Knicker Bocker

The Knicker Bocker, produced by Stoner Manufacturing Company in March 1934, is an early example of Depression-era pinball manufacturing. Stoner Manufacturing Company operated in Aurora, Illinois from 1933 to 1941, placing Knicker Bocker among the company's earliest known releases.

As a 1934 machine, Knicker Bocker predates the invention of player-controlled flippers (introduced by Gottlieb's Humpty Dumpty in 1947), so its gameplay would have relied on the layout of pins, holes, and lanes on the playfield along with skillful plunging of the ball, in the style typical of pre-flipper pinball games of the early-to-mid 1930s.

Very little specific documentation survives about Knicker Bocker's playfield design, artwork, or theme. Its significance lies primarily in its place as an early release from a lesser-known manufacturer during pinball's formative years, making it a rare and largely undocumented piece for collectors and historians of pre-flipper pinball.