Hold Tight

Hold Tight is a flipperless electro-mechanical pinball machine built by Western Products, Incorporated in May 1939. It is reportedly one of the few games from this manufacturer that is not a payout machine, making it a purely skill-and-score amusement in an era when many of Western's products dispensed winnings.

The playfield carries thirteen passive bumpers and a single Free Play hole. A Billboard retrospective described the game as featuring four scoring panels on the backboard, four ways to score, and fast playfield action. The backglass depicts four men who, according to a 1939 Billboard article, hold tight to their perches before being tipped over by skillful shooting of a ball over a switch on the playfield.

The game's title also had timely pop-culture resonance: the Andrews Sisters' song "Hold-Tight" charted in early 1939, reaching number four on the Hit Parade and stirring controversy over its alleged innuendo, and this pinball machine hit the market around the same time. Little is known about Hold Tight's designer, but its place in the pre-flipper history of pinball makes it an intriguing find for collectors and historians alike.