Bally Pinball Machines

Founded: 1932, Chicago, Illinois
Founder: Raymond T. Moloney

Ray Moloney founded Bally Manufacturing during the Great Depression, originally to produce a coin-operated pinball game called Ballyhoo—named after a popular magazine. The game was such a hit that Moloney named the company after it, launching what would become one of the most iconic names in arcade history.

Throughout the 1930s–50s, Bally was a major producer of mechanical games, jukeboxes, and slot machines. But it was in the 1970s and early ’80s that Bally became the name in pinball. With titles like Eight Ball, Mata Hari, Paragon, and Xenon, Bally dominated arcades, known for sleek art, smart playfields, and mass appeal.

They embraced early solid-state technology, leading the charge with digital scoring and deeper game rules.

People Who Made Bally Great

• Raymond Moloney – The visionary founder who saw potential in a game during a hard time.
• Harry Williams- Worked for Bally briefly in 1937-38 bringing innovations and new designs.
• Greg Kmiec – Designer of many Bally classics; known for daring, complex layouts.
• Ted Zale – Bally’s innovation guru; introduced zipper flippers, multi-level playfields.
• Jerry Kelly- Artist/designer who ushered in the "Modern Art" movement in pinball art and styling. Was under exclusive contract with Bally from 1968-'69 developing 14 games collaborating with Ted Zale.
• Christian Marche- Advertising Posters artist who created art for Bally before and after Ted Zale, infamous for
  keeping the modern art style known as "Pointy People" alive til 1974.
• Dave Christensen – Backglass artist with a wild, rebellious style.
• George Christian – Programmer behind Eight Ball, Flash Gordon, and others.
• Claude Fernandez – Designer known for sleek, fast machines.

Legacy

By the mid-1980s, Bally’s pinball division merged with Midway, and then was acquired by Williams in 1988. But Bally’s DNA lives on in some of the most beloved games ever made. Machines like The Addams Family and Twilight Zone—released under the Bally name by Williams—remain top-ranked to this day.