Eight Ball

Eight Ball was a Physical Pinball Table designed by George Christian. Released by Bally in 1977, it set a new record for the industry with 20,230 tables sold, a threshold that was only surpassed by The Addams Family nearly fifteen years later.

As one of Bally’s early solid-state pinballs, Eight Ball was groundbreaking for being able to track the progress of each player via software. Targets would reset for each player based on their earlier state, preventing players from “stealing” the work of others. Eight Ball followed the rules of pool in the pinball game, requiring players to sink the seven balls of their type (solids or stripes) before shooting the eight ball for the jackpot.