The Bally "Skill" series consisted of five games:

• Skill Roll, Bally #601, 3/58, 1500 produced.
• Lite-A-Diamond, Bally #609, 6/59.
• Skill Parade (standard and deluxe), Bally #616, 10/58, 500 total produced.
• Skill Score, Bally #653, 4/60, 250 produced.
• Skill Derby (standard and deluxe), Bally #656, 9/60.

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There were five Bally "skill roll" type games made. Skill Roll #601 (3/58, 1500 produced) was the first in the series, and has eight nickel flipping levers (four on each side), and has no replay meter. This was a genuine skill game, and is quite addictive to play. The object is to drop a coin in the top slot and "flick" the eight handles to shoot it back and forth on eight rows. The better you shoot, the higher points. Highest score is 460 based on the max points on the way to the bottom. If the player gets to the bottom (eighth) row, the game will keep your coin at the bottom until a new game is started. The player can show his friends, "hey I got to the last row!" Sort of a "look what I did", kind of thing. Also if the player gets to the eighth row (regardless of their score), a star lights up on the backglass to the right of the "90" point graphic. This shows a "hi-score." (There's no free game or anything to win, just the satisfaction you beat the game.) It's not easy to get to the bottom (eighth) row, let alone get 460 points. About 2/3 the way through the game, it starts to get harder. You can lose the coin in any one of the "gobble" holes. Internally there is also a points adjustment from 320 to 380 points, which triggers a "hi-score" mechanical counter for the operator. There is also an eighth row mechanical counter. These let the operator know if the players are beating the game.

Next was Lite-A-Diamond #609 (6/59), which was the same game as Skill Roll for the first four nickel flips. But after that, the game turns into pure chance, as the nickel randomly flips up and tries to light diamonds. Lite-A-Diamond plays out in credits (has a replay meter).

Third up was Skill Parade #616 (10/58, 500 produced). Skill Parade came in two versions, standard (novelty, first 250 produced) and deluxe (replay, last 250 produced). In the standard version, the player puts in a nickel, and places with that nickel. Deluxe has a quarter or dime coin chute which give multiple credits, and the game is played with a recirculating Bally nickel. Skill Parade is basically a slot machine with three nickel flipping levers. Skill Parade....you can change the replay awards on it via adjustment plugs in the back of the game. There are a set of plexi cards that insert and show through the backglass to display the scores.

Fourth was Skill Score #653 (4/60, 250 produced), which is very similar to Skill Parade.

Last (fifth) was Skill Derby #656 (9/60), which came in standard and deluxe versions. This machine had a mechanical horse race on the top of the game. The player selected one of six horses before inserting their nickel. After the nickel was insert, the player flipped their nickel through a pichinco type area, trying to get their selected horse to win (no skill, purely chance). Standard had no replay meter and no way to 'win'. Deluxe had a replay meter and the player could win games if their horse came in first.

Skill Roll (3/58) is the most fun of the series of these game, as the game actually takes a lot of skill to play. The other games are really just slot machines or chance machines where very little skill is involved. Bally skill roll manual and schematics.