Rotation
About This Machine
The Rotation pinball machine is a piece of early pinball history, manufactured by Stoner Manufacturing Company of Aurora, Illinois, in April 1940. As an electro-mechanical (EM) single-player machine from this period, it predates the introduction of flippers (which arrived in 1947), relying instead on the tilt, scoring, and bumper mechanisms typical of pre-flipper pinball design.
Little detailed information survives about Rotation's specific features, theme, or artwork. Stoner Manufacturing operated in Aurora, Illinois from 1933 to 1941, making Rotation one of the company's later releases before it ceased production.
As with many machines from this early era, documentation is sparse, but Rotation's production date and manufacturer place it as an interesting artifact for those studying the pre-flipper period of pinball's development.