Madame Butterfly

Madame Butterfly, manufactured by Nate Schneller Incorporated (trade name Nasco) starting in April 1949, is a converted pinball game: it takes United's 1947 flipperless machine 'Singapore' and adds flippers, a common practice among smaller manufacturers of the era looking to update older games with the new flipper technology.

The conversion offered 5 balls for 5 cents, with two flippers, one active bumper, nine passive bumpers, and four kick-out holes. Surviving examples show some variation between units, with one playfield featuring a pop bumper and another a spring-compression bumper; Schneller's advertising for the game let operators choose between 'spinners' or 'explosive bumpers' (spring compression bumpers), since United's original 'Singapore' had neither style.

Little is documented about the machine's original artwork or theme beyond its name. As a flipper conversion of an existing flipperless title rather than a wholly original design, Madame Butterfly offers an interesting look at how late-1940s operators and smaller manufacturers adapted older stock to the flipper era.