Sprint

The 1937 Bally Sprint is a flipperless novelty-play pinball machine built around a running/track theme, released under model number 168 during Bally's early years as a pinball manufacturer. The lower playfield depicts a medal dated 1937, likely evoking the prior year's 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics.

What sets Sprint apart is its gameplay mechanic: one of six runners is selected at the start of each game, as shown on the backglass, and landing a ball in the matching hole at the bottom of the playfield awards the points shown for that runner. Landing two balls in either of two Skill Holes doubles the points value, while landing two balls in each of both Skill Holes triples it, on top of the base offering of 5 balls for 5 cents across 11 spring bumpers and 8 trap holes.

Sprint's design, art, and theme are typical of late-1930s pinball aesthetics, with a backglass illustration of runners and a straightforward playfield layout. As a flipperless novelty machine from Bally's formative years, it offers collectors a look at pre-flipper pinball design tied to the era's enthusiasm for athletics and the Olympics.