Arlington

Arlington, released by Bell Products Company of Chicago in February 1944, is a World War II conversion game: a reworking of Bally's 'Fairmont' rather than an original design. During the war, government restrictions halted new pinball manufacturing, so companies like Bell Products refreshed existing machines with new artwork and titles to give operators something 'new' to put on location.

It is a single-player electro-mechanical payout machine, consistent with its origins in Bally's line of gambling-style one-ball games. As with most wartime conversions, detailed documentation is scarce, and Bell Products itself operated only from 1943 to 1944.

Arlington's interest today lies less in its gameplay than in what it represents: the resourcefulness of the coin machine trade during the war years, when conversions kept routes stocked while the factories were devoted to war production.