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Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
pin-ball

as a type of game, 1907, from pin (n.) + ball (n.1). Originally of types of open-air bowling and basketball variation where the goal was to knock down a pin or pins. Earlier still it meant "pin-cushion." The tabletop pin-ball machine is attested from 1937.\n\n

Usage examples of "pin-ball".

The jittery pill-popper turned his attentions to a pin-ball machine inside the entrance.

From the beamed ceiling hung some old lanterns and a pin-ball machine stood abandoned in one corner.

That huge room was bare now, but in season it would be filled with a variety of pin-ball machines, shuffleboard, bowling, shooting galleries, electronic games, and carnival booths where you could get your fortune told or where a boy could spend ten dollars in quarters to win a three-dollar toy animal for his best girl.

Chick is an expert mechanic on pin-ball machines and other gambling devices.

Gompton wouldn't let us use, and some real old pin-ball machines that she wouldn't even let us stand near, and great ice cream.

It's dusty show-windows were crammed full of bar stools, gilded chairs and pin-ball games.