Novelty

A configuration in which the machine awards no replays, no extra balls, and no payouts of any kind. The player inserts a coin, plays the game, accumulates a score, and the game ends. The term “novelty” distinguishes these machines from Replay, Add-a-Ball, and payout models — the game is offered purely for amusement, with no mechanism by which skilled play returns anything of value to the player.

Novelty configuration served two purposes. In jurisdictions where any form of reward — free games, extra balls, cash, or tickets — classified a machine as a gambling device, novelty mode was the only legal option for operators who wanted to place machines on location. The machine could not be a gambling device if there was nothing to win. Second, some operators preferred novelty configuration in locations where replay abuse was a concern: players could not accumulate free games and monopolize a machine without continuing to pay.

Many Electromechanical machines offered operator-selectable modes, allowing the same machine to be configured as novelty or Replay depending on local requirements. The choice was typically made via a switch or jumper inside the cabinet. Some manufacturers produced dedicated novelty models with distinct model numbers and no replay mechanism in the circuit at all, distinguishing them from their replay counterparts at the factory level.

In the modern era, the novelty distinction has largely faded as the legal battles over pinball as gambling were resolved in favor of the industry. Virtually all current production machines are configured for Replay.