Barrage

The Barrage, manufactured by Western Products, Incorporated in May 1941, is a late-prewar electro-mechanical (EM) pinball machine from a company that operated only from 1938 to 1941. Produced just months before America's entry into World War II halted pinball manufacturing, it captures the state of the flipperless game at the close of its first great era.

Gameplay on the Barrage follows the standard format of its day: five balls per game, played one at a time, with no flippers to control the action. The playfield is populated with 15 passive bumpers, and players relied on skillful plunging and nudging to steer the ball toward scoring opportunities.

Little is known about the machine's designer or theme, and the lack of documentation makes it difficult to pinpoint any specific artistic elements that may have contributed to its appeal. Still, as one of the final games from a short-lived manufacturer at the very end of the prewar period, the Barrage is an interesting artifact for historians and collectors tracing pinball's evolution.