Dixieland

Dixieland, designed by Ted Zale with artwork by Christian Marche, was manufactured by Bally in April 1968. This single-player electro-mechanical game celebrates New Orleans jazz - the playfield even references Basin Street - and a confirmed 1,800 units were produced. It belongs to Bally's family of zipper-flipper games, a signature Ted Zale mechanism in which the two flippers slide together to close the center drain.

The playfield is packed with features: zipper flippers, three pop bumpers, four mushroom bumpers, three slingshots, rollover buttons, a kick-out hole, and a mini-bagatelle built into the playfield. A left drop lane with a detour gate and a right drop lane fed by a gate in the mini-bagatelle add further variety, along with a right outlane ball return gate and a rebound skill shot. Spelling D-I-X-I-E-L-A-N-D in the backbox scores replays, and the lit letters carry over from game to game - a nice hook to keep players feeding in coins. Scoring tops out at 9,999 points, with a single bell and knocker providing the soundtrack.

Collectors may appreciate the game's documented quirks: Bally produced backglasses in both crystal glass and Plexiglas, and the game could be converted to add-a-ball operation via a factory relay kit that plugged into a jack on the motor board. With its jazz-age theme, mushroom bumpers, and zipper flippers, Dixieland is a fine example of Ted Zale's inventive late-1960s work at Bally.