Baffle Ball

The Baffle Ball, brought to market by D. Gottlieb & Company in November 1931, marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of pinball. As one of the earliest and most successful of the coin-operated marble games that founded the industry, it is a genuinely significant piece of gaming history. It is a Pure Mechanical (PM) tabletop counter game - there were no flippers or electricity at all; players simply shot balls onto the playfield and hoped to land them in scoring positions.

Advertised at 24 inches long by 16 inches wide, the game sold for $17.50, with metal stands available separately for $2.50. Operators could choose among several pricing configurations, from five, seven, or ten balls for a penny up to ten balls for a nickel - pricing well suited to Depression-era pocketbooks.

Baffle Ball's greatest claim to fame is its commercial success: according to the book Pinball 1, it was "the first game to top the 50,000 mark in production and deliveries." Demand was so great that it was produced both by Gottlieb in Chicago and, under Gottlieb's direction, by Keeney and Sons at a separate Chicago facility, with neither company putting its name on the games - making the two productions nearly impossible to tell apart today. As one of the games that launched an industry, Baffle Ball offers a unique window into the very beginnings of pinball.