Pingames and Gambling
The Johnson Act

By 1950 gambling machines (slots, "one-balls", etc.) were quite common in many parts of the country despite massive efforts by anti-gambling forces over the years to outlaw them. Slot machines were operated in many states and localities; in some places legally, in others illegally, but they were there nevertheless.

Then, probably the biggest single blow to the "gambling industry" in the U.S. came about in 1950 with the passage by congress of the Johnson Act. That law banned inter-state shipment of "gambling devices" (including repair parts, manuals, etc.) except to states in which the device was legal. So, it now was a federal offense to ship slots, "one-balls", etc. into any state which did not allow them. This, as you can imagine, was quite a deterrent to the manufacturers and distributors of such devices to providing them to illegal, or even questionably legal, areas.

As I previously stated, at that time about the only pinballs used mostly for gambling were the "one-ball horserace games" manufactured primarily by Bally and Universal. The advent of the flipper had made "amusement pinballs" less likely to be outlawed as gambling devices due to their increased "skill factor" and therefore not a problem under the Johnson Act.

But the "one-balls" were an entirely different story. Many ordinances specifically mentioned "one-ball games" as a type which were outlawed and therefore, in most jurisdictions, their shipment was definitely banned by the Johnson Act. So at that time the one-ball manufacturers could clearly see that production of this type of machine was impractical. Something had to be done if they were not to suffer a severe loss of profits.

So, in 1951, a new type of pingame came into being to replace the "one-balls". One story, which was told to me by industry personage Bob Jonesi a few years ago, regarding the beginning of this new type of game goes something like this.

Lou Walcher, owner of the large San Francisco coin machine distributorship, Advance Automatic Sales, had an idea for a new type of pingame which used 5 balls ("one-ball" was definitely out) and scored replays by lighting numbers in a given pattern. He then challenged the industry to design games using his new idea. As a result the first "in-line" or "bingo" type pingames came into being


Russ Jensen
United ABC
United's initial entry into this new field was a game called A-B-C which had a circular playfield (much like a roulette wheel) and three 5 by 5 number "bingo cards" on the backglass. Universal, actually a subsidiary of United, came out with 5-STAR, having a short rectangular playfield containing numbered holes and five 3 by 3 cards on the backglass. Bally's entry into this "derby" was BRIGHT LIGHTS, which had a playfield about the size of a "one-ball" and six 5 by 5 cards. Well, Bally's format (as for playfield configuration and card size) finally won out, and games of that type became the new addition to the pingame industry.

Bally and United became the chief manufacturers of these new "in-line" games as they were first called, with a few being produced by Keeney, and even one by Williams. At first there seemed not to be much of a problem with shipping them under the Johnson Act, after all they were clearly not "one-balls" as five balls (and up to eight, as most allowed the player a chance to use up to three "extra balls") were actually used in each game.

But, before very long, these games were also being challenged in court as being "gambling devices" primarily due to the fact that they had no flippers (not much "skill factor") and because a player could win large numbers of replays which, in most locations, were paid off in cash by the proprietor of the establishment in which they were located. Indeed, I am sure "bingos" (as these games came to be called) were used for gambling more often than not.


Gottlieb writ attempting to distinguish
free play from gambling.
Well, after many legal hassles, the 1957 "Korpan Decision" of the Supreme Court ruled that these "bingo pinballs" were "gambling devices" and thus subject to the Johnson Act. This severely cut back the use of these machines except in a few states, such as Tennessee and South Carolina, where they were legal. Bally continued to manufacture bingos, however, for many years to come to supply these states and foreign markets, even making improvements in the games, such as the popular "OK bingos" of the early Sixties, until the early Eighties when Tennessee (the largest U.S. user of these machines) outlawed them.

The Johnson Act also had its effect on "flipper games". Two characteristics used to define "gambling features" in coin machines, which showed up in many laws, were "a button to 'cancel' Free game credits" and "a meter to indicate the number of free games so canceled." In 1950 almost all flipper pinballs had these two features, so when the Johnson Act came along pinball manufacturers knew these features had to be eliminated from flipper games lest their shipment be banned by the new "law of the land".

Therefore, by 1951 or so, the infamous "knock-off button" was eliminated from most flipper pinballs. Incidentally, the "bingo pinball" manufacturers had found a clever way of getting around (at least for satisfying the "letter of the law") the "knock-off button" problem. The circuitry in these machines automatically ran the replays, indicated by the replay counter on the backboard, down to zero whenever power was applied to the machine. So, locations "paying off" replays would simply turn the game off and back on again, and the replays would be "reset" to zero without the use of a "button".

So, as you can see, by the early Fifties the Johnson Act had severely curtailed shipment of gambling machines such as slots and "one-balls", caused a new type of pingame (the well known "bingo") to be produced, and made it much more difficult (by the elimination of the "knock-off button") for people to gamble using flipper games. But this was not the end of the attack on pinball by the "crusaders", as we shall see.

It was also in the early Fifties that some people in the coin machine industry decided it was time to "clean up their act" lest their business be hurt by the still existent anti-gambling forces. An organization, "the Coin Machine Institute", was formed with Harry Williams of Williams manufacturing as its president. Many of the manufacturers, such as D. Gottlieb and Co. (who got out of the "gambling business" in 1947 by eliminating "one-ball" production), etc., joined this organization and began a publicity campaign to show that "flipper pinball", and the other amusement machines they made, were strictly for fun and had no connection whatsoever with gambling. Others, such as Bally and United, continued to manufacture "bingos" and other machines with a "gambling flavor".


Previous      Next