Bazaar

Bazaar, designed by Ted Zale with artwork by George Molentin and released by Bally Manufacturing Corporation in October 1966, holds a genuine place in pinball history: it was the first game to use zipper flippers, the ingenious mechanism (invented by Joe Lally, Ted Zale, and Terry Reedy) that closes the gap between the flippers to prevent the ball from draining. The feature was patented in 1966 and would become a signature of Ted Zale's Bally designs. The game debuted at the Chicago MOA show in late October 1966, and 2,925 units were produced.

Beyond its landmark flippers, Bazaar boasts an array of features that made it stand out from its contemporaries: three pop bumpers, six of Zale's characteristic mushroom bumpers, two slingshots, an upper ball return gate, and a skill shot from the shooter lane. The maximum displayed point score is 9,999 points, making for a tight, score-chasing challenge even today.

Bazaar wears a world-places theme, and it was also produced in an add-a-ball version for export to Italy; early add-a-ball examples are known with cabinet graphics borrowed from Bally's 1965 Blue Ribbon. As the birthplace of the zipper flipper, Bazaar is a fascinating machine for collectors and historians of 1960s Bally.