well I like it, it works, it's fast and powerful.
whether it's new or not only gives a person bragging rights which are worth squat on the internet i'll give it a 9/10
hmm... there are a couple things wrong with this design:
1) the display is backwards 10000 in your design represents the number 1 but in actuality even in binary 00001 is 1. same problem with 2 which in your design is 01000 but in real binary is 00010 so I wouldn't call you wrong it's just that your display is flipped over the X axis.
2) the whole point of a counter is that you can see it count, right? your design doesn't allow time for one ball to fall down the contraption before another one is already released.
both of these problems are easily fixed, other than those 2 pointer good job!