Sources
Contributors to this record: Flipcommons AI Descriptions (Manufacturer), Flipcommons Catalog.
- description
- Flipcommons AI Descriptions (Manufacturer)Bally Wulff — today Bally Wulff Games & Entertainment GmbH — is a German maker of *Geldspielgeräte*, the money-prize gaming machines of the German market, with both its headquarters and its factory in [[location:germany/be/berlin]].[1] The company was founded in 1950 by [[person:gunter-wulff]] as Günter Wulff Apparatebau,[2] and reckons itself among the country's leading and most influential gaming-machine manufacturers.[3] For roughly two decades it belonged to the American pinball and slot-machine giant [[manufacturer:bally]], which took over Günter Wulff Apparatebau and renamed it Bally Wulff.[4] It stayed under Bally's ownership from the early 1970s until 1991, when Bally, paying down debt, spun the German subsidiary back out as an independent company.[5] Almost the whole of Bally Wulff's footprint in pinball belongs to those Bally years. As the group's German arm it built licensed, German-market editions of [[corporate-entity:bally-midway-manufacturing-company]]'s [[technology-generation:solid-state]] [[game-format:pinball]] machines — its *[[model:eight-ball-champ-bally-wulff]]* of *[[title:eight-ball-champ]]*, its *[[model:party-animal-bally-wulff]]* of *[[title:party-animal]]*, and likewise *[[title:motordome]]*, *[[title:beat-the-clock]]*, *[[title:cybernaut]]* and *[[title:lady-luck]]* — each finished in Berlin under a cabinet legend reading "Produced by: Bally Wulff, Berlin, West Germany under Licence of Bally Midway Mfg Company, USA".[6] Bally Wulff's own *[[model:fireball-classic-bally-wulff]]*, its edition of Bally Midway's 1985 Fireball Classic, is noted in the databases simply as "made in Germany under license from Bally Midway".[7] A handful of titles the Berlin house reworked more openly, printing fresh backglasses in its own screen-printing shop. Bally Midway's *[[title:special-force]]* was reissued as *[[model:special-force-girls]]* with new artwork after its American backglass was judged too militaristic — a decision designer [[person:dennis-nordman]] later recounted[8] — and its *[[title:hardbody]]*, which Bally Wulff sold as *[[model:hardbody-bally-wulff]]*, was rebadged again as *[[model:super-sport]]* with its bodybuilder pin-up redrawn more modestly after operators complained, in a switch a Bally Wulff advertisement announced under the line "Less sex in the game".[9] The replacement art was the work of Berlin artist [[person:mychael-gerstenberger]].[10] After Bally's exit the firm changed hands again — to the Schmidt Group in 2007 and to the Czech gaming company APEX in 2022.[11] It never returned to pinball, and it remains one of Germany's foremost gaming-machine makers, still headquartered in Berlin[12] with additional operations in Spain.[13]
- website
- https://www.ballywulff.de/Flipcommons Catalog
- name
- Bally WulffFlipcommons Catalog
- status
- activeFlipcommons Catalog
- slug
- bally-wulffFlipcommons Catalog
Citations
- Wikipedia — https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Wulff
Die Bally Wulff Games & Entertainment GmbH ist ein deutscher Hersteller von Geld-Gewinn-Spiel-Geräten mit Firmen- und Produktionssitz in Berlin
- Wikipedia — https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Wulff
Unter dem Namen Günter Wulff Apparatebau wurde das Unternehmen im Jahr 1950 von Günter Wulff (1912–1980) [...] in Berlin mit einem Anfangskapital von 500,00 DM gegründet
- BALLY WULFF — https://www.ballywulff.de/unternehmen
Seit über 7 Jahrzehnten steht BALLY WULFF für zukunftsweisende Geldspielgeräte und bahnbrechende Spielehighlights [...] behaupten uns seit jeher als einer der führenden und einflussreichsten deutschen Hersteller
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Manufacturing
The company expanded internationally in 1974 when it acquired German company Guenter Wulff-Apparatebau, which was renamed Bally Wulff.
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Manufacturing
To pay down debts, German subsidiary Bally Wulff was spun off into an independent company in 1991
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #4518
Produced by: Bally Wulff, Berlin, West Germany under Licence of Bally Midway Mfg Company, USA
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #4544
Same as US model, Bally Midway's 1985 'Fireball Classic', but made in Germany under license from Bally Midway.
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #3270
'Special Force Girls' is the same game as Bally Midway's 1986 'Special Force' but with a different backglass. Dennis Nordman said Bally Wulff imported this game from the USA and put their own backglass on it because the USA backglass art was deemed too military. [...] printed at Bally Wulff's own screen printing department in Berlin, and then assembled into the original U.S. machines in Berlin.
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #6105
This is the same game as Bally Wulff's 1987 'Hardbody' but with a different backglass that shows the women wearing more clothing. [...] a Bally Wulff ad (shown here) is titled "Less sex in the game"
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #3270
The artist of this backglass is Mychael Gerstenberger from Berlin.
- Wikipedia — https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Wulff
Seit 2022 gehört Bally Wulff zur Gruppe um den tschechischen Geld-Gewinn-Spiel-Geräte Hersteller Apex Gaming davor seit 2007 zur Schmidt-Gruppe
- BALLY WULFF — https://www.ballywulff.de/unternehmen
behaupten uns seit jeher als einer der führenden und einflussreichsten deutschen Hersteller [...] 1 Firmenzentrale in Berlin
- Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Manufacturing
Former subsidiary Bally Wulff remains a gaming and vending equipment manufacturer in Germany, with additional operations in Spain