AirWay (Bally, 1933) VP8
IPD No. 37
By tiltjlp. Special thanks the members of the Yahoo Pre-war Pinball Group for both resourses and testig help. Without their help this table would not be anywhere near as accurate as it is. More proof that collectors are a great group of folks.
Early in 1933 Bally came up with a quite sophisticated design for it's game called AIRWAY. When a ball dropped into one of the scoring holes a metal cover would close over it and the ball would roll down to a "scoring area" at the bottom of the playfield. This action would cause a "score indicator" to flip into view displaying the value in points of the hole into which the ball had fallen. The player still had to add up his total score, but the job was made easier since he did not have to look for the balls, but only to add up the points indicated in a neat row at the bottom of the playfield.
The game is pretty simple. If a ball goes into a hole the "lid" of that hole closes, blocking any further balls. The ball runs down a ramp under the playfield and trips the appropriate score totalizer at the bottom. Those balls remain "trapped" until a new game is started. The balls that miss holes go into the "OUT" holding area at the bottom until a new game is started. If a ball is shot and doesn't make it all the way around the oval and onto the playfield, it rolls back down into the "Free Play" hole and can be played again. --@tiltjlp
Manufacturer: Bally Manufacturing Corporation (1931-1983) [Trade Name: Bally]
Model Number: 1
Type: Pure Mechanical (PM)
Theme: Aviation
Specialty: Flipperless
Notable Features: 1 cent or 5 cent play. 10 balls for 5 cents. Measures 36 inches long, 18 inches wide, 40 inches high in the back, and 37 1/2 inches high in the front.
Design by: Herbert G. Breitenstein
Notes:'Airway' was the first game with a score totalizer. An improved version with a better tilt mechanism and it's name in the bottom casting was released in April, 1933
IPD No. 37
By tiltjlp. Special thanks the members of the Yahoo Pre-war Pinball Group for both resourses and testig help. Without their help this table would not be anywhere near as accurate as it is. More proof that collectors are a great group of folks.
Early in 1933 Bally came up with a quite sophisticated design for it's game called AIRWAY. When a ball dropped into one of the scoring holes a metal cover would close over it and the ball would roll down to a "scoring area" at the bottom of the playfield. This action would cause a "score indicator" to flip into view displaying the value in points of the hole into which the ball had fallen. The player still had to add up his total score, but the job was made easier since he did not have to look for the balls, but only to add up the points indicated in a neat row at the bottom of the playfield.
The game is pretty simple. If a ball goes into a hole the "lid" of that hole closes, blocking any further balls. The ball runs down a ramp under the playfield and trips the appropriate score totalizer at the bottom. Those balls remain "trapped" until a new game is started. The balls that miss holes go into the "OUT" holding area at the bottom until a new game is started. If a ball is shot and doesn't make it all the way around the oval and onto the playfield, it rolls back down into the "Free Play" hole and can be played again. --@tiltjlp
Manufacturer: Bally Manufacturing Corporation (1931-1983) [Trade Name: Bally]
Model Number: 1
Type: Pure Mechanical (PM)
Theme: Aviation
Specialty: Flipperless
Notable Features: 1 cent or 5 cent play. 10 balls for 5 cents. Measures 36 inches long, 18 inches wide, 40 inches high in the back, and 37 1/2 inches high in the front.
Design by: Herbert G. Breitenstein
Notes:'Airway' was the first game with a score totalizer. An improved version with a better tilt mechanism and it's name in the bottom casting was released in April, 1933
