Triumph (Model 1)

The Bally Manufacturing Corporation's 1940 Triumph (Model 1) is an early electro-mechanical pinball machine notable for its unusual buy-back mechanic. For 5 cents, players received five balls, with an operator-configurable option to purchase up to five additional buy-back balls at 5 cents each.

Gameplay centers on fifteen numbered spring bumpers on the playfield. Hitting a bumper lights its corresponding number on the backglass, and a randomly selected lit number awards a replay when its bumper is hit again; once all fifteen numbers are lit, every bumper hit awards a replay. The game offered operators a choice between free play and novelty play modes, and its cabinet was advertised at 44 inches long by 22 inches wide.

Triumph (Model 1), production Model Number 352, preceded Bally's Model 2 version (limited to two buy-backs instead of five), which company president Ray Moloney announced shortly after Model 1's release. No specific theme or designer is credited for the machine, whose straightforward but inventive buy-back scoring system is characteristic of early EM pinball design.