Northern Lights

Northern Lights, manufactured by Bally in January 1936, is a single-player electro-mechanical payout machine — a coin-operated device that dispensed payouts based on outcomes, a category distinct from the free-play and replay pinball machines that would later dominate the industry. Little detailed information survives about this particular model, reflecting how sparsely documented Bally's earliest output is.

As a mid-1930s payout machine, Northern Lights would have used relatively simple scoring and mechanical elements typical of the period, well before flippers or the more elaborate feature sets of later pinball. Bally was already an established manufacturer of coin-operated payout and amusement equipment by this time, and games like this one were common in bars, taverns, and other coin-op locations of the era.

Given how little is documented about its specific design or theme, Northern Lights is chiefly notable today for its age as a surviving example of Bally's mid-1930s payout-machine output, offering a glimpse into the company's early years in the coin-operated amusement business.