Star Trek

The Star Trek pinball machine, released by Bally Manufacturing Corporation in April 1979, brought an officially licensed take on the science fiction franchise to pinball, timed to coincide with the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture that same year. Designed by Gary Gayton with art by Kevin O'Connor, this four-player solid-state machine helped establish the template for future licensed theme-based pinball titles.

At its core, Star Trek features two flippers, three pop bumpers, and two slingshots, alongside a 4-bank drop target, five standup targets, two star rollovers, a kick-out hole, and a free ball return lane. Notably, the backglass art was updated partway through the production run: early cabinets depicted the Enterprise crew in their TV-series uniforms, while later ones switched to single-color movie-style clothing and updated playfield plastics to promote the concurrent film release. Early 'TV version' backglasses can be distinguished by a larger white trademark symbol and O'Connor's signature in white, versus the smaller black TM and red signature on 'movie version' glass.

With 16,842 confirmed units produced, Bally's Star Trek was a major commercial hit and remains a well-regarded, widely collected example of licensed pinball from the solid-state era's early years.