Bally Alley

Bally Alley, released in November 1973, is not a pinball machine at all - it's a wall-mounted bowling light game played with a wireless radio remote control from a table, typically installed in bars. Manufactured by Bally, it awarded replays, featured a match number, and had a score-to-beat feature; the novelty version without those features was sold as Bally Lane.

What makes Bally Alley historically significant is its use of the Intel 4-bit 4004 microprocessor to control scoring and gameplay, reportedly the first use of a microprocessor in an amusement device. It was built as a demonstration project by Bally to show the potential of microprocessor-driven games, following in the footsteps of earlier electromechanical bowling light games made by Midway in the 1960s and early 1970s.

About 100 units were made in total, split roughly evenly between the replay-awarding Alley version and the non-replay Lane version, with the Alley outselling its counterpart. The game was designed to be played remotely via an RC radio transmitter, and while flyers depicted cabinet, wall, and pedestal styles, only the wall-mounted style is known to have actually shipped.