Scram!

Scram! is an early example of pure mechanical (PM) pinball, dating to May 1932 and credited to designer Thomas S. Hutchison. It is a small tabletop/counter game, advertised at just 22 inches long, 10 1/2 inches wide, and 6 inches high. Its manufacturing history is genuinely murky: period ads and Dick Bueschel's research suggest the game may have been produced separately by A.B.T. Manufacturing Company, the J.P. Seeburg Corporation, and Hutchison Engineering Company, with subtle physical differences (particularly in the shooter knob) distinguishing the versions. This particular listing reflects the version most likely manufactured by A.B.T., though Seeburg's ads also reference their own "craftsmanship" on the same design.

The playfield slants away from the player, an unusual layout for a tabletop game of the period, and an amber ball doubles the player's score — a simple but novel scoring twist for 1932. As a pure mechanical, flipperless machine from the very earliest years of coin-operated pinball, Scram! offers a window into the format's origins before electrification or the flipper (still 15 years away) transformed the game.