Bumper

Bumper, produced by Bally Manufacturing Corporation in December 1936, is one of the most historically discussed flipperless games of the 1930s. Contrary to widespread belief, it was not the first pinball machine to have bumpers - Bally copied the idea from Pacent Novelty's 'Bolo', released several months earlier in 1936 - but Bally changed the bumper design enough to patent it. A January 1953 issue of Bally's newsletter identified the game as the "first spiral-wire bumper-type game," a fair designation since Pacent's bumpers did not use spiral wires. According to interviews in the Encyclopedia of Pinball Vol. 2, inventor Donald E. Hooker did the work of inventing the Bally bumper, while staff draftsman Nils A. Nelson received the patent credit.

Just as significant was Bumper's scoring system: an electrical progressive score unit in the backbox kept a running total using light projection. This was a genuine improvement over earlier machines, where players had to add up their score by counting balls resting on the playfield. The new bumpers allowed balls to exit the playfield after play while the score was maintained on the backbox.

The game itself measures 44 inches by 22 inches, offers 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 ball play with 1 1/8 inch steel balls, and draws its power from a wall outlet. As a flipperless machine from more than a decade before flippers existed, Bumper represents pinball at a formative moment - and its bumper and scoring innovations helped shape the direction the game would take.