Chapter 5:
Is it a pinball?
This is the most debatable part of this article. Can Boot-A-Ball be considered a pinball? It's a question that's more theoretical than practical. At first sight one's instinct is to label it an arcade game, not a pinball. No score, no ball in play, none of those things which when taken together tell us that a game is a pinball. But Boot-A-Ball must have something to do with a pinball: 12 flippers can't be wrong!
First, the official papers. There are some lists which some say were compiled by Bally themselves, although we can't be certain; containing the name of the game, the date of manufacture, the quantity produced and the ID numbers. These are different from the serial numbers and are allotted to each game built. Actually, there are two of these lists, one only gives details of pinballs whilst the other lists all games, including flipper pinballs, slot machines, bingos, coke vendors, bowling games etc. (Bally produced two drinks vendors in 1946, one for Pepsi and one for Coke). Boot-A-Ball is on the first list, i.e. the one for pinballs only. These lists contain some rather odd generalisations. For example, Beauty Contest and Moon Shot are both designated "One player novelty game". Boot-A-Ball is designated a "two player novelty game". So if these lists were compiled at the factory they used a very simple system to differentiate between pinball, bingos, and other categories. Maybe they said something like "if there is a steel ball and it's not a bingo then it's a flipper game". Such lists, which are often quoted in contemporary pinball books, can be an invaluable aid in judging the date of production, serial numbers, quantity produced etc. They can't be taken as gospel though, in determining what category a game belongs under.
After making some enquiries I received a letter from Dick Bueschel telling me that he thought the game was an arcade game, not a pinball. I tend to agree. So, let's see if we can establish how this game came to be listed as a pinball. I believe that these lists were compiled by considering the total number of parts making up each game. So a game comprising mainly bingo parts was designated a bingo. A game with an unusual cabinet like World Cup cannot be catalogued as a pinball. The same cabinet plus twelve flippers quickly becomes a pinball!
So now we are sure that Boot-A-Ball isn't a pinball. But before you all start erasing its name from your lists wait a moment. These are only my considerations and maybe I'm wrong. I would like to hear what you, the readers really think. Another question: how is it that such a low production game arrived here in Italy? Was it just by luck? Was it produced specially for Italy? I don't know but there are some pointers we could consider.
1) Test games were usually tested in the place where they were going to be operated. You will never have seen Gottlieb's Elite Guard, Big Jack or Solitaire in Chicago, unless you worked for the company. But in Italy these games are present in great abundance, because they were specially built for export. There may be test games of these export models around, but they were probably produced without major changes so how would you recognise a test game if you found one? Since I unearthed Boot-A-Ball I've shown photos of it to anyone who may know something about it. It seems that no-one has seen it before. One hundred games aren't a lot, but if they were all sent to Italy then someone would have seen it, don't you think?
2) The game was produced from the factory with an Italian coin chute and a sticker showing Italian pricing (see picture #1 in the section below). There's no doubt that, even if it was a test game, it was sent in the first instance to Italy. It didn't arrive here having gone first to somewhere else, as sometimes happens with solid state games which arrive with German instructions and German phrases showing in the displays.
3) Soccer was far more popular in Italy than in the USA. It stands to reason then that a game with a soccer theme is not going to be particularly attractive to the American market. However, it should be noted that Bally had previously built World Cup, a soccer theme game which sold around the world.
So, finally my conclusion. Boot-A-Ball is a prototype game built for the Italian market. It was a failure and didn't attract players so the game was abandoned. That left just the 100 games originally built, some of which were sold, maybe some were destroyed. Maybe we'll never know the full story.
I await your emails, comments and any questions which I will try to answer.