Pinball manufacturers history, who bought out who?
David Deturck
Regarding Bally/Williams:
I know pins (certainly 90's pins) have been made in the same factory but the one pin under the name of Bally and the other pin under
the name of Williams. Has it always been like this?
I know Bally started in 1931, Williams in 1944.
Was Williams some kind of a sister company?
Or did they end up together after a while? When, and what was the reason?
Regarding Gottlieb:
They were always single, no? When did Gottlieb stop to produce pins? What was there last one?
Regarding Data East/Sega:
Data East started and was bought out by Sega? When did Sega stop to produce pins? What was there last one?
Regarding Stern:
When did they start producing pins? Where they always alone?
Did they have a break or have they been always active since they started?
Kind Regards,
David
Lloyd Olson
http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl and of course you can check old posts here
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&group=rec.games.pinball . LTG :)
David Deturck <willy.det...@pandora.be> wrote in message
news:oIS5a.10394$Dj1.2019477670@hestia.telenet-ops.be...
metallik
the end of Bally as a seperate pinball company.
Gottleib was around til the mid 90's.. they were the ones behind the "Premier"
line of pins. Alvin left (unsure of details why) in the early 90's and made
his own company, Alvin G & Co., that didn't do so well.
Stern came and went in the early 80s.. Data East came along in the late 80's
(did they buy assets of the old Stern?) .. they got bought out by Sega in '94
or so and re-bought out by Gary Stern in 2000.
Thats the short and likely slightly inaccurate version.. I'm sure someone has
better details to follow :)
Dr. Dave
they were bought out by Data East who was then bought out by Sega who was
most recently bought out by Sam Stern's son, Gary, who renamed company Stern
Pinball Inc.
Here's some greater detail about it:
Gary Stern is a second generation pinball manufacturer. His father, the
legendary Sam Stern, owned and was the moving force behind Williams
Electronics beginning in 1947. Gary worked at Williams during his school
summer vacations, and after a period of practicing law joined Williams
full-time in 1973. From 1976 until 1984 Gary and his father ran Stern
Electronics, a pinball, video game, and jukebox manufacturer formed out of
the purchase of Chicago Coin.
After a meeting at Gary's house in 1987, Data East's Mr. T.
Fukuda, Joe Kaminkow (then Executive Vice President of Engineering), and
Shelley Sax (J.O.A.T.) made the commitment for Data East to fund a new
pinball company. In 1993 Sega acquired the company.
Sega sold its pinball division to Gary in the fall of 1999, and Stern
Pinball segued into its current incarnation. Since then, Gary and his team
have built Harley Davidson, Striker Xtreme, South Park, Sharkey's Shootout,
High Roller Casino, and Austin Powers; South Park was voted Best Pinball of
the Year by Play Meter Magazine in 1999. Said Gary, "I have spent my
business life learning the pinball manufacturing business and making
pinballs. I intend to continue."
Gary Stern is a second generation pinball manufacturer. His father, the
legendary Sam Stern, owned and was the moving force behind Williams
Electronics eginning in 1947. Gary worked at Williams during his school
summer vacations, and after a period of practicing law joined Williams
full-time in 1973. From 1976
DR
http://home.attbi.com/~davesarcade/
(Click on "Photos")
"metallik" <meta...@fuse.tilt.net> wrote in message
news:3e57fd34$0$49465$a046...@nnrp.fuse.net...
Dr. Dave
they were bought out by Data East who was then bought out by Sega who was
most recently bought out by Sam Stern's son, Gary, who renamed company Stern
Pinball Inc.
Here's some greater detail about it:
Gary Stern is a second generation pinball manufacturer. His father, the
legendary Sam Stern, owned and was the moving force behind Williams
Electronics beginning in 1947. Gary worked at Williams during his school
summer vacations, and after a period of practicing law joined Williams
full-time in 1973. From 1976 until 1984 Gary and his father ran Stern
Electronics, a pinball, video game, and jukebox manufacturer formed out of
the purchase of Chicago Coin.
After a meeting at Gary's house in 1987, Data East's Mr. T.
Fukuda, Joe Kaminkow (then Executive Vice President of Engineering), and
Shelley Sax (J.O.A.T.) made the commitment for Data East to fund a new
pinball company. In 1993 Sega acquired the company.
Sega sold its pinball division to Gary in the fall of 1999, and Stern
Pinball segued into its current incarnation. Since then, Gary and his team
have built Harley Davidson, Striker Xtreme, South Park, Sharkey's Shootout,
High Roller Casino, and Austin Powers; South Park was voted Best Pinball of
the Year by Play Meter Magazine in 1999. Said Gary, "I have spent my
business life learning the pinball manufacturing business and making
pinballs. I intend to continue."
DR
http://home.attbi.com/~davesarcade/
(Click on "Photos")
"metallik" <meta...@fuse.tilt.net> wrote in message
news:3e57fd34$0$49465$a046...@nnrp.fuse.net...
David Deturck
Everything has become a lot clearer now!
Tanx Loyd for the links,
Tanx Metallic for the short summary
Tanx Dr.dave for the detailed stern/sega/DE info
Tanx Russ Jensen for the detailed Bally/Williams info
Kind Regards,
David
Fred Kemper
Last DE was MAVERICK
Last *real Bally* was BLACKWATER 100
From the IPB:
Fred
TX
CARGPB#8
******************
"David Deturck" <willy.det...@pandora.be> wrote in message news:oIS5a.10394$Dj1.2019477670@hestia.telenet-ops.be...
> I have a few questions regarding the history of the pinball manufacturers, especially Bally/Williams.
> Was Williams some kind of a sister company?
Fred Kemper
_*IPD_ - *Internet Pinball Database
--
******************
"Fred Kemper" <pbga...@davlin.net> wrote in message news:b3a1e...@enews4.newsguy.com...
David Marston
David Deturck <willy.det...@pandora.be> wrote:
>I have a few questions regarding the history of the pinball manufacturers,
>especially Bally/Williams.
>
>Regarding Bally/Williams:
>I know pins (certainly 90's pins) have been made in the same factory but the
>one pin under the name of Bally and the other pin under
>the name of Williams. Has it always been like this?
>
>I know Bally started in 1931, Williams in 1944.
>Was Williams some kind of a sister company?
>Or did they end up together after a while? When, and what was the reason?
At recent Expos, it was revealed that WMS had to get separate approval from
Bally Gaming for *each* pinball they made that carried the Bally logo. You
might recall Bally of the early 1980s was a recreation/coin-op/casino
conglomerate, and they later split up. Midway and Bally Gaming were two
business units that got spun off. WMS bought Midway but Bally Gaming was
the owner of the famous logo. To make Midway more attractive for the
acquirer, Bally Gaming licensed Midway to use the Bally logo for pinball
only, evidently with rights of approval. Bally Gaming continues in
business. Midway has been pretty much obliterated step-by-step.
>Regarding Gottlieb:
The Gottlieb family sold their company to Columbia Pictures Industries in
1977. Later, that business unit got spun off, and Premier Technology was
formed to acquire it. Alvin Gottlieb was able to compete after some time
period, but the assignment of the "Gottlieb" brand name was permanent.
>Regarding Data East/Sega:
>Data East started and was bought out by Sega? When did Sega stop to produce
>pins? What was there last one?
This is trickier than it seems. I haven't been able to confirm whether the
assets of Stern Electronics (SEI) were totally dissipated by the time Gary
Stern and his associates started their new pinball company in 1986-87.
SEI had acquired the Chicago Coin assets. The new company was set up as
a separate corporation, making it a transferable business unit. At first,
Data East was an investor and handled the connection to the distributors,
and the company was called Data East Pinball. When Data East hit financial
problems, they transferred their role to Sega, and the business unit was
renamed Sega Pinball (SPI). Later, Sega decided they didn't want to be in
the pinball business, and Gary Stern worked out a deal to take over the
whole thing, renaming it Stern Pinball (still SPI). Note that Sega of
Japan had been a manufacturer of pinballs in the 1976-78 era, but very
few of those pins are seen in the Americas.
--
................David Marston at MV
David Gersic
> I have a few questions regarding the history of the pinball manufacturers, especially Bally/Williams.
>
> Regarding Bally/Williams:
Bally and Williams were separate companies. Back in the 1980s, Williams
bought the rights to use the Bally name to make pins. Bally was still in
business, doing the Bally health clubs and other ventures. Just the pinball
production was sold to Williams.
> Regarding Gottlieb:
> They were always single, no? When did Gottlieb stop to produce pins? What was there last one?
Gottlieb went through several gyrations, being independant (owned by the
Gottlieb family), sold to Premier, Columbia, etc. before dieing. Last game
was Barb Wire, if I recall correctly.
> Regarding Data East/Sega:
> Data East started and was bought out by Sega? When did Sega stop to produce pins? What was there last one?
>
> Regarding Stern:
> When did they start producing pins? Where they always alone?
These are related. They started as Chicago Coin. Stern bought out Chicago
Coin and renamed the company after himself. It was later sold to Data East,
renamed, sold to Sega, renamed again, and finally sold back to Gary Stern
and renamed back to Stern.
--
| David Gersic dgersic_@_niu.edu |
| What would chairs look like if our knees bent the other way? |
| Email address is munged to avoid spammers. Remove the underscores. |
David Deturck
Here's what I got, any corrections are more than welcome:
Bally:
Bally started producing pinball machines in 1931 till 1988. The name however still appeared till 1999 (see Williams).
Data East:
Data East bought out Stern in 1984. They produced pinball machines till 1994 when they were bought out by Sega Pinball Inc.
Gottlieb
The Gottlieb family sold their company to Columbia Pictures Industries in 1977. In 1994 that business unit got spun off, and
Premier Technology was formed to acquire it. Gottlieb stopped producing pinball machines on July 9th, 1996.
Sega Pinball Inc.:
Sega produced pins for the Japanese Market from 1972 till 1978.
In 1994 they restarted as Sega Pinball Inc, when they took over Data East.
Sega sold its pinball division to (Gary) Stern in the fall of 1999.
Stern Electronics/ Stern Pinball Inc.:
Stern Electronics bought Chicago Coin in 1976 and lasted until 1984 until they were bought out by Data East. Sega was bought out in
1999 by Stern's son, Gary, who renamed the company to Stern Pinball Inc.
Williams:
Williams started producing pins in 1944 till 1999.
In 1988 Williams bought the rights from Bally to sell pinballs under the name Bally. They also purchased their manufacturing
facilities and intellectual property as well.
Blackwater 100 (1988) was the last 100% Bally pin. Truck Stop was the first 'merge' of Bally and Williams.
Kind Regards,
David
metallik
> Coin and renamed the company after himself. It was later sold to Data East,
> renamed, sold to Sega, renamed again, and finally sold back to Gary Stern
> and renamed back to Stern.
So.. Stern is a Chicago Coin descendant...
Who woulda thunk that CC would outlast Bally, Williams and Gottleib? :)
Chris Engberg
1994 when they were bought out by Sega Pinball Inc.
This is from the IPDB
"....Pinstar, a company started and owned by Gary Stern between the collapse
of the 'original' Stern and the formation of Data East Pinball....."
So Data East did not buy Stern in 1984 and there was a time in between when
Pinstar was making conversion games like Bullseye 301 and Gamatron making
the Data East purchase come later around 86-87?
> Gottlieb
> The Gottlieb family sold their company to Columbia Pictures Industries in
1977. In 1994 that business unit got spun off, and
> Premier Technology was formed to acquire it. Gottlieb stopped producing
pinball machines on July 9th, 1996.
Also, the Colombia Pictures came and went from 77-83 after which Mylstar
began to produce games under the name Gottlieb. This only lasted till 1984
with only 6 games under their belt. After Mylstar came Premier which lasted
from 84-96.
All this came from looking at the IPDB.
Chris
Bob E.
>
> Tanx to everybody!! who responded.
>
> Here's what I got, any corrections are more than welcome:
>
> Stern Electronics bought Chicago Coin in 1976 and lasted until 1984
I think this sort of depends on your definitions...the last "official"
production game that the original Stern released was Orbitor 1, in
1982, but there is a date of 1984 on the prototype Lazer Lord (which
was apparently never released). --Bob
=======================================================================
Bob Ellingson bo...@halted.com
Halted Specialties Co., Inc. http://www.halted.com
3500 Ryder St. (408) 732-1573
Santa Clara, Calif. 95051 USA (408) 732-6428 (FAX)
Chris Engberg
stern Quicksilver, don't they look strikingly similar?
Chris
"Bob E." <bob...@halted.com> wrote in message
news:3E595817...@halted.com...
Craig Tiano
>I think this sort of depends on your definitions...the last "official"
>production game that the original Stern released was Orbitor 1, in
>1982, but there is a date of 1984 on the prototype Lazer Lord (which
>was apparently never released). --Bob
Anyone know why Orbiter-1 says "Stern SEEBURG" on it? How did that
happen?
Craig
Lloyd Olson
Craig Tiano <cr...@vandenplas.com> wrote in message
news:9j3j5vcdf7h4fdjjg...@4ax.com...
David Deturck
Could this thing be any more complicated...
David
"Lloyd Olson" <l...@ssbilliards.com> schreef in bericht news:Ztg6a.48373$rq4.3...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
Orin Day
Fred Kemper <pbga...@davlin.net> wrote:
>Last DE was MAVERICK
Well, for the triva-minded amongst us there were 6 Frankenstein games made
for the World Premiere with the DE logo on the backboxes. IIRC my game
had this (now property of Chris Hehman), I believe that John Borg, Neil
Falconer, and Joe Kaminkow also got games with these backboxes. That
leaves 2 remaining, don't know if they went to the licensor (Sony) for
eventual distribution or were shipped as sample games.
OD
--
Orin A. Day | "I
lobster | AM
@ | DYING!"
lobsterdevil.com | -- Jason Evans
Orin Day
David Deturck <willy.det...@pandora.be> wrote:
>Data East:
>Data East bought out Stern in 1984. They produced pinball machines till
>1994 when they were bought out by Sega Pinball Inc.
The above is incorrect. Stern was not purchased by DE. DE founded their
own new pinball division and hired many former Stern employees, many of
whom in turn worked for Gary's interim business venture, Pinstar. In fact
there are some Stern Pinball Inc. employees who started out at Chicago
Coin!!!
I am certain that it played out this way as DE did not have rights to any
of the former Stern intellectual property (per Gary himself) or toolings
(or at least we never had access to them). One would think that the
rights to the Stern video games would be worth something today.
>Sega Pinball Inc.:
>Sega produced pins for the Japanese Market from 1972 till 1978.
>In 1994 they restarted as Sega Pinball Inc, when they took over Data East.
Note that Sega already had a minority ownership in DE Pinball for several
years before this.
Maxx Bigart
And Bally owned Keeney
And Wlliams owned United.
And Atari made pins.
And Bally owned Midway
And Williams makes video slots.
And IGT was Bally
And who cares
Jeremy Wilson
says...
>I am certain that it played out this way as DE did not have rights to
any
>of the former Stern intellectual property (per Gary himself) or
toolings
>(or at least we never had access to them). One would think that the
>rights to the Stern video games would be worth something today.
Who owns that stuff? Gary?
--
Jeremy Wilson (xe...@inforamp.net) Classic Video / Pinball Collector
http://www.inforamp.net/~xeno/wallet | http://www.syslog.com/~jwilson