Sweetheart Double

The Sweetheart Double, manufactured by Houston Showcase and Manufacturing Company of Houston, Texas in February 1933, is an early two-player Pure Mechanical (PM) pinball game -- meaning it predates electricity entirely, relying purely on mechanical action rather than flippers, which would not be invented until 1947. Players used a coin-operated slide and a spring plunger to launch balls; a small lever elevated each ball into shooting position before it was fired into play with a hand-drawn plunger.

The game offered 20 balls for a nickel (10 balls per player), with green balls scoring double points. Its aprons carried explicit rules and instructions, along with the disclaimer "For amusement only. Not for gambling." An advertising flyer touted the cabinet's high-end construction -- mahogany, walnut, or figured red gum wood with five-ply veneer panels, a gold-and-black playfield finish, and brass pins covered in white rubber -- as well as a design that returned marbles to numbered pockets for easy, dispute-free counting.

Sweetheart Double is the two-player, two-playfield companion to Houston Showcase's single-playfield 1933 game simply titled 'Sweetheart.' With no flippers and a fully mechanical ball-launching system, it's a good example of the plunger-and-bumper design era that predated pinball's flipper revolution by well over a decade.