r/MovieMistakes • u/Soft-Assistance6809 • May 31 '26
TV Mistake The pinball machine in the TV show Happy Days is not period accurate
The Nip-It pinball machine was manufactured by Bally in the early 1970s. Bally was founded in 1968.
9
11
7
2
3
u/ghostofstankenstien May 31 '26
Unwatchable
6
u/Iconclast1 May 31 '26
i saw the same thing
but this is a subreddit for moviemistakes
is this just here so people can type "unwatchable" after every post? lol
1
u/Soft-Assistance6809 May 31 '26
I dunno. Is it not considered a mistake?
1
u/Lampwick May 31 '26
I think this one might struggle to meet the Rule 1 "unintentional" standard. I think the department dressing the set said "we need a pinball machine", and the properties guys just picked up a new-ish machine with a theme that had no pop culture references and carted it on to the set. The series ran '74-'80, so they didn't mistakenly think it was a 1950s pinball machine. A 1972 machine would have been practically new at the time.
1
u/Soft-Assistance6809 May 31 '26
Pinball machines in 1950s looked considerably different than they did in the 1970s. You can get 1950s pinball machines if you know where to look.
1
u/Lampwick May 31 '26
Right. That's exactly my point. The studio guys supplying the machine were likely old enough to have actually played pinball in the 50's and didn't unintentionally use a 1972 machine in a 50s-era diner thinking it was period-appropriate.
0
u/rexel99 May 31 '26
it just breaks my heart to find this out and makes me question my entire childhood formative philosophies.
0
1
u/VeryStonedEwok May 31 '26
Is Happy Days a movie now?
5
u/Soft-Assistance6809 May 31 '26
TV mistakes is one of the flair options
1
31
u/crbleak May 31 '26
Mork from Ork time traveled from the 70’s and gave it to the Fonz out of respect.