Champion

The Champion, manufactured by Bally in July 1934, is an early electromechanical payout machine from the first years of the pinball industry, when many games rewarded skilled (or lucky) play with cash. It gave players 10 balls for 5 cents and stood 42 inches long, 19 inches wide, and 42 inches high, weighing approximately 130 pounds -- a solid piece of commercial coin-op equipment aimed at operators and locations, as was typical of the era.

A distinctive gameplay element is its buy-back system: the machine has two coin slides, and the second allows players to purchase additional balls at 5 cents each, up to five balls, after their initial investment. This gave players a way to extend a promising game, adding flexibility to the standard pay-per-play formula.

In terms of design, the Champion carries a general sports theme. Interestingly, it reused the same cabinet and playfield design as Bally's 1933 'Rocket', but with different castings on the playfield and new sports graphics -- a common cost-saving practice among early manufacturers. No designer credits survive, but the Champion remains an informative artifact from the payout era of pinball's early development.