Staal Society

Staal Society was a short-lived French pinball manufacturer active between 1977 and 1979 and headquartered in Saint-Ouen (a suburb of Paris), notable for producing one of the earliest French solid-state pinball machines. The company released just two titles—Ben-Hur (1977), a four-player hybrid solid-state/chime machine that borrowed mechanical designs from Gottlieb, and Gun Men (1979), a Western-themed game featuring artwork by Michele “Mike” Martinelli—with limited production runs (approximately 467 units for Ben-Hur and 424 for Gun Men). Ben-Hur was distributed in both France and the UK through a partnership with British distributor Associated Leisure, but Staal Society struggled to compete with better-established American manufacturers and ceased operations shortly after Gun Men, leaving both machines rare outside France. Today Staal Society’s Ben-Hur and Gun Men are prized by vintage pinball collectors and museums for their historical significance in the transition to solid-state electronics, making them sought-after items in the European pinball collector market.