Cross Country

Cross Country is a scarce electro-mechanical pinball machine from March 1963, designed by Ted Zale for Bally Manufacturing Corporation, with a confirmed production run of just 500 units. Its theme of American travel gives players a cross-country journey rendered in pinball form, and its low production count makes it a genuinely uncommon find today.

The gameplay centers on a clever route system: at the start of the game, shooting the red, green, or blue rollover selects the cross-country route, and rollunder gates advance the player along it. Reaching the end of the route awards a free game—or two or three replays at the operator's option—and, unusually, the route progress carries over from game to game, encouraging players to keep feeding the machine coins to finish the trip. The playfield also features two flippers, three pop bumpers, four rollunders, a free ball gate, and a rebounding skill shot.

With its distinctive carry-over route feature and Ted Zale's design touch, Cross Country remains an interesting piece of early-1960s Bally history and a rewarding play for enthusiasts of electro-mechanical games.