Throwback Thursday: Cities on tilt

• Some operators were especially controversial for offering "free games" as prizes for high scores.

Flashback: In 1956, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled these prizes made them illegal gambling machines.

• A year later, the court affirmed Columbus' pinball ban as constitutional.
• Machine owners hoped to bring the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court, but justices declined to take up the case.

What they're saying: Gov. Frank Lausche hated pinball, saying in a statement at the time: "In the main, [pinball machines] have been used hiddenly as gambling devices. People who play them become addicts just as those who previously in Ohio played slot machines."

Over time, the fervor against pinball eased.

• Many anti-pinball laws across the country were eventually overturned and Columbus would embrace pinball as a game of skill.
• We played host to the 2020 Ohio State Pinball Championship, with the winner earning a $1,500 prize.

Yes, but: A 1974 ordinance in Grove City still outlaws pinball games operated via token, coin or other fee.

• New Albany, Upper Arlington and Dublin all ban pinball machines in "sexually oriented business establishments."