Pinball facts for kids

A row of pinball machines at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pinball is a super fun arcade game! In pinball, you try to score points. You do this by controlling one or more metal balls. These balls roll around a special playing area. This area is inside a glass-covered box called a pinball machine.

Your main goal is to get as many points as you can. You also want to play for a long time. You can earn extra balls to keep the game going. Sometimes, you can even win free games, called replays!

The History of Pinball

Pinball machines have been around for a long time. They became very popular. But for many years, pinball was actually banned. This happened in many American cities.

Why Pinball Was Banned

From the 1940s to the 1970s, people thought pinball was a game of chance. They believed it was like gambling. Because of this, many cities made it illegal to play pinball.

How Pinball Became Legal Again

The ban finally ended in New York City in 1976. A very skilled pinball player named Roger Sharpe helped. He played pinball in front of the City Council. He showed them that pinball was not just about luck. It was a game that needed real skill. His amazing playing convinced them. After that, pinball became legal again!

Images for kids

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  Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991 pinball machine designed by Steve Ritchie

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  Billard japonais, Southern Germany/Alsace c. 1750–70. It already has a spring mechanism to propel the ball, 100 years before Montague Redgrave's patent.

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  An early pinball game without flippers, c. 1932

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  A clear-walled electromechanical pinball machine created by the Pacific Pinball Museum to illustrate the inner workings of a typical pinball machine

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  Flippers allow the player to redirect the ball.

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  Slingshots have rubber pads which detect the ball's impact and automatically push it away at speed.

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  Stationary targets detect the ball's impact and typically increment the player's score.

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  Rollovers detect when the ball passes over them.

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  A wire ramp along which the ball can travel

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  Dot Matrix Display

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  The underside of a 1990s playfield, showing a variety of mechanical and electrical components

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  A restored Terminator 2 pinball machine with all metal parts plated with chrome

See also

In Spanish: Pinball para niños