Boomerang

Boomerang, credited to designer Jim Patla with art by Christian Marche, is not a production Bally machine but a one-of-a-kind engineering prototype: an example of the EM Bally's 1974 Boomerang was modified around 1975 by internal Bally staff to demonstrate new solid-state pinball technology to senior executives. Only one solid-state Boomerang was ever built, using simple seven-segment red LED score displays typical of the era.

The prototype retained Boomerang's original playfield layout — two flippers, one pop bumper, two slingshots, twelve standup targets, eight star rollovers, two captive balls, a spinning target, a kick-out hole, and an action ring — while replacing its electromechanical scoring and control system with early computerized electronics. The underlying technology was the subject of U.S. Patent 4,198,051 ("Computerized Pin Ball Machine"), filed in 1975 and granted in 1980 to Bally executives Marion Bracha and William Englehardt, though by the time it issued the approach was already in wide use industry-wide and the patent went largely unenforced.

According to former Bally engineer Allan Reizman, the prototype languished in storage at Bally's facilities through the late 1970s and was briefly retrieved around 1980, likely for legal review tied to the patent, before returning to storage; its eventual fate is unknown. As a hand-built one-off rather than a released game, Boomerang stands as a rare physical record of Bally's early solid-state research rather than a catalog title.