''Baffle Ball'' is a
pinball
Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...
machine created in November 19, 1931 by David Gottlieb, founder of the
Gottlieb
Gottlieb (formerly D. Gottlieb & Co.) was an American arcade game corporation based in Chicago, Illinois.
History
The main office and plant was located at 1140-50 N. Kostner Avenue until the early 1970s when a new modern plant and office was lo ...
amusement company.
Gameplay
For one US cent players get ten balls. These balls are fired up onto the playfield and fall into pockets and holes. Some ball targets are worth more than others, and players try to fire the ball at just the right speed. Unlike later pinball machines, ''Baffle Ball'' does not have
flippers
Flipper may refer to:
Common meanings
*Flipper (anatomy), a forelimb of an aquatic animal, useful for steering and/or propulsion in water
*Alternate name for a swimfin, footwear that boosts human swimming efficiency
* Flipper (cricket), a type of ...
. The best target is the Baffle Ball, a tiny hole at the top which doubles all points. The game uses no electricity, and all scoring has to be done by hand.
Description
While
bagatelle
Bagatelle (from the Château de Bagatelle) is a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls (set at nine in the 19th century) past wooden pins (which act as obstacles) into holes that are guarded by woode ...
-derived
"marble games" have long existed previously, ''Baffle Ball'' was the first commercially successful game of its type, being affordable enough for store and tavern owners to quickly recoup the machine's cost. Over 50,000 machines were made, jump-starting the
arcade pinball field; it spawned a home version in 1932 called ''Baffle Ball Senior''.
Nokia Celebrates 75 Years Of Pinball With New Screenshots For Mile High Pinball
from Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
''Baffle Ball'' was responsible for the launch of the company Gottlieb that went on to make pinball machines such as ''Ace High
Allied Command Europe Highband, better known as ACE High, was a fixed service NATO radiocommunication and early warning system dating back to 1956. After extensive testing ACE High was accepted by NATO to become operational in 1964/1965.
The fr ...
'' and ''Black Hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can def ...
''. The game sat on top of bar counters and the bartender might award prizes for high scores.
Digital version
The table was virtually recreated in pinball simulation video game, ''Microsoft Pinball Arcade
''Microsoft Pinball Arcade'' is a pinball video game from Microsoft. It was released on December 15, 1998 for Microsoft Windows and in 2001 for the Game Boy Color. The game is a collection of seven real pinball tables licensed by Gottlieb. Th ...
'', although adjustments were made to the game rules. Instead of the normal silver balls, colored balls, that matches the color of the target, are played. Extra points are awarded if the player lands the ball in the target that exactly matches the color of the ball.
See also
*'' Play-Boy'' - the follow up game
References
External links
*
{{Microsoft Pinball Arcade
1931 pinball machines
Gottlieb pinball machines