Lite-A-Pair

The Lite-A-Pair, manufactured by J. H. Keeney and Company Incorporated of Chicago in February 1937, is an electro-mechanical one-ball payout machine from pinball's pre-flipper gambling era. Rather than awarding replays or points, it paid out money based on the outcome of each ball in play, placing it firmly in the payout-game category that flourished in the mid-1930s.

The gameplay is built around its twelve spring bumpers. Six green bumpers advance a green numbered dial on the backglass, while six red bumpers advance a red numbered dial. If a pair of matching numbers (1, 2, 3, or 4) shows on the two dials when the ball in play reaches the outhole, a payout is awarded based on that pair. The machine used a six-coin escalator coin chute, and the cabinet was advertised as 51 inches long and 24 inches wide.

Keeney also offered the game in 2, 5, and 10 ball models, each of which could be easily converted back to the standard 1-ball configuration. An article in Automatic Age in March 1937 announced the game and described its play. No designer or theme information has been recorded for this machine, but it stands as a well-documented example of the payout pin games of its era.