Lucky Roll

Lucky Roll, manufactured by the Royal Novelty Company of Baltimore, Maryland in February 1932, dates from the very beginning of the coin-operated pinball boom. Royal Novelty was a short-lived maker, operating only from 1932 to 1934, and Lucky Roll is one of the earliest games in the hobby's recorded history.

As a pure mechanical machine built fifteen years before the flipper was invented, Lucky Roll would have been played the way all early-1930s pin games were: the player launched balls onto the playfield and relied on gravity, chance, and careful nudging to steer them toward scoring positions. Specific details of its playfield layout and rules have not survived in the available records.

Little documentation exists on the design, art, or theme of Lucky Roll, and that scarcity is part of its appeal to collectors and historians. Any surviving example would offer valuable insight into the earliest days of the pinball industry, when small regional companies like Royal Novelty were rushing to enter a brand-new market.