This is a first look at the 1974 classic "a-list" electro-mechanical pinball machine, Bally's "Wizard!" themed after the Who's "Tommy" featuring Roger Daltry and Anne Margaret.
Beautiful! In my opinion best pinball machine ever Loved this one ! Thank you for sharing I remember having this up to 20-30 free games at a time often Never got bored of this baby 🙏❤️
During college I worked for a Bally Pinball Distributor from 1974 to 1978. Bally's explanation for the playfield paint wood grain pattern failure mode was two fold. The conversion from lead to lead free paint. The wood being used for the playfield being susceptible to surface failure when exposed to extremely cold weather. It took Bally better than a year to sort out the problem. I replaced quite a few playfields under warranty for this failure mode. I agree that this is an all time great playing and looking machine. My Wizard is in the 5700 serial number range and in similar condition. It is my favorite.
"There's also a very lucrative 5,000 point shot there... " Lucrative? Sorry, big guy. Couldn't help myself. Thanks for sharing this. If you still own this beauty... I'm jealous. Loved this machine.
I love this machine, my Dad had one at home, no idea how we got hold of one over here in Germany, but you couldn't get me off of it. The gutters really are punishing, but it seldom feels like this beauty busts your balls, most of the time you immediately realize what you did wrong to get there and it does a great job of instilling the feeling of skill being incredibly relevant to play it well. If you get a chance to play this beauty don't miss it, I am probably decently biased, but this is the best pinball machine of it's time if not ever.
Thanks for this! I remember playing this in '78. We had a cheat to where we would press down on the glass with our elbows to keep the flags from re-setting between balls so double bonus, extra ball etc.would stay lit.....that pretty much made up for the wide lanes and flipper distance. lol
I bought my Bally "Wizard"(#4732 of the 1st 5000....a 1st Edition you might say!) a 2nd Run of 5000 soon followed due to the quick sellout so I wanna say there was only 10,000 produced?....But it could be 10k and some change to finish out the 2nd run so 10'500 could be SPOT ON!!) back 1982 for $400.00 U.S.I live in Detroit about 2 hours away from Ceder Point The Rollercoast of Sandusky Ohio! The guy I bought it from in '82 said it came from one of Ceder Points many Pinball/Video Arcades? Co-Winky-Dink! NO MORE WAR!,H.P.
Haven't been to Cedar Point in at least 10 years. But, even then, they had a plethora of EM games. Let's see, I remember Sea Ray, Magic Carpet, Old Chicago. Also Flash, Hercules, 3 Million BC (?) and a couple others.
THANK FOR YOUR Bally Wizard History Lesson. The "Wizard" was the 1st Movie Theme Pinball Machine & STILL the BEST I SHOULD ADD! Bally's "The Adam's Family" may be the highest selling Movie Machine of all time but REALLY which one would you want in your basement.....Yeah it's The "Wizard" Flippers Down! Elton John even got his "Wizard"/Tommy Spin-off "Captain Fantastic".(Which outsold The "Wizard"??!).....which really was't so FANTASTIC!!!Note*Elton John"The Pinball Champ"can be seen playing a Machine named The"Wizard"in Captain Fantastic's Back glass! Paying Homage PEACE!
I have one of these purchased in 1980 for $200 . It’s in need of an overhaul and I will need a lot of help. I see you can purchase parts on EBay but that’s just the beginning. Any help or suggestions would be nice.
