The actual Bally company began not as a slot machine company, but as a pinball developer. Raymond Moloney founded the Bally Manufacturing Corporation in 1932 in Chicago. The name came from its first product, the Ballyhoo. The Ballyhoo pinball. Bally developed the first electromechanical slot titled “Money Honey” in 1964; The very first video slot appeared in 1976 thanks to the Fortune Coin Co.; One of the most important years from WMS’s recent history is 1996 when they introduced Reel ‘Em, the first machine ever to include a second screen for the bonus round.
If you’re interested in slot machines, then it’s basically guaranteed that you’ll hear about Bally Gaming. Bally has an incredible legacy of innovative and exciting slots dating back to some of the earliest American slot machines.
While the Bally company has undergone several mergers and realignments, their excellence in slot machine design continues to this day.
This page focuses on free and live casino slots. You’ll find an assortment of online games available on our site to play for free, in addition to recommendations on games to play at a Bally casino near you.
If you’ve never played a Bally slot machine before, you’re in for a real treat! These are the cream of the crop when it comes to slots online and slot games in general.
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5 of the Most Popular Bally Slot Machines to Try
There are plenty of great Bally slot machines available with different styles to please any player. If you’re looking to try out a Bally machine, any one of the following should be a good choice.
#1. Monopoly Millionaire – One of Bally’s many board game-themed slots, Monopoly Millionaire is a perfect option for players looking for bonus games. This 40-line, 5-reel slot machine loads its normal spins with mystery spaces, chance symbols, surprise multipliers and a rare chance for any losing spin to turn into a $1,000,000 surprise jackpot. The bonus games are what really make the game shine. Triggering the bonus wheel lets players take a spin around the iconic Monopoly board to either win a cash payout or a play one of 4 loaded bonus games themed around the Railroad, Jail, Electric Company and Free Parking spaces. Participating casinos may have a wide-area progressive jackpot available as a prize in the Free Parking bonus game. Note, that not all casinos offer Monopoly Millionaire. If they don’t have it, they may have Monopoly 250K, which is the same game with a smaller surprise jackpot.
#2. Triple Cash Wheel – This slot machine is perfect for players who want to see all of the little bonus features that made Bally games great over the years. While the graphics are fairly simple, the game is unique due to its 3 separate sets of reels that each have 20 lines and 5 reels. This means that a full set of 60 lines and 15 reels are in play for each spin. Players can also win a Quick Hit jackpot on any normal spin and the bonus game includes a fun mystery pick minigame that can lead to Bally’s famous U-Spin wheel.
#3. Willy Wonka Slots – Willy Wonka Dream Factory is a real crowd-pleaser. This machine is themed around the beloved Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. To its credit, the game is absolutely loaded with sound and video clips from the film. Each candy-themed spin on this 40-line 5-reel game has a chance to trigger a re-spin feature or a jackpot minigame. On top of that, there are 3 free spin bonus games that can trigger. Lucky players get to watch the bonus cylinder at the top of the machine spin to determine which game they get to play. Each one features different twists on locking wilds.
#4. James Bond: Goldfinger – This is another Bally slot machine based on an iconic film, but the Goldfinger game is also a great option for players looking for a more pure slots experience. Featuring just 3 short reels, 9 lines, and classic 7s and bar symbols, this game is easy to follow and plays fast. There’s also a U-Spin bonus wheel that lucky players can spin to win big cash prizes, free spins or even progressive jackpots. While it’s a fun machine for most players, Bond fans should love the included theme music as well as the classic movie clips that play out over the reels.
#5. Hot Shot Inferno – This fiery addition to the Hot Shot series adds exciting bonus games to go along with the big progressive jackpots. This 5-reel 50-line slot machine may look old-fashioned due to the cherries, bars and 7s, but each spin is potentially packed with game-in-game bonuses. Lucky players can trigger miniature versions of different Triple Blazing 7s slots on the reels for bonus payouts. Hot Shot Inferno also includes an additional bonus wheel that can enhance the bonus games with extra spins, guaranteed wins or even trigger a progressive jackpot.
Features and Progressive Jackpots
Bally’s history of innovative design has added a number of fun bells and whistles to their slot machines.
One of their more striking developments is the now-famous U-Spin wheel. The U-Spin bonus game was originally an addition to the Cash Spin game. This seemingly simple development changed the bonus game to a game show-style digital wheel that sat on top of the reels.
Players could use the gesture controls to spin the wheel for a shot at the progressive jackpot with cash payouts and sets of free games as consolation prizes. Since then, the U-Spin wheel has been a recurring bonus game in many of Bally’s games.
Bally also hasn’t forgotten about the thrill of a progressive jackpot. They have actually worked on creating several different variations over the last few decades. Bally’s dedication to varied progressive jackpot systems started with the Thrillions system.
Beginning in 1999, this system was implemented into many of their licensed games, starting with Popeye, Betty Boop and Blondie slots. The system favored more frequent payouts of smaller amounts to literally spread the wealth. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t big payouts available.
Many Bally games can utilize traditional and wide-area progressive jackpots. The Red Envelope series, in particular, has a focus on community-linked jackpots.
Players looking for a Red Envelope game can keep an eye out for titles like Super Rise of Ra, Heavenly Riches and Fu Dao Le.
Bally’s most recent developments have been centered around greater availability for their existing games.
Under the leadership of Scientific Games, Bally’s slots are available in more advanced cabinets and multi-game units, which makes it easier than ever for casinos to stock all of the games that players want.
They’ve also focused on adapting games for mobile platforms as new laws allow more people to play slots without having to visit a casino.
Mobile Gaming Options – Casino Apps and Slots
Many of Bally’s classic games have already been adapted for convenient play on mobile devices. The only drawback is that many U-Spin games cannot support gesture control and only support pushing a spin button, which is slightly disappointing.
Interested players worldwide should be able to find free versions available on iOS and Android software. Thanks to developments in gambling laws, real money versions of Bally games may also be available.
If your country or state allows mobile gambling, you can look for Bally games in legitimate online casinos or online apps from land-based casinos.
3 Great Mobile Games from Bally
Lucky Tree – This Asian-themed slot machine features plenty of fun bonus features to add a little excitement to any break. With 5 reels and 30 lines, this smaller game fits well on mobile devices and the cute, stylized art is easy to follow. The Lucky Tree itself keeps each spin fun, as players watch for the gentle breeze that can drop new wild spaces onto any spin. The bonus round is also really fun. Players who trigger the Pick bonus get to tap on mystery spaces to reveal hidden animals. Getting a big set of the right animals can lead to a big bonus.
Cirque du Soleil Kooza – A fanciful game based on the costumes and designs of Cirque du Soleil. This machine offers a great mix of bonus games underneath its bright graphics. Players can enjoy action-packed spins that feature stacks of matching mystery symbols that can set up huge wins. The game offers two bonus features. Players can trigger a bonus box that can give them a cash prize or a spin on the bonus wheel, or they can simply trigger the bonus wheel directly. The bonus wheel can give players cash, free spins with multipliers or a shot at the jackpot wheel.
Quick Hit Platinum – Quick Hit Platinum is a fairly simple slot machine that’s great for players who want to settle in for a lot of spins. The game uses 30 lines and 5 reels, but the Quick Hit and Quick Hit Platinum symbols both offer ways to stack up small scatter wins to keep the game going. Aside from the two Quick Hit jackpots, players can also win sets of free spins with up to a 3x multiplier.
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Finding Bally Slots in the United States
If you’re interested in playing any of Bally’s great slot machines, then you can probably find them in a casino near you.
Many New Jersey and Pennsylvania casinos, including a still-standing Bally’s in Atlantic City, have some on display. Players looking for a specific machine at a land-based casino can contact the casino before their visit or check the location’s website.
A lot of casinos maintain a public list of the slot machines that are available. Some chains, such as Caesar’s, offer slot machine finders that can search across all of their locations for a specific machine.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania casino players can also take advantage of the relatively new addition of legal online slot machines.
New Jersey has multiple online casinos available with a range of Bally mobile slots available for play. Some New Jersey casinos also offer their own app or website to let players enjoy slots remotely.
While Pennsylvania online slots are still primarily limited to the state lottery’s app and website, operators are preparing to expand.
Interested players can keep an eye on Pennsylvania casinos or existing New Jersey online casinos to see if they are planning to expand.
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Bally’s Simple Beginnings
Bally Gaming can be traced all the way back to the Bally Manufacturing Corporation, which was founded by Raymond Moloney in Chicago in 1932. The company’s name came from its original product, a pinball machine called the Ballyhoo. The company wouldn’t make its first slot machine until 1936 when it developed and began production of the Bally Baby. This small mechanical slot machine laid the foundation for the Bally empire.
The next several decades would see Bally driving technological development in slot machine gaming. They made quite an impression with their Hi-Boy slot machine’s release in 1945. This game introduced the idea of the stand-alone “one-armed bandit” design and forged a path for larger and more complex machines. In 1964, they took the next big step with the Money Honey machine. Thanks to its incorporation of an electronic hopper and other components, the game could offer more complicated payouts and handle larger amounts of money than its purely mechanical competitors. With innovations like these, it’s no surprise that Bally found itself with a near-monopoly of the global slots market with nearly 90% of machines under their brand at the end of the 1960s.
Expansion, Buyouts and Hostile Takeovers
By this point, Bally was far removed from its humble beginnings. Raymond Moloney passed away in 1958, which triggered a few years of hardship for the business. A 1963 buyout and restructuring was the only thing that saved them from complete bankruptcy. Once the new Bally found its footing, they spent the 1970s and 1980s expanding into new markets.
In 1969, Bally purchased Midway Manufacturing to get a foothold in the growing video game market. While Bally’s attempt at a home gaming system, the Bally Professional Arcade, failed to grab a piece of the market, Midway would prove to be a valuable partner. With massive hits such as Space Invaders and Pac-Man, Midway dominated the arcade market for years. Bally would ultimately sell the Midway subdivision in 1988 to WMS.
In 1979, Bally moved into casino operations by building the Park Palace Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City. Their holdings grew as they purchased existing casinos such as the Las Vegas and Reno MGM Grand casinos and the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. While Bally was establishing a network of casinos, it also purchased the Six Flags amusement park chain and bought a chain of health clubs that it would use to form Bally Total Fitness.
Unfortunately for the company, all of this expansion proved exhausting and a round of financial trouble forced them to begin selling off pieces of the empire. By 1993, Bally Gaming was seeking a merger with WMS Industries to strengthen the company and renew its focus on slots. It would ultimately end up merging into the Alliance Gaming Corporation in 1996 following a hostile takeover attempt and a few years of negotiations. Bally remained as the Bally Gaming and Systems division of Alliance Gaming until 2006 when Alliance Gaming changed their name to Bally Technologies.
In 2014, Bally Technologies was purchased by Scientific Games. Scientific Games is a large company that grew through its innovation in the instant lottery market. They currently act as a large umbrella company that oversees several major slot machine divisions. This includes famous names like Barcrest and WMS. Scientific Games makes good use of its collected knowledge to continue driving development across all of its historic brands.