Spectrum

The Bally Spectrum, designed by Claude Fernandez with art by Margaret Hudson, was released in June 1982 as one of the later pinball titles from Bally Manufacturing Corporation before the company sold off its pinball and coin-op business later in the 1980s (Bally's pinball operations eventually passed to Williams by 1988). The Spectrum's fantasy theme was inspired by the 1970 two-player board game Mastermind.

The machine boasts an impressive array of targets and playfield elements, including four 3-bank drop targets, two spinning targets, and five kick-out holes - notably including ones that can serve the ball back to the flippers. Unusually, the Spectrum has no plunger, requiring players to rely entirely on flipper skill and playfield design to get the ball into play.

Commercially, the Spectrum struggled: according to the book Pinball Memories, of the 994 units made, fewer than 500 were ever sold, with the remainder ultimately scrapped or salvaged. That scarcity, combined with its distinctive plunger-free design and fantasy theme, makes the Spectrum a noteworthy curiosity for collectors interested in the twilight of Bally's early-1980s pinball lineup.