Bloody China
A conversion kit for Bally's 1978 'Strikes and Spares'. We previously showed the manufacturer to be Geiger-Automatenbau. However, Mr. Geiger had informed us in 2011 that he was not the manufacturer of this kit. He had bought a number of these backglasses in Luxembourg at an estate bankruptcy but he no longer remembers any details about them. At the time of this discussion, he said he had only these backglasses, no playfields or other parts. Subsequently, we received a flyer made by Geiger (shown here) and which shows a Bloody China playfield, indicating a converted game was sold by him. We asked him about this in 2021, showing him the flyer, and he vaguely remembered that he bought some playfields and plastics when he bought the backglasses but suspects the quantity of playfields he bought was significantly less than 10, along with buying some "Easy-Break-Plastic-Sets". One of the glasses pictured here was obtained from someone who had purchased it from A. Hankin & Company of Australia, a company who made pinball machines during 1978-1980. We don't know if Hankin made this glass or bought it from the same source as did Mr. Geiger. A full game located in Germany and pictured here has a backbox with identification from Bally's 1978 'Strikes and Spares' and a lower cabinet with identification from Bally's 1979 'Star Trek'. This supports our expectation that this conversion kit consists of only a backglass and playfield. The cabinet artwork shows Geiger's "G" insignia. This may mislead anyone to think that the kit maker was Geiger-Automaten. However, this artwork is actually a 5-piece set of sheet metal veneer sold separately by Geiger to cover any Bally cabinet of this period and that can be attached to the cabinet by the buyer using either screws or glue. On this same game from Germany, the playfield apron had been overpainted in black and there are words underneath the paint that can be discerned in our pictures. The left and right ends of the apron each indicate "PRESS BUTTON". The portion in the middle section appears to show: PLAY M _____ LUXEMBOURG Telephone 49 0262 but the owner could not see more without damaging the apron.
