technologies would be bought out by Scientific Gaming in 2014.
Scientific Gaming made its mark on the gaming industry with innovations in instant lottery games, including development of online lotteries and a mobile gaming app for retail lottery games. Somewhat poetically, this brought Bally under the same umbrella as WMS, which had been also bought by Scientific Gaming.
The Bally legacy lives on today as a leading slot machine developer and brand within the Scientific Gaming powerhouse.
Industry | Interactive entertainment |
---|---|
Fate | Acquired by Hilton |
Founded | January 10, 1932; 88 years ago |
Founder | Raymond Moloney |
Defunct | December 18, 1996; 23 years ago |
Headquarters | Chicago |
Products | Pinball slot machines later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks |
Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company that began as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer, and later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. It was acquired by Hilton Hotels in 1996. Its brand name is still used by several businesses with some trademark rights, most notably Bally Technologies and Bally's Corporation.
History[edit]
The Bally Manufacturing Corporation was founded by Raymond Moloney on January 10, 1932, when Bally's original parent, Lion Manufacturing, established the company to make pinball games. The company took its name from its first game, Ballyhoo. The company, based in Chicago, quickly became a leading maker of the games. In the late 1930s, Moloney began making gambling equipment, and had great success developing and improving the mechanical slot machines that were the core of the nascent gaming industry. After manufacturing munitions and airplane parts during World War II, Bally Manufacturing Corporation continued to produce innovations in flipperless pinball machines, bingo machines, payout machines and console slot machines through the late 1950s. They also designed and manufactured vending machines and established a coffee vending service. The company made a brief venture into the music business with their own record label, Bally Records.[1]
Bally Slot Machine Models
Moloney died in 1958, and the company floundered briefly. With the financial failure of its parent company, Bally was bought out by a group of investors in 1963. Throughout the 1960s, Bally continued to dominate the slot machine industry, cornering over 90% of the worldwide market by the end of the decade. In 1964, Bally introduced the first electromechanical slot machine in 1963, called the 'Money Honey.', Bally became a publicly traded company and made several acquisitions, including German company Guenter Wulff-Apparatebau (renamed Bally Wulff) and Midway Manufacturing, an amusement game company from Schiller Park, Illinois.
The 1970s[edit]
In the late 1970s, Bally entered the casino business when New Jersey legalized gambling in Atlantic City. This effort moved forward even though the company was temporarily unable to attain a permanent license for the completed casino. During this period, company head William T. O'Donnell was forced to resign because of alleged links to organized crime. Prior to this, O'Donnell strenuously denied any such links.[2] For example, when questioned at the Moffitt Royal Commission (the NSW Clubs Royal Commission) - an investigation held New South Wales, Australia - on alleged criminal activities with US and Australian criminals, he admitted that Genovese Mafia boss, Jerry Catena (Gerardo Catena), once owned shares in the business, 'but I bought him out.'[2] He also denied knowing Chicago mobster, Joseph Dan Testa, even though Australian Police described Testa 'as a representative of Bally who visited Australia.'[2]
The company opened the Park Place Casino & Hotel on December 29, 1979.[3][4] Also in the late 1970s, Bally made an entry into the growing market for home computer games. The Bally Professional Arcade, as the machine was called, had advanced features for the time. These included a palette of 256 colors and the ability to play 4-voice music. The machine also shipped with a cartridge that allowed users to do a limited amount of programming on the machine themselves (using the BASIC language), and record their creations on cassette tape. The machine's price point was above the Atari 2600 (its major competitor), and it had a much more limited set of available games. Despite a loyal following, it failed to compete successfully. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Midway became a primary source of income for Bally as it became an early arcade video game maker and obtained the licenses for three of the most popular video games of all time: Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.[3]
The 1980s[edit]
By the mid-1980s, the company again had a strong balance sheet and began buying other businesses including the Six Flags amusement park chain in 1983, and the Health and Tennis Corporation of America. The health club division, under 'Bally Total Fitness', grew during the 1980s and 1990s. The company also purchased several casinos, including the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip (which was subsequently re-branded as Bally's Las Vegas), The MGM Grand Reno (Reno, Nevada) and the Golden Nugget Atlantic City which was branded Bally's Grand and then later 'The Grand-A Bally's Casino Resort'. This expansion quickly took its toll on the company's finances, and Bally was soon forced to sell off several divisions, including Six Flags and Bally-Midway. The pinball division, along with Midway, was acquired by Williams Electronics in 1988.
The 1990s[edit]
In 1990, Bally came under new management as its largest shareholder, Arthur Goldberg, was appointed chairman and began a restructuring process.[5] By 1993, the company had sold off several divisions and used the proceeds to pay down debts, including the slot machine division (which became Bally Gaming International, an independent company); Scientific Games, a maker of lottery equipment; Bally's Reno; and exercise equipment maker Life Fitness.[6] The Aladdin's Castle chain of video arcades was sold that year to Namco, and was renamed as Namco Cybertainment.
The company opened Bally's Saloon & Gambling Hall, a riverboat casino in Mhoon Landing, Mississippi in December 1993.[7][8] It was moved to Robinsonville in 1995 and became part of a joint venture with Lady Luck Gaming.[9]
In 1994, the company changed its name to Bally Entertainment, to reflect its focus on the casino business and the fact that it no longer had any manufacturing operations.[10][11] It also announced that the health club business would be spun off to shareholders, to further narrow Bally's focus on casinos.[11] The spin-off was completed in January 1996, with Bally Total Fitness becoming a separate company.[12][13]
In May 1995, Bally Entertainment announced plans to develop Paris Las Vegas, a new casino hotel next to Bally's Las Vegas. The project would eventually begin construction in 1997 and open in 1999 at an estimated cost of $760 million.
In June 1996, Bally agreed to be acquired by Hilton Hotels Corporation.[14] The sale was completed on December 18, 1996, with Hilton paying $3 billion ($2 billion in stock plus $1 billion in assumed debt).[15] Later, Hilton's casino division, including the former Bally properties, was spun off as Park Place Entertainment (later Caesars Entertainment, Inc.), which was acquired in 2005 by Harrah's Entertainment (later Caesars Entertainment Corp.).
The name[edit]
Many casinos and businesses worldwide took on the Bally name and logo in the maze of ownership, division spin-offs and licensing agreements.
Midway, and—after buying Midway—Williams, continued to use the Bally name for its pinball games, until WMS Industries (the parent company of Williams) ceased pinball production in 1999. On March 31, 2005, WMS Industries struck a deal with Australian company The Pinball Factory to give them a license for the intellectual properties and the rights to re-manufacture former Bally/Williams games in the field of mechanical pinball. In addition, The Pinball Factory also has bought the right to manufacture new games using the company's new hardware system under the Bally brand.
Alliance Gaming, which had bought Bally Gaming International in 1995, changed its name to Bally Technologies. Bally Total Fitness, gambling distributor Bally France, and arcade distributor Bally Pond still use the same 'Bally' logo though any formal business relationships, as of June 2007, are coincidental. The rights to use the name for casinos were sold by Caesars in 2020 to Twin River Worldwide Holdings, which then changed its own name to Bally's Corporation and said that it would rename most of its properties under the Bally's brand.[16]
The name is was mentioned in the song, 'Pinball Wizard' in the rock operaTommy and its soundtrack.
Pinball machines using the Bally brand[edit]
Select machines developed by Bally or Bally-Midway[edit]
- Amigo (1974)
- Ballyhoo (flipperless) (1932)
- Bally Baby (slot machine) (1932)
- Ballyhoo (flippers) (1947)
- Baby Pac-Man (1982)
- Blackwater 100 (1988)
- BMX (1982)
- Boomerang (1974)
- Bow and Arrow (1974)
- Capersville (1967)
- Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy (1976)
- Centaur (1981) & Centaur II (1983)
- Cybernaut (1985)
- Dixieland (1968)
- Dogies (1968)
- Dungeons & Dragons (1987)
- Eight Ball (1977)
- Eight Ball Deluxe (1981)
- Embryon (1981)
- Evel Knievel (1977)
- Fathom (1981)
- Flash Gordon (1981)
- Fireball (1972)
- Fireball II (1981)
- Freedom (1976)
- Four Million B.C. (1971)
- Frontier (1980)
- Future Spa (1979)
- Gator (1969)
- Hi-Lo Ace (1973)
- Hokus Pokus (1975)
- KISS (1979)
- Lady Luck (1986)
- Lost World (1978)
- Mata Hari (1977)
- Monte Carlo (1973)
- Night Rider' (1977)
- Nip-It (1972)
- Nitro Ground Shaker (1978)
- Odds and Evens (1973)
- On Beam (1968)
- Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man (1982)
- Paragon (1979)
- Playboy (1978)
- Power Play (1977)
- Shoot-A-Line (1962)
- Sky Divers (1964)
- Strange Science (1986)
- Strikes and Spares (1978)
- The Six Million Dollar Man (1978)
- Vector (1982)
- Wizard! (1975)
- Xenon (1980)
Developed by Midway[edit]
- The Addams Family (1992)
- Attack from Mars (1995)
- Black Rose (1992)
- Cactus Canyon (1998)
- The Champion Pub (1998)
- Cirqus Voltaire (1997)
- Corvette (1994)
- Creature from the Black Lagoon (1992)
- Doctor Who (1992)
- Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray (1990)
- Eight Ball Champ (1985)
- Gilligans Island (1991)
- Harley-Davidson (1991)
- Indianapolis 500 (1995)
- Judge Dredd (1993)
- NBA Fastbreak (1997)
- The Party Zone (1991)
- Popeye Saves the Earth (1994)
- Radical! (1990)
- Revenge from Mars (1999)
- Safe Cracker (1996)
- Scared Stiff (1996)
- The Shadow (1994)
- Theatre of Magic (1995)
- Twilight Zone (1993)
- Who Dunnit (1995)
- World Cup Soccer (1994)
Developed by The Pinball Factory[edit]
The Crocodile Hunter Outback Adventure based on the wildlife documentary television series The Crocodile Hunter was in development by Australian pinball manufacturer The Pinball Factory under license from Bally. It was abandoned at the end of 2007 due to the death of the main character of the game, Steve Irwin, and never went into production.[17]
Slot machines[edit]
- Money Honey (1964)
- Big Top (1982)
- Jackpot Riot (1993)
- Blazing 7s (1993)
Casinos[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Bally Records'.
- ^ abc'Bally chief denies links with mafia'. The Age. 18 September 1973. Retrieved 8 October 2018 – via Google News.
- ^ abChristian Marfels; 2007, Bally: The World's Game Maker, 2nd ed., Bally Technologies Inc., Las Vegas ISBN978-1-4243-3207-6
- ^'Bally Manufacturing Corp'. Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
- ^P.J. Bednarski (November 13, 1990). 'Top exec quits as Bally revamps'. Chicago Sun-Times – via NewsBank.
- ^Debra Dowling (December 19, 1993). 'Goldberg whips Bally Gaming into shape'. The Star-Ledger. Newark, NJ – via NewsBank.
- ^Laurel Campbell (December 7, 1993). 'Adjacent casinos open in Tunica'. The Commercial Appeal. Memphis, TN – via NewsBank.
- ^'Bally's licensed to open in Tunica'. The Commercial Appeal. Memphis, TN. AP. December 4, 1993 – via NewsBank.
- ^Michelle Hillier (December 22, 1995). 'Bally's rolls upriver, reopens casino closer to Memphis crowds'. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock, AR – via NewsBank.
- ^Scott Ritter (March 18, 1994). 'Options help CEO's earnings'. The Star-Ledger. Newark, NJ – via NewsBank.
- ^ abDavid Dishneau (May 18, 1994). 'Bally gambling its games will outperform its gyms'. Akron Beacon Journal. AP – via NewsBank.
- ^'Bally spin-off final'. Chicago Sun-Times. January 10, 1996 – via NewsBank.
- ^Debra Dowling (September 19, 1995). 'Bally Entertainment pushing out its network of push-up centers'. The Star-Ledger. Newark, NJ – via NewsBank.
- ^Barry Meier (June 7, 1996). 'Hilton Hotels to buy Bally Entertainment for more than $2 billion'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
- ^Joe Weinert (December 19, 1996). 'Hilton and Bally close deal'. The Press of Atlantic City – via NewsBank.
- ^'Twin River Worldwide Holdings to become Bally's Corporation'. Delaware Business Times. October 29, 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
- ^'Internet Pinball Machine Database: The Pinball Factory 'The Crocodile Hunter Outback Adventure''. www.ipdb.org.
Bally Slot Machine Games
- Galecki, Irek (2006), Slot Machines History, Online Casino Press, archived from the original on September 17, 2012, retrieved 2007-06-25
- Wilson, Mark R. (2005), 'Bally Manufacturing Corp.', Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Historical Society, retrieved 2007-06-27
- Lawlor, Pat (1992), 'The Addams Family', Pinball Hall of Fame, Internet Pinball Database, retrieved 2007-06-25