Bally Mata Hari, Vintage Pinball Machine, 1978 Prototype

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Bally Mata Hari, Vintage Pinball Machine, 1978 Prototype

About the Item

Make: Bally Date of built: April, 1978 Designer: Jim Patla Artwork: Dave Christensen Number made: 16.260 Origin: Hamburg, Germany Jim Patla said that this was his favourite "own" design of all time. A Classic, popular gorgeous game which was a huge title fot Bally in the late 1970s. One of the most popular vintage pinball machines of all time, with a production run of 16.260 units. Iconic artwork by a remarkable, yet controversial, artist by the name of Dave Christensen. He created a glamorous back glass showing the infamous Mata Hari who was accused of spying for Germany in the 1st World War and wascduly exectuted by a French firing squad in 1917. Dave Christensen's style is very unique and one can often spot tiny details in the artwork often years after looking at it for the first time. The machine offers a beautiful combination of artwork and colours along with a very addictive, fast game play (shooting those loops over and over again is simply awesome). Four pop bumpers, eight drop targets and a kick out hole. The charming sounds are provided by a chime unit. This is an ultra rare prototype version of Mata Hari pinball. It has a plastic playfield which was tested in arcades for wear versus wood. It was dropped as production costs proved very high and also because it proved very time consuming to print. Bally produced around 10 to 20 of these games back in 1977 prior to mass production starting in 1978. Only three other pinball machines of Mata Hari prototype are listed in the World. We assume no more than four-five still exist if that. This model also has the very rare back glass which differs in one detail compared to the mass produced glasses: it features this dubious Nazi engraving on the dagger of Mata Hari in the bottom left corner. When Bally found out what this actually meant they immediately stopped the production and changed the artwork. Apart from this game is another "one off" The cabinet has been fully restored to original colors using the original stencils. All external metal work has been chromed to a very high finish. Most of the internal metal parts have been zinc plated. The playfield has been repainted by hand and airbrushed. All lettering was renewed as well. Finally it has been lacquered with 15 layers and polished to a high end finish. The rare back glass is mint without any scratches nor any faded colors. It has been rebuilt with all new mechanical parts: new boards, new connectors, new lamp holders, new plastics, new targets, bumpers completely rebuilt, stronger flipper coils, new star posts, new flippers (...) It looks and feels like new and maybe plays even better than new as modern boards allow for faster memory speed and snappier reactions.

Creator:
Jim Patla (Designer),Dave Christensen (Artist)
Dimensions:
Height: 71.65 in (182 cm)Width: 30.31 in (76.99 cm)Depth: 53.15 in (135.01 cm)
Place of Origin:
North America
Period:
1970-1979
Date of Manufacture:
1978
Condition:
Seller Location:
Saarbruecken, DE
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU311239006511