Pace Maker

The Pace Maker, manufactured by Bally in March 1939, is an early example of an electro-mechanical one-ball horserace pinball game. At a time when pinball was still a young industry, machines like the Pace Maker helped shape gameplay conventions that would carry forward into later decades.

As a one-ball horserace game, the Pace Maker predates the invention of the flipper (which did not appear until 1947), so gameplay relied on skillful plunging and shot placement rather than flipper control. The machine's electro-mechanical design uses relays and solenoids to control scoring and game mechanics, giving it a distinct sound and feel compared to later solid-state machines.

Specific design or artistic details of the Pace Maker are not well documented. Its horserace theme and one-ball format place it among the wave of gambling-adjacent EM games popular in coin-operated amusement of the late 1930s. Nonetheless, the Pace Maker remains a notable artifact of pinball's early history.