Throw it and watch it come back — Bally’s Boomerang is an electromechanical four-player wrapped in an adventure theme of faraway peoples and places, designed by the prolific Jim Patla with art by the great Christian Marche, whose bold, stylish illustration gave so many machines of the era their unmistakable look. With reel scoring and a confirmed run of 2,585, it’s a handsome, feature-rich woodrail-era piece.
The strategy centers on a lucrative center spinner. The core wisdom is to shoot that center spinner all day long — it can be reached from either flipper, making it a wonderfully repeatable money shot. If the spinner strategy isn’t working for you, shoot the captive balls or send the ball up the circular lanes to advance your bonus. Some players prefer clean shots to both captive balls as the safest strategy, since the spinner, while lucrative, can be dangerous. Keep an eye on the A-B-C-D targets, too, since completing all four lights double bonus. With twelve standups, eight star rollovers, two captive balls, and an action ring, there’s a wealth of scoring to work, and the skill shot rewards plunging the top saucer for 3,000 right off the bat.
Boomerang is a fine example of Jim Patla’s dependable design and Marche’s showstopping artwork, pairing an exotic adventure theme with a genuinely feature-rich playfield and a rewarding spinner-and-captive-ball strategy. For the collector who loves the golden age of EM pinball, the great artists who defined its look, and a machine with real depth, it’s a rewarding find. Rip that center spinner all day, hammer the captive balls, and complete A-B-C-D for double bonus. Some machines reward learning their money shots, and this Bally adventure classic keeps coming back for more. Give it a throw and drop a coin.