"A Short History of Pinball Promo Plastics"

  In the last twenty years, a new Pinball artifact has captured the fancy of a growing number of Silverball enthusiasts.   These pinball 'PROMOS' are really just extra pieces or scrap cut from the sheets of screened plastic used in the production of a given machine.   Ranging in complexity from simple little nondescript 'keychain' pieces to multicolor multi-piece 3-D assemblies, these items are fast becoming THE hot collectable among Pinball enthusiasts.
  What is the attraction with collecting these colorful slivers of plastic?   Since owning more than a handful of pinball machines tend to involve a rather large investment in storage space and money (not to mention the well being of one's marraige), perhaps it's the idea of owning original 'pieces' of many favorite, popular or rare games that gives us that 'pride of collection' satisfaction.
  Whereas promotional items such as flyers and posters are fairly common and widely available, promo plastics tend to be harder to 'score' requiring the collector to attend Industry trade shows, Pinball conventions, begging for help on R.G.P. and for the truly desperate...   spending insane amounts of money bidding on eBay auctions.

  Whatever the reason, collecting Promo Plastics is a fun, compact and essentially harmless micro-component of the larger hobby of PINBALL which is accessible to us all

In the beginning...

  Initially these pieces were created to 'label' the particular sheets of screened butyrate plastic used during the Playfield assembly of any given game. A good example is shown on page 134 of Roger Sharpe's excellent 1977 book PINBALL! (photo at right). William's best selling SPACE MISSION/SPACE ODYSSEY is the game and the 'labeling' keychain piece is clearly visible.

  You may wonder what happened to these pieces after game assembly.   Sometimes they were inserted in the game's Instruction Packet as a 'Key fob' goodie for the Operator who bought the machine but mostly they were discarded as scrap along with the leftover Butyrate sheet trimmings and very few examples of this type of plastic exist today.   You can imagine what a bonus it is to find a rare original Promo hiding inside the manual packet of an old game you just bought!   (It happens!)

  Over the years Promo Plastics were given away as 'souvenirs' at the annual Industry trade shows like the AMOA and ASI events or found their way into mailings the Manufacturers would send directly to Operators and Distributors.   Usually only one or two Promo pieces would be squeezed around the regular playfield plastics on a standard size butyrate sheet and only if the game Designer approved and the Artist had the time (and inclination) to draw them.

  On certain games these Artists found they had lots of extra space on the Playfield sheets and began creating new styles of pieces intended to be given away as Promotional goodies.   Some elaborate Promos have been created including 'Stand-Ups' like Bally's ELVIRA, BAD CATS and Data East's LAST ACTION HERO.

  A few machines were produced with a whole series of Promo Plastics.   Bally's GILLIGAN'S ISLAND went overboard (hah!) with 10 different pieces including mugshots of the entire TV cast (except Ginger!).   Bally's DOCTOR WHO starred all *seven* different TV 'Doctors' and this complete set of Plastics total a record 13 pieces!   Another example of Butyrate plastic 'excess' is demonstrated by William's ROLLERGAMES pinball with a dozen items which feature the various Skating Teams from the long gone and totally forgettable TV show.

  Even more impressive are the multi-piece "3-D" plastic assemblies like Bally's CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, JUDGE DREAD, ROADSHOW, CONGO, THE FLINTSTONES and the recent MEDIEVAL MADNESS.   These units are fairly common but still highly prized items as they look really cool assembled next to your computer!

  Sometimes Promo Plastics are created with useful intent.   The infamous 'bugs' found on Pat Lawlor's Bally design THE ADDAMS FAMILY were added to the butyrate sheets to be used as fixes for potential 'ball hangs' discovered during testing and development.   If you notice the 'Black Widow Spider' piece on top of the Trap Door (a ball hang!) you see a spot where Pat told his team to "put a bug on it"... problem solved!   Leftover 'bugs' such as the GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Palm Tree were not needed and instead were given away at various trade shows and pinball conventions.

  Some plastics intended to be used on the playfield ended up being given away as Promos when the design criteria changed.   Good examples of these are the large rear playfield 'background' plastic from Bally's DOCTOR WHO and the prototype version of the bookcase "sign" on THE ADDAMS FAMILY.   This latter piece is clearly visible on the front page of The Addam's Family brochure and was changed for the production run.

  Finally, a common recent variety of Promo Plastic is the 'Speaker Cutout'.   These pieces punched out of the butyrate plastic used for the left and right speaker grills were initially left blank until those clever Pinball Artist types began adding colorful drawings to what was otherwise scrap and a new category of Promo was born.   Two speakers per unit means there are twice as many 'cutouts' as machines made.   On games with large production runs such as THE ADDAM'S FAMILY where more than 23,000 games were created, this means there are some 46,000+ cutouts available... enough to go around! (Unless they got thrown away which happens more often than you think.   Try finding original Promos from the coveted Bally game ATTACK FROM MARS... Sad but true.)

  As you might expect with two cutouts per game, there are usually 'left' and 'right' variations.   The 'old' and 'new' style Corvette speaker cutouts from Bally's CORVETTE are a good example.   Sometimes only one design is used for both cutouts such as the pinball-wheeled racecar from Bally's INDY 500.   Certain eagle-eyed Plastics collectors (you know who you are) can identify Left and Right side versions of single design cutouts by the subtle 'border' markings.   A good example of single design 'variations' are these speaker cutouts from Capcom's BREAKSHOT.

  The 'Speaker Cutouts' style of plastics once produced by Capcom, Alvin G. and Williams/Bally are no longer being made (outside of reproductions) since new Stern games feature a simple routed wood speaker panel design.   Back in the day, Data East/Sega used molded plastic speaker grill assemblies off and on since LASER WAR.  And in thier latter years Williams/Bally switched to simpler and more cost effective 'generic' Speaker grills (beginning with JOHNNY MNEMONIC) and then finally their revolutionary 'PINBALL 2000' series featured metal speaker grills as part of their radical new cabinet design.

  Starting in the late 1990's, Williams/Bally used CAD programs to create their plastics layouts and these efficient systems often managed to squeeze TWO complete sets of playfield plastics from each standard Butyrate sheet, leaving little to no room for frivolous things like keychain pieces.   That leaves the possibilty of only half as many promos available as machines made!   This solo item from Bally's MONSTER BASH is likely one example of this austerity program.

 Much has changed for good and bad in the world of Pinball since I first wrote this article over ten years ago.  The vaunted Williams/Bally company ceased pinball production in 2001.   Gary Stern took over the Sega pinball division in 1999 and is now the *only* American pinball manufacturer left, producing games once again under the time honored STERN family name.  Fortunately for us Promo collectors, most of the 3 to 5 new Stern games produced each year (so far!) contain at least one promo or keychain plastic and in the case of the Steve Ritchie designed ELVIS pinball, they included TWELVE admittedly tiny but nonetheless fun and collectable promo pieces with each game!  Go Stern!

  Recently, a remarkable aftermarket for replacement pinball parts has steadily grown including complete reproduction plastic sets for the most popular games.  These often include replica keychain plastics as well, though sometimes the makers create completely new promo pieces to go with their offerings.  Rest assured there's a place for all these items in the world of Plastix Collecting but distinctions should be made as to the differences (and corresponding values!) between original and aftermarket items.   A good example are these keychains from Bally's very popular KISS game, with the original and aftermarket keychain pieces shown side by side.

  The piece on the left is a 30 year old Original and quite valuable, while the item on the right is from the aftermarket set that the Illinois Pinball Company currently sells.   In addition to the obvious shaped cutout differences, the aftermarket pieces are usually 'laser cut' with crisp clean edges and often boast protective coatings on both sides that are easily peeled off.   The originals are 'stamped' cut with rougher edges and feature die marks and no protective coatings.

  At the 1990 Pinball Expo in Chicago, "DangerDann" Frank showed up with a RAPID FIRE pinball headbox converted into a portable display case filled with his collection of promo plastics.  This first public display of the cool collectables associated with pinball helped create a newfound awareness of promotional pinball goodies and inspired others to gather and catalog the various promo items produced over the years.   With the help of these enthusiastic collectors Dann has just released the latest 5.0 version of the P2C2 list detailing over 500 promo plastics!

  The P2C2 group is an informal gaggle of dedicated Pinheads who get together a few times a year at conventions and trade shows to talk shop, trade plastics, drink beer and play a lot of pinball!   Charter Members of the P2C2 include pinball hobbyists, route operators and industry veterans such as Ted Estes, Dino Danieli, Dean St. Antoine, Jim Belsito, Gary & Nancy Stathatos, Tim Arnold, Stan Stolfus, Brad Martinson, Dean Grover, Mark Guidarelli, Heidi Conlan and Sam Harvey... to name but a few.   Membership is restricted to anyone who wants to join and enjoys playing pinball and collecting promos!   There are no dues, no clubhouse, no secret handshakes (not yet anyway)... just the love of the 75 year old American Institution that is PINBALL.

  The popularity and collectability of Promo Plastics continues to grow among the pinball fraternity, especially with the Pingame Journal's spectacular annual "Plastics" issue chock full of cool Promos!   Special recognition goes to PgJ Editor Jim Schelberg for helping spread "Plastics Fever" with his unselfish distribution of these items and we encourage everyone interested in Pinball to subscribe to this fine publication.   (Do it in time for the next "plastics" issue!)

  To see nearly every WILLIAMS and BALLY Promo Plastic ever made, check out Ted Estes' comprehensive WMS Games collection!

  And yes if you're looking to TRADE or even (gasp!) SELL promo plastix we're always looking for spares and especially those items we don't have!  Be sure and visit our PLASTIX WANTED page and let's talk trade!

  And if you're in the market to BUY Promo Plastix and other cool pinball Collectables go visit Harold Balde's extensive site and peruse his wide selection.

  Most items depicted on this page were snagged from the world's most extensive plastix inventory... The HOUSE OF PINBALL Collection based in Scottsdale, Arizona.   Images were imported using various scanners at 24-bit resolution before being compressed and transparentized.   New and previously unknown Pinball Keychain Plastix and related Pinball promotional items are encouraged to be submitted for inclusion in future upgrades of this site.   Please send pix of what ya got to the P2C2 Scanmaster.   Of course Credit will be given for all Promos and Source information used on these pages.

Legal Stuff

  The Images contained on these pages fall under currently accepted 'Fair Use' standards concerning noncommercial reproduction of Intellectual Properties and Trademarked/Copyrighted material.   We urge our visitors to Please respect the ownership rights of the parties involved and *don't* misuse the Images and descriptions contained herein.

For the Record...

  'Bally' and 'Williams' trademarks relating to pinball are now owned by The Pinball Factory.

  'Capcom' trademarks relating to pinball are now owned by Illinois Pinball Co. 

  'Stern', 'Sega' and 'Data East' trademarks relating to pinball are now owned by STERN, Inc.

  'Gottlieb' trademarks relating to pinball are now owned by The Pinball Resource.

Footnote #1... Plastics purists will point out that JOHNNY MNEMONIC prototypes and sample games did indeed have Speaker Cutouts... however they were *not* printed and who cares about collecting blank plastic circles anyway?  And yes, SAFECRACKER did come out later but was in a smaller cabinet which used the old speaker style... so there.

Footnote #2...  This efficient cost-cutting move was spawned by their new CAD drafting system and precision laser cutting machines allowing closer tolerances than the old plastics punch presses allowed.   To their credit the addition of extra 'slingshot' plastics to the butyrate sheet design (instead of promos) and included with each game was a thoughtful consideration for any game owner who's had to replace a broken slingshot piece.

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