Gondola

Gondola, released by the Exhibit Supply Company (ESCO) in May 1949, is a cheerful nautical-themed game from the first years of the flipper era, offering five balls for five cents. Its theme of boats, sailing, and waterside recreation is classic late-1940s pinball fare.

The game's most curious mechanical feature is its flipper arrangement: it has four flippers, but the two horizontal flippers are operated by a single solenoid, and each is mechanically linked to its adjacent vertical flipper - so all four flippers fire simultaneously with each button press. The playfield also features two spring compression bumpers, three passive bumpers, and five kick-out holes. Scoring runs to a displayed maximum of 5,990,000 points, with a replay wheel registering up to 47 replays and bells providing the sound.

Little is known about Gondola's designer or specific design influences, but its unusual linked-flipper mechanism makes it an intriguing example of how manufacturers experimented with the brand-new flipper concept before the two-flippers-at-the-bottom layout became standard.