Back Boomerang

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  1. By IPDB
    credit
    Christian Marche — Art
    credit
    Jim Patla — Design
    gameplay_feature
    Spinning Targets
    gameplay_feature
    Captive Ball ×2
    gameplay_feature
    Star Rollovers ×8
    gameplay_feature
    Standup Targets ×12
    gameplay_feature
    Slingshots ×2
    gameplay_feature
    Pop Bumpers
    gameplay_feature
    Kick-Out Holes
    gameplay_feature
    Flippers ×2
    ipdb.corporate_entity_name
    Bally Manufacturing Corporation
    ipdb_id
    6338
    ipdb.manufacturer_trade_name
    Bally
    ipdb.notable_features
    Flippers (2), Pop bumper (1), Slingshots (2), Standup targets (12), Star rollovers (8), Captive balls (2), Spinning target (1), Kick-out hole (1), Action ring.
    ipdb.notes
    This was an engineering prototype for then-new solid state pinball technology. An example of the EM version Bally's 1974 'Boomerang' was modified for this purpose. Allan Reizman, Engineering Lab Supervisor at Bally from 1977 to 1983, remembers seeing this prototype. We asked him what became of it. He replies:Boomerang was the first prototype game built by internal Bally staff around 1975 to demonstrate the concept to senior executives. Only one solid state Boomerang was made. For the four score displays, they used simple 7-segment red LED display elements that were common at the time. By the time Bally received the patent the electronic technology was widely used by other companies and the patent was widely ignored. Not sure if Bally was ever able to receive any royalties from Williams or other manufacturers that sold electronic pins. I think the concept of using a computer to control a game was such a broad interpretation that the rights were unenforceable. In any case Bally was gone from the industry a few years after the patent date. My first office was in the old Bally lab on Belmont Avenue. in Chicago. The basement of that building was where we parked a lot of prototypes. That was where I first saw this Boomerang languishing around 1977-78 time frame. When we moved to O�Leary Drive the test games were put into storage, most likely in the 'Lame Idea Warehouse'. In early 1980, a few months after I moved into my new office, Boomerang appeared and was parked in the hallway behind my office window. This is around the time of the patent so I suspect they summoned it from the warehouse for legal inspection. Eventually it was put back into storage where it�s eventual fate is unknown. Patent 4,198,051 [COMPUTERIZED PIN BALL MACHINE] filed November 19, 1975, granted April 15, 1980 to Marion F. Bracha and William H. Englehardt, assignee is Bally Manufacturing Corporation, Chicago, Illinois. The patent for this electronic pinball game was issued to Bally under the names of the two executives that were responsible for its invention. Marion F. "Frank" Bracha was Bally VP of Research and Development and William H. "Bill" Englehardt was head of Electrical Engineering. A PDF of this patent document is in our Files section. While the PDF page 2 of 54 shows a Boomerang playfield, PDF page 18 of 54, column two, section 25, states that this was just an example of a playfield: "It should be realized that the arrangement of the playfield may differ." Collector John Mohr notified us that he had confirmed with a "PinMame expert" that the source code shown in the patent document is indeed for Boomerang, and calls for the use of three (3) 6820 PIA's, which no production Bally ever used. The source code is Motorola 6800 based.
    player_count
    4
    production_quantity
    1
    technology_generation
    solid-state
    theme
    Adventure
    theme
    Foreign Peoples