Ball Catching Games

The variety of early British ball catching machines attests to their status as one of the most entertaining of skill games. Often in tall mahogany cabinets with elegant brass fittings and plush-lined playfields, they used balls of composite or bone. Half a dozen knobs and levers controlled the game, which by modern standards might be described as long-winded. The hugely successful German Clown wall machine with its two controls, automatic payout and metal ball changed all that. The genre peaked in 1934 with the introduction of the multi-ball catching Payramid by the Bryans Works of Derby. Although popular with players, their relatively slow cycle time meant they were not as lucrative for the operators as the allwins.