Autowhirl

Autowhirl, released in February 1934 by the A.B.T. Manufacturing Company of Chicago, is a single-player game classified as Pure Mechanical, meaning it operated without electrical components, in contrast to the electro-mechanical games A.B.T. was building at the very same time, such as Autocount (1933) and Autobank (1934).

Its most interesting documented trait is shared with those siblings: the playfields for Autobank, Autocount, and Autowhirl all used the same cabinet and were interchangeable. An operator could buy just a new playfield and drop it into an existing cabinet, an economical scheme that let A.B.T. sell fresh gameplay without requiring a whole new machine.

Beyond that, little is documented about Autowhirl's specific playfield features, rules, or artwork. As a purely mechanical game from the heart of the Depression-era pinball boom, it stands as a modest reminder that mechanical and electrified games coexisted on locations throughout the early 1930s.