Bally’s Bow and Arrow, released in 1975, rides an American West theme into one of the more historically intriguing corners of pinball history. The everyday version is a handsome electromechanical designed by Greg Kmiec with artwork by Christian Marche, but collectors prize it for a footnote: Bally also built an almost mythically rare solid-state edition of the same game, of which only a tiny handful — around seventeen machines — were ever produced, making it one of the great unicorns of the hobby. The standard EM, by contrast, sold in healthy numbers and remains an accessible classic.

On the playfield, the scoring centers on a satisfying bonus-collection loop. The collect-bonus saucer has a player-friendly quirk: it doesn’t reset your bonus and feeds the ball right back to the right flipper, so with good timing you can hit it again and again for repeated payouts. Completing the A-B-C-D sequence lights double bonus, and a motorized “Flash Bonus” on one of the kick-out holes and a standup target adds a dash of variable, luck-of-the-draw excitement.

Well-built and great-looking, Bow and Arrow is a fine mid-70s Bally that carries an extra layer of collector fascination thanks to its near-legendary solid-state cousin. For Western-theme fans and pinball historians alike, it’s a rewarding and storied table.