Havana

The Havana pinball machine, manufactured by United Manufacturing Company of Chicago in April 1947, captures pinball at the very moment before the flipper changed everything. Havana is a flipperless game — United would not release its first flipper game, 'Wisconsin', until April 1948 — and operators of the period often retrofitted flippers onto games like Havana, with the add-on flippers frequently ending up in unusual places on the playfield.

Gameplay follows the standard format of the day: 5 balls for 5 cents, with the player relying on plunger skill and nudging as the ball ricochets among 11 passive bumpers and drops into any of 5 kick-out holes. The large backglass, measuring 21 by 21 inches, gave the game strong visual presence on location.

Built around a World Places theme evoking the era's fascination with exotic destinations, Havana remains an intriguing piece for collectors and historians as a snapshot of the industry in transition, just months before flippers arrived.