Ship Ahoy

The 1935 Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corporation Ship Ahoy is an early electro-mechanical pinball machine, part of the formative pre-flipper era of the game. As a single-player machine from this period, its gameplay would have relied on the mechanics typical of mid-1930s pinball -- pins, bumpers, and targets guiding a ball's path -- rather than the flippers, ramps, and player-controlled shot-making that would not be introduced to pinball until years later (flippers first appeared in 1947).

Detailed information on Ship Ahoy's specific features, designer, and artwork has not survived or is not documented. What is known is its manufacturer, Rock-Ola, and its 1935 release date, placing it among the wave of coin-operated amusement machines produced during the Depression era, when pinball was rapidly growing in popularity as an inexpensive form of entertainment.

As an early example from a manufacturer that operated in the pinball space only briefly (1932-1938) before moving into jukeboxes, Ship Ahoy remains a notable artifact of pinball's pre-flipper history, even with limited surviving documentation about its specific design.