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Skateball

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Skateball / IPD No. 2170 / September, 1980 / 4 Players
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Manufacturer: Bally Manufacturing Corporation (1931-1983) [Trade Name: Bally]
Project Date: April 30, 1980
Date Of Manufacture: September, 1980
Model Number: 1210
MPU: Bally MPU AS-2518-35
Type: Solid State Electronic (SS) [?]
Production: 4,150 units   (confirmed)
Serial Number Database:View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net)  (External site)
Theme: Sports - Skateboard
Notable Features: Flippers (4), Pop bumpers (3), Slingshots (2), 5-bank drop targets (1), 3-bank drop targets (2), Kick-out hole (1), Spinning target (1), Left crossover return lane. Ball shooter lane directs ball across the middle of the playfield to reach the top.
Design by: Claude Fernandez
Art by: Greg Freres, Kevin O'Connor, Margaret Hudson
Notes: First solid-state game from this manufacturer produced with 7-digit scoring.

Skateball reportedly had a faulty design that allowed players to score excessive points, lowering operator profits due to many free games being awarded. Players could easily hold the ball on the right flipper and make it roll in and out of the right inlane by briefly releasing the flipper button. This caused the bonus to raise to the maximum award which would award a special upon reaching 60k. Operators reportedly tried a number of different solutions to solve the problem.

This game originally was to be Model 1150-E Bally's 1978 'Skateball' but did not get produced at that time.

Artist Greg Freres did the art for the 1978 backglass. The original playfield for that game was scrapped, but Bally kept the backglass art on the shelf until an opportunity came up to resurrect the theme for a new playfield. Since Greg was busy on another project by this time, only his backglass art was used on this 1980 production run while Kevin O'Connor did the playfield artwork and Margaret Hudson did the plastics artwork.

Photos in: The Complete Pinball BookExternal Link, page 159
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book S-Z
Pinball ArtExternal Link, page 28
Pinball Machines (Eiden-Lukas)External Link, pages 31 and 71
The Pinball Compendium 1970-1981External Link, page 173
Pinball (Ciuffo), page 173
Owners List URL:http://www.pinballowners.com/owners/2170  (External site)
ROMs: 11 KB ZIP ROMs [Bally Manufacturing Corp.]
Documentation: 3 MB PDF English Manual (gray cover, no schematics, pages 11-12 are different font and may be preliminary) [Bally Manufacturing Corp.]
  1 MB PDF Schematic Diagrams Only (quantity of ten) [Bally Manufacturing Corp.]
Images:
(click to zoom)
Image # 4099: Skateball Flyer, Front
Flyer, Front
865x1154
 		 Image # 4100: Skateball Flyer, Back
Flyer, Back
865x1154
 		 Image # 5229: Skateball Front view
Front view
756x1458
 		 Image # 5230: Skateball Back Glass
Back Glass
912x780
 		 Image # 5231: Skateball Playfield
Playfield
1017x1062
 
Image # 9776: Skateball Backglass
Backglass
1024x910
[Christopher Wolf]		 Image # 9777: Skateball Playfield
Playfield
1024x1102
[Christopher Wolf]		 Image # 18745: Skateball Upper Playfield
Upper Playfield
600x800
[The Halifax Pinball Company]		 Image # 18746: Skateball Lower Playfield
Lower Playfield
600x800
[The Halifax Pinball Company]		 Image # 18747: Skateball Cabinet - Left
Cabinet - Left
443x501
[The Halifax Pinball Company]
Image # 18748: Skateball Cabinet - Right
Cabinet - Right
468x509
[The Halifax Pinball Company]		 Image # 54785: Skateball Backbox - Right
Backbox - Right
715x1600
[Jean-Pierre Renault]		 Image # 54786: Skateball Cabinet - Right
Cabinet - Right
1024x373
[Jean-Pierre Renault]		 Image # 61094: Skateball Illuminated Backglass
Illuminated Backglass
1200x1078
[Jean-Pierre Renault]		 Image # 61095: Skateball Playfield - Detail
Playfield - Detail
1200x940
[Jean-Pierre Renault]
Image # 61096: Skateball Illuminated Pop Bumper Cap
Illuminated Pop Bumper Cap
1200x1197
[Jean-Pierre Renault]		 Image # 61097: Skateball Cabinet - Front
Cabinet - Front
1200x848
[Jean-Pierre Renault]		 Image # 61098: Skateball Cabinet - Front View
Cabinet - Front View
788x1600
[Jean-Pierre Renault]		 Image # 72354: Skateball Original Playfield Artwork (Artist is Kevin O'Connor.Magic markers on a blueprint paper.Dimensions are 22 1/2 inches by 41 inches.The artist had first inked the outlines then hand-colored a blueprint copy of the inked art using magic markers as a guide for the production artist (someone else) to cut the silkscreen masks.)
Original Playfield Artwork*
918x1568
[James Loflin]		 Image # 72355: Skateball Original Playfield Artwork (Artist is Kevin O'Connor.Magic markers on blueprint paper.Dimensions are 22 1/2 inches by 41 inches.The artist had first inked the outlines then hand-colored a blueprint copy of the inked art using magic markers as a guide for the production artist (Margaret Hudson) to cut the silkscreen masks.)
Original Playfield Artwork*
1200x984
[James Loflin]
Image # 72356: Skateball Original Playfield Artwork (Artist is Kevin O'Connor.Magic markers on blueprint paper.Dimensions are 22 1/2 inches by 41 inches.The artist had first inked the outlines then hand-colored a blueprint copy of the inked art using magic markers as a guide for the production artist (Margaret Hudson) to cut the silkscreen masks.)
Original Playfield Artwork*
1200x923
[James Loflin]		 Image # 72357: Skateball Original Playfield Artwork (Artist is Kevin O'Connor.Magic markers on blueprint paper.Dimensions are 22 1/2 inches by 41 inches.The artist had first inked the outlines then hand-colored a blueprint copy of the inked art using magic markers as a guide for the production artist (Margaret Hudson) to cut the silkscreen masks.)
Original Playfield Artwork*
1200x824
[James Loflin]		 Image # 83888: Skateball Backbox Transport Protection (The wood strips and bag of screws were found inside the game.)
Backbox Transport Protection*
1024x461
[Federico Croci]		  
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