Leader

The Leader pinball machine, manufactured by United Manufacturing Company in October 1951, is a single-player electro-mechanical "bingo" style machine. It holds a notable place in United's lineup as the first United bingo machine to feature an extra-ball award.

Gameplay centers on 25 trap holes across 3 cards, with play offered at five or ten cents per card. Balls are 1 1/16-inch diameter steel balls, five per game, and players aim to land them in scoring trap-hole patterns across the cards, a hallmark of the bingo-pinball genre popular with operators in the early 1950s.

Little information survives about the machine's designer, artist, or theme. Nonetheless, as United's first bingo machine with an extra-ball feature, the Leader marks a specific, documented step in the evolution of that company's bingo-style pinball line.