Suspense

Suspense, released in February 1946, holds a special place in pinball history: it was the very first pin game produced by Williams Manufacturing Company, the newly formed company founded by Harry Williams, who also designed it. (Williams himself later recalled that the company's actual first product was a fortune-telling arcade machine called 'Selector Scope,' making Suspense the company's first pinball game specifically.)

As a single-player, flipperless electro-mechanical machine, Suspense relies on 11 passive bumpers and three kick-out holes to direct the ball, rather than player-controlled flippers -- flippers were still a year away from being invented industry-wide. The game's theme centers on trapeze artists, reflected in its backglass and playfield artwork, though little further detail about the artwork survives in the historical record.

According to a 1946 Coin Machine Digest listing, Suspense carried a list price of $279.50. Beyond its production details, little else is documented about this early machine, but as the debut pinball release from a manufacturer that would go on to dominate the industry for decades, it remains a significant piece of pinball history.