BMX

The BMX pinball machine, designed by Ward Pemberton and manufactured by Bally in January 1983, is a notable title from the final year of the Bally Manufacturing Corporation era. Only 406 units were confirmed produced, making it a relatively scarce solid-state game. Interestingly, artist Greg Freres has stated that the game began development as an 'E.T.' movie title, but the license could not be obtained. Four in-house artists collaborated on the finished game: Freres did the backglass, Kevin O'Connor the playfield, Margaret Hudson the playfield plastics, and Pat McMahon the cabinet art.

Gameplay-wise, the BMX offers an engaging bicycling theme, with four flippers, two slingshots, a 6-bank and a 4-bank of drop targets, eight standup targets, and a kick-out hole challenging players to navigate the layout. The split-level playfield adds an extra layer of complexity, while a magnet under the upper playfield creates an interesting dynamic. Notably, this machine boasts no pop bumpers, which was a departure from traditional designs at the time.

One of BMX's most distinctive features is its 'flex-save' lanes: extra flipper buttons on the cabinet let players change the outlanes into inlanes, introducing an element of strategy and adaptability. The playfield layout was later reused, without the upper-playfield magnet, on Bally Midway's 1987 'Hardbody'.