Nippy

Nippy, manufactured by Chicago Coin in October 1939, is an early single-player electro-mechanical pinball machine with an Arctic culture theme. Notably, it is a flipperless game — as were all pinball machines of its era, since flippers weren't introduced until 1947 — so play relies entirely on the angle and force of the plunger shot plus skillful nudging of the cabinet. With 1,351 confirmed units produced, it offers a window into pre-flipper pinball design.

The layout is built around twelve bumpers and two kickers, with hitting colored bumpers lighting corresponding lamps on the lower playfield toward an end-of-ball bonus — a simple but engaging feedback loop for a game of this vintage.

Little further detail is documented about Nippy's designer or artist, but as a flipperless, late-1930s Chicago Coin machine, it stands as an interesting artifact from the earliest commercial era of pinball, before the mechanics that would come to define the game were even invented.