Mata Hari

Mata Hari, designed by Jim Patla with artwork by Dave Christensen, was manufactured by Bally in April 1978 as a four-player solid-state (SS) machine, also released in an electro-mechanical version. By this point Bally had already been producing SS machines for well over a year, so Mata Hari represents a mature entry in that transition rather than one of the very first, but it remains a well-regarded example of the company's late-1970s design work. With over 16,000 confirmed units produced, it was a commercially significant release.

Gameplay features two flippers, four pop bumpers, two slingshots, two 4-bank drop targets, a kick-out hole, and an end-of-ball bonus, offering a mix of shot-making and target-clearing challenges typical of the period.

The game's historical theme is built around Mata Hari (Margaretha Zelle), the Dutch-born exotic dancer executed as a spy during WWI. Notably, some backglasses depict a dagger inscribed with the phrase 'Meine Ehre heisst Treue' ('My honor is loyalty') - a motto associated with the WWII-era Waffen-SS - which is a historical anachronism given Mata Hari died in 1917, during WWI. A small number (roughly 20) of prototypes were also built with plastic rather than wood playfields.