Belle Hop

Belle Hop, designed by Harry Mabs with artwork by Roy Parker, was manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Company in May 1941. It is a flipperless electro-mechanical game from the pre-war era, when pinball emphasized careful ball launching and nudging rather than direct player control.

Belle Hop offered five balls for five cents, and players accumulated points by navigating the balls through the machine's 14 passive bumpers. With no flippers, the design rewards strategy and timing over brute force.

The game's theme combines boating, travel, water, and women, rendered in the charming early-1940s style of prolific Gottlieb artist Roy Parker. Surviving examples show differently colored bumper caps, and it is not known which type or color of cap the factory originally used.