Who invented the pinball machine?

Dear chef9,

Pinball experts generally agree that the first pinball machine was
"Whiffle". Though the person who invented it is not known by name, the
date and the company responsible for the invention are undisputed: The
year was 1931, the company was "Automatic Industries, Inc.", a small
games manufacturing company in Youngstown, Ohio. So Automatic
Industries can be regarded the inventor of pinball machines.
Later the same year, two other pinball pioneers hit the market with
their versions of coin-operated pinball boards: "In & Out-Door Games
Company Inc." from Chicago presented their "Whoopee", and David
Gottlieb and his family, also resident in Chicago, built "Baffle
Ball".

To see pictures of "Whiffle" and "Baffle Ball", please visit this
website:

The Penny Arcade Website: First Pinball Machines, by Wayne Namerow,
1999-2002
http://www.pinballhistory.com/pinfirsts.html

Source:

Cigar Aficionado: Flipper Fantasy - Collecting Pinball Machines
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/Aficionado/Archives/199609/fr996.html

Search terms used:
"first pinball machine" invented:
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=%22first+pinball+machine%22+invented&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=
"Automatic Industries" whiffle:
://www.google.de/search?q=%22Automatic+Industries%22+whiffle&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=de&meta=

Hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor

Hello,

I wasn't able to come up with anything concrete regarding who invented
the pinball machine. I did find something though:

"It seems that the unforgettable legendary figure (whose name I
forget) who invented pinball lived next door to the unforgettable
legendary figure who invented another popular ball game, namely
bowling."

http://rinkworks.com/lights/

Hopefully another researcher will be able to better assist you.

tisme-ga

Taken from http://www.dyz.com/phones/multiphone.html
"THE SHYVERS MULTIPHONE
The Multiphone was invented in the late 1930s by the man who also
invented pinball machines. His company flourished in the
Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton (Washington State) area during the 1940s and
1950s."

But searching on Shyvers reveals that he really was just the first to
invent a "Score Totalizer".  Taken from
http://www.magic-circus.fr/english/and_much_eng/russ_janseen_editoriol/HARRY.TXT
"I next asked Harry about another early game designer, Ken
Shyvers from Seattle, whom Dick Bueschel was interested in
finding out about.  He said that Ken was a very good designer,
and that he designed the first "score totalizer" in conjunction
with Lyn Durrant around 1936.  (When I later told Dick Bueschel
about this he told me he had the patent for it!)  Harry went on
to say that Ken also designed CANNON FIRE for Mills and then
remarked that Ken sold his designs on a royalty basis."



I guess you first need to answer "What feature set defines a pinball
machine?"

Extracted from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpinball.htm
"Bally Hoo" was the first coin-operated pinball game, it was
introduced in 1931, invented by Raymond Maloney who founded the Bally
Corporation. However, the term "pinball" was not used until 1936.

So again, it all depends on what feature set you are looking for.  You
could go back as early as the 1700-1800's and still find games that
look like pinball.