Balance

Balance, produced by the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago in September 1935, is an artifact of the early days of electro-mechanical pinball. Mills, better known for its slot machines and other coin-operated novelties, manufactured pinball games from 1932 to 1942, and Balance sits squarely in the era when manufacturers were first incorporating electrical components - lights, scoring contacts, and kickers - into what had been purely mechanical games.

As was universal in 1935, Balance is a flipperless game: players launched each ball and relied on gravity, pins, and careful plunger control to guide it into scoring positions, since flippers would not be invented for another decade. Documentation on the game is sparse, and its specific playfield features are not recorded.

Little is also known about the game's designer or artwork. Given the era and the machine's name, one might imagine a theme of balance or harmony, but no definitive information has survived. That very obscurity makes Balance an intriguing footnote in the story of a company - and an industry - in transition.