Bally’s Xenon, released in 1980, is a landmark of early solid-state pinball — and a genuine piece of audio history. Designed by Greg Kmiec with stunning artwork by Paul Faris, it was Bally’s first talking pinball machine, and famously the first ever to feature a female voice. That sultry, otherworldly voice (and the game’s entire electronic score) came from Suzanne Ciani, the pioneering synth musician who used cutting-edge Synclavier technology to craft a fragmented soundtrack triggered throughout play — work so notable it earned her a place in the Pinball Expo Hall of Fame.
The playfield is just as futuristic, crowned by an iconic enclosed tube ramp that whisks the ball through an elevated transparent tunnel to a left-side lane. The scoring revolves around collecting X’s — via the top scoop or the left spinner — to light locks and, ultimately, the two-ball multiball. The savvy sequence is to shoot the left spinner into the saucer three times to light the lock in the tube, then hit the saucer three more times for multiball and a lit, point-rich spinner. Continuous ramp shots build in value, sometimes carrying over ball to ball.
Sleek, sexy, and sonically ahead of its time, Xenon is one of the defining machines of the dawn of talking pinball. For collectors who treasure both gorgeous design and a place in the hobby’s history, this Ciani-voiced classic remains an essential — a futuristic siren song that still beckons players decades later.