Action (Sr)

The Action (Sr) pinball machine, manufactured by Bally in December 1934, holds an interesting place in the early history of pinball. Designed by Harry Williams, it dates from the first wave of electro-mechanical games, when manufacturers were just beginning to add electrical features to what had been purely mechanical machines.

The story behind this game is unusual. According to the Encyclopedia of Pinball Vol. 2, Harry Williams gave Bally the manufacturing rights to the smaller 40 x 20 inch Junior model while his own company, Automatic Amusements of Los Angeles, made the larger 46 x 22 inch Senior model. Under the agreement, Bally had distribution rights to both models, and Williams ended up shipping Senior games to Bally to meet a rush of orders, with Bally advertising both sizes. The Bally playfields differ slightly from the Automatic Amusements versions, using the word 'Bouncer' in the upper playfield in place of 'Rebound'.

Advertised at 46 inches long by 22 inches wide, the Action (Sr) was the larger of the two Action models. As an early Bally release carrying model number 12 and bearing the fingerprints of pioneer designer Harry Williams, it remains an important artifact in the history of pinball, a testament to the innovative spirit of the industry's founding generation.