pin-ball

noun

1. any of various games played on a sloping, glass-topped table presenting a field of colorful, knoblike target pins and rails, the object usually being to shoot a ball, driven by a spring, up a side passage and cause it to roll back down against these projections and through channels, which electrically flash or ring and record the score.

noun

1. 1. a game in which the player shoots a small ball through several hazards on a table, electrically operated machine, etc
   2. (as modifier)a pinball machine

n.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.also pin-ball, game played on a sloping surface, 1911, from pin (n.) + ball (n.1). Earlier it meant “a pincushion” (1803).