Bell Games

Bell Games was an Italian pinball manufacturer in Bologna that operated under three names across its run. It began in 1978 as Bell-Coin-Matics, a maker of conversion kits — new playfields, backglasses, and cabinet artwork that let operators refit worn-out machines, reusing the boards and cabinets from trade-ins to hold down costs. Its first kit, The King (1978), required a solid-state donor machine and was built in small numbers; White Shark, on used Bally Evel Knievel cabinets with artwork by Michele Martinelli, and The Hunter (1980), themed on the film The Deer Hunter, followed.

By 1981 the company had taken the name Bell Games and moved from conversion kits to building complete pinball machines, later trading as Nuova Bell Games. Its run of solid-state titles through the 1980s included Fireball II (1981) and closed with U-Boat 65 in 1988, the company's last pinball machine before it moved on to other coin-operated amusements.