Play NYC's Only Vintage Pinball 1870s-1970s
Located in the back room of Seaborne: 228 Van Brunt St, Brooklyn, New York
Irregular Hours -- check Instagram and events below for more details
Contact : [email protected] / (+1) 650-224-0133
Check our Instagram for updates
@RedHookPinballMuseum
February 7, 2025 : Grand opening! 7PM - Late
Majorettes is a classic Gottlieb design from Wayne Neyens and Roy Parker! Made solely as an Add-a-Ball model with no replay counterpart,
this game features 10 bumpers, free floating flippers, two snappy kick-out holes, and 8 rollover lanes. An interesting design feature is the
lower kick-out hole, allowing for “Lazarus” type saves from below the flippers. This game is truly a classic, and one of the most desired Add-a-Balls
of all time! 425 Produced
One of 2 games ever made to feature a carousel style “roto-target”, this game is considered one of the best card themed games ever produced
by Gottlieb. This game was also one of the first to feature an automatic ball lift, replacing the manual ball lift on older games such as “Majorettes”.
While some cards are in difficult places to aim for, the roto-target offers players additional chances to collect them! Filled with many rollovers,
crisp pop bumpers, and a whirling roto target, Diamond Jack offers a fun and unique experience for all levels! Come down and play today! 650 Produced
The rarest game to ever leave the Gottlieb production line! This Add-a-Ball model was designed specifically for New York pinball distributor, John Bilotta.
Also notable was that this was the first game to feature an end-of-ball bonus! Upon draining the ball, a complex series of moving components work
together to give you extra points based on how well you played! This underrated gem features 2 ripping spinners, three powerful pop bumpers,
and an array of stand-up targets give the player many different ways to advance laps and add to their bonus, earning extra balls! 110 Produced
Drop targets galore! Two banks of 10 drop-down targets make Dimension's 20 drops the most of any pinball machine to-date! While the “replay” counterpart
to this game, 2001, does not reset the drop target banks upon completion, this Add-a-Ball model allows for multiple completions throughout the game. When a
whole side is completed, a skilled shooter can add up to 10 extra balls before draining by shooting the lit red WOW targets. With a wide flipper gap, rare upper playfield slingshots, and drop
targets galore, this game provides a challenging and fast paced Add-a-Ball experience! Come down to the Red Hook Pinball Museum and test your mettle against one of the
greatest and most difficult Add-a-Balls of all time! 490 Produced
Replay machines: award replays (free games)
Add-a-Ball machines: award extra balls
Since the introduction of coin-operated pinball in 1931 with Automatic Industries’ Whiffle, players were awarded cigars, cash, or replays (free games)
for completing certain objectives or reaching high scores. Replay credits could be cashed in with a bartender or clerk, which some considered a form of gambling.
As a result, New York City Mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, banned pinball in 1942 and many other cities followed suit. To evade this law, Alvin Gottlieb invented the Add-a-Ball
concept, first realized by expert Gottlieb designer Wayne Neyens in the 1960 game Flipper. Rather than free games, Add-a-Ball machines award the skilled player
extra balls for completing certain objectives or reaching score thresholds. This extends the gameplay and makes high scores, rather than free games, the main objective.
Gottlieb continued to produce Add-a-Ball games until the end of the electro-mechanical era in 1979. Many playfield designs have both a replay and an Add-a-Ball version,
the Add-a-Ball produced in lesser quantities for jurisdictions where winning replays was illegal. The rules vary between the models, with Add-a-Ball games often allowing
features to reset to earn additional balls: Dimension’s drop targets reset while in 2001, its replay cousin, they do not; Diamond Jack’s card sequence resets while King of Diamonds’
does not; etc. Art and theme also vary between the replay and Add-a-Ball models, making each unique. Add-a-Ball games tend to be more rare and collectable, and are a unique
intersection of New York and pinball history! [The pinball ban wasn’t overturned until the famous 1976 Manhattan City Council hearing, during which Roger Sharpe demonstrated
that pinball is a game of skill, not chance, and should not be subject to legal prohibitions on gambling. Following Sharpe’s demonstration the council voted unanimously to lift the
existing ban on pinball.]
Tip: Add-a-Ball machines are identifiable by their backglasses, which show numbers 1-10 labelled “Balls to Play”. The machines count down from ball 5, with the ability to add
extra balls, up to 10 at any given time. In contrast, replay machines display the “Ball in Play” counting up from 1 to 5, with earned replays shown on a separate reel.
Foreign Facts: Gottlieb produced special export models of many Add-a-Ball machines for the lucrative Italian market. Italian gambling prohibitions of the era were even more strict
than New York’s, and earning 5 or more extra balls was considered the same as winning a replay. Gottlieb found a surreptitious way to sneak the Add-a-Ball feature under the radar.
Take a look at the Dimension backglass: on the Italian export model, Galaxie, there are no “Balls to Play” lights. Instead, one of the five stars above the woman’s face lights for each extra
ball, up to five at any time. This clever concealment of the Add-a-Ball feature was enough to evade legal suspicion while still rewarding the skilled player.
Wesley seeing that hard work pays off!
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