Hi-Lo! Where does it go?

A first-wave #pinball from 1932 with the theme of poker - though you couldn't actually make any hands with it.

The beauty of well-painted, varnished wood is in full force.

Not just an accent - it's Hoss Shoes by Global Industries!

Something of an early take on the air hockey or bumper pool layout, you can play something a bit less dangerous than darts!

One of the early lasting pinball companies: Stoner Manufacturing of Aurora, Illinois.

Named after its founder Harry Stoner - not anything else you might be thinking! - it had a good run competing with the likes of D. Gottlieb & Co, Bally, and Chicago Coin in the #arcade til the start of WWII.

Here's a look at it in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci4CWxBC3OI

Penny drop and race!

What could be more appealing than a lighted horse track you push by throwing coins into it?

Lucky Penny Sweepstakes by Penny Amusements was an open field game where you flicked your coin from a pre-determined distance from the machine. Safer than darts!

Test Your Sobriety!

Booz-Barometer was a far safer revival of the old electric shock machines appealing to bar crowd of the mid-60s.

Its success was such that it was liberally copied and provided a brief boost to the countertop game format. #arcade

@gocu54 I will keep this in mind! Unfortunately many specific machines are not filmed and I unfortunately do not have access to them. I will do my best to find video when I can.

@gocu54 Jon Torrence filmed the game back in the day and I know the same machine will be featured in the Arcade Dreams series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caFq0W_yP-w

The one that started it all: Play Football.

Though adapted from a British game, Chester-Pollard turned Play Football into the game that unlocked the American #arcade amusement experience.

Most mannequin sports games owe some debt to the 5 cent, wooden cabinet classic.

Crank that wheel and go for the steal!

International Derby was the most off-the-wall of the Chester-Pollard "play" series, but it successfully translated the race track to a participatory coin game!

The value of truly active amusements in the 1920s #arcade cannot be understated.

@SecretAntelope Where is it? Never seen a Chester-Pollard in person myself!

Tee up!

The Chester-Pollard "Play Sports" series couldn't miss out on the range.

What could be simpler than nailing a hole-in-one with some mannequins? In two sizes! #arcade

In the throes of the #pinball boom, just finding ideas to stand out was a challenge.

Would you have taken this offer from Los Angeles' A. M. Amusement Co?

The dawn of pinball! You can practically smell the wood varnish...

While interest in space is usually paired with the Apollo moon landings, a decade before the climax of the 60s, Sputnik fever turned pop culture's attention to the heavens.

Here are a few examples of late 50s space-obsessed #arcade games.

Next week we'll look at the first Space Age amusement company.

This machine was a clone of the game Fast Draw initially put out by The Martinmaas Company.

There were a lot of interesting applications of electro-mechanical technology in the 1960s!

You don't need Wild Gunman to play out your high noon shootout fantasy.

Southland Engineering's Championship Fast Draw enabled one player or two to relive the climax of any sunbaked Western in the #arcade

Are you ready to- DRAW!

At MGC, we had the opportunity to play a really interesting early #pinball table: Genco's Spit Fire.

It's very fast and open for a mechanical game. At the time, it was advertised for its lack of pins! In that way, it's a lot closer to modern pinball.

Electric shock machines were real, and they didn't go away for a long while.

Get a taste of amperage when you grab the Mills Novelty Firefly machine. It's all for the health benefits, you see...

Electricity is Life!

Could #sega have invented karaoke?

While there's debate over who created the first dedicated karaoke machine, Sega in the early 70s had a program called the Sing-Along Juke Box. Participants could sing using a mic plugged into the machine.

Was this a predecessor to karaoke?