- ipdb.corporate_entity_name
- Bally Manufacturing Corporation
- ipdb_id
- 539
- ipdb.image_urls
- ["https://www.ipdb.org/images/539/image-10.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/539/image-1.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/539/image-3.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/539/image-2.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/539/image-A2.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/539/image-A3.jpg","https://www.ipdb.org/images/539/image-4.jpg"]
- ipdb.manufacturer_trade_name
- Bally
- ipdb.model_number
- 342
- ipdb.notable_features
- Convertible 1-ball or 5-ball play. Advertised as available in console cabinet or pin table style.
- ipdb.notes
- Handwritten transcriptions made in the early 1990's of official Bally documents, then in the possession of Mead Publishing, show a date of 1941 for this Model 342, 'Club Trophy'.
The 1941 date seems problematic when we note that model numbers assigned before and after '342' were games that were produced in 1939, not 1941. This incongruity can be seen here.
It seems improbable that a game would be delayed for two years. Yet, the two Billboard ads shown in this listing support a date of 1941 for 'Club Trophy' but, of course, do not mention a model number for it.
A theory surfaces that a second, separate model of 'Club Trophy' had been produced in 1941 as shown in the Billboard ads and, if true, would remove these ads and the 1941 date from this Model 342 listing and thus resolve the date incongruity. This theory requires that Bally documentation be in error for some other model number, an idea not improbable.
We know a Model 377 was assigned for a game named 'Trophy' which, by virtue of the model number, should have been produced in 1940. However, we have no Bally documentation or other evidence to indicate if that model was ever produced or was canceled. The Mead documents have no date for that model but instead refer the reader to a different model, Model 426, indicating only that it was produced 2-28-41 as 'Trophy'.
We currently have no documentation or photographs to prove Model 426 was indeed produced in 1941 as 'Trophy'. According to the theory, if Model 426 was actually produced as 'Club Trophy' but was documented by Bally in error as 'Trophy', then our listing for Model 426 would be the correct place to host the two 1941 Billboard ads (along with a name correction to that listing). We would then have to believe that no game named 'Trophy' was made before the War. After the War, Bally made Model 498-A, 'Trophy' in 1948.
See also Model 426, 'Trophy'.
If anyone has documentation (manuals, schematics) for Bally's 'Trophy' or 'Club Trophy' to help us confirm/improve our dates for these games, or finds old advertisements or photographs that might help us identify if more than one version of either game was actually produced, please contact us.
- month
- 5
- player_count
- 1
- technology_generation
- electromechanical
- year
- 1941