Hold 'Em

Hold, manufactured by Stoner Manufacturing Company of Aurora, Illinois in October 1936, is an early football-themed electro-mechanical pinball machine. It shows the game's evolution from a simple ball-shooting novelty toward a more structured, score-driven experience, and its unusual scoring scheme makes it an interesting piece of pre-flipper pinball history.

Hold offers eight balls for five cents and can be played by one or two players. In a single-player game, one nickel is inserted and the player scores for one team alone, while the other team's score does not appear on the backglass. In a two-player game, two nickels are inserted, both teams' scores are shown on the backglass, and players alternate shooting balls into play, with every ball producing a score for one or both teams. The playfield features eighteen trap holes, two free play holes, and two ball kickers, including a kicker at the very bottom of the playfield that boosts balls up to a scoring trap hole, or to a free ball hole if the scoring hole is occupied.

While detailed information about the machine's artwork and design is limited, its football theme and inventive two-team scoring make Hold an intriguing find for collectors interested in the formative years of electro-mechanical pinball.