Karom Golf

The Karom Golf pinball machine, manufactured by the Karom Golf Table Corporation of Pulaski, New York in March 1931, is an early example of a pure mechanical (PM) coin-operated cue game rather than a flipper pinball -- flippers would not be introduced to pinball until 1947. Instead, Karom Golf used real golf balls, which players struck or guided across the playfield's channels and holes to score points, blending the mechanics of golf with a tabletop cue game.

Ten balls could be played for five cents, and the cabinet was advertised at 60 inches long, 34 inches wide, and 34 inches high. The game's design was protected by U.S. Patent No. 1,831,581 ('Game of Skill'), filed March 7, 1931 and granted that November to Richard W. Stewart, the company's president. At least two surviving examples are known with differing playfields, though both reference the same patent number on their instruction cards; the company also produced a smaller 'Junior Model' known as the Kew Pin Golf Table.

As one of the earliest coin-operated cue/golf games from the dawn of the pinball industry, Karom Golf offers a window into the experimentation that characterized amusement machines before the format standardized around flippers and multi-ball scoring.