Beacon

Beacon, produced by Stoner Manufacturing Company of Aurora, Illinois in December 1934, is an early electro-mechanical game from pinball's formative years. Designed by Harry Stoner and Karl Knickerbocker, it carries a flying and airplanes theme, and like many electrified games of the period it ran on battery power, in this case four "power cells."

Gameplay offered 10 balls for 5 cents, with two kickers, a bell, and a light providing the action. The kickers give the game its cleverest wrinkle: if balls are locked into both kickers, another ball shot into the "Shooter" hole causes the kickers to knock the locked balls into higher-scoring areas, an early taste of the lock-and-release ideas that pinball would revisit for decades. The game was advertised at a compact 41 by 21 inches.

According to the Encyclopedia of Pinball Vol. 2, Beacon was named after the manufacturer's local newspaper, the Aurora Beacon-News, a charming piece of hometown pride. Period Billboard advertising shows an example with a small vertical marquee not present on other pictured games, a detail that intrigues collectors of these early Stoner machines.