Meet the royal court — Bally’s 4 Queens is an electromechanical single-player designed by the prolific Jim Patla with art by the incomparable Christian Marche, whose bold, stylish illustration gave so many machines of the era their unmistakable look. With reel scoring and a confirmed run of 1,256, it’s a handsome woodrail-era piece with a genuinely distinctive feature that defines the whole game: zipper flippers.
Those zipper flippers are the machine’s signature, and they demand real strategy. When active, they close together to reduce the drain gap, but they change the whole rhythm of play. The seasoned wisdom is that the center hole is very valuable, and a ball cradled dead-center between the zipper flippers gives you the most reliable, repeatable crack at it — a satisfying bit of controlled play. But there’s danger, too: you have to stay observant of the ball’s position when the zipper flippers are active, because it’s entirely possible to shoot the ball straight into the outlane if you aren’t careful. That risk-reward tension gives the game a distinctive edge. Rounding out the playfield are three pop bumpers, four mushroom bumpers, two slingshots, two kick-out holes, and two standups.
4 Queens is a fun, characterful example of Patla’s design and Marche’s showstopping artwork, with those zipper flippers making it a genuinely distinctive play among its EM peers. That mechanism turns ball control into a real skill, rewarding a player who learns to work the center hole while respecting the outlane danger. For the collector who loves the golden age of EM pinball and its clever mechanical wrinkles, it’s a rewarding find. Master the zipper flippers, work that center hole, and mind the outlanes. The royal court favors the player with a steady, careful touch. Long live the queens.