Ten Grand

Ten Grand is a single-player, electro-mechanical payout machine produced by Mills Novelty Company of Chicago in November 1935. Players got two balls for five cents, and the game's core mechanism is a hidden 3-reel Bell-style slot machine.

Rather than traditional pinball scoring, Ten Grand's objective is tied to that hidden slot mechanism: when an arrow lights up, players aim to land on specific point totals to complete the game. Instruction plates found on different units show slightly varying rule sets -- one calling for an even 5,000, or 10,000 or over, and another specifying 5,000, 10,000, 12,000, or 13,000 -- suggesting the payout rules were adjusted at some point during production.

Ten Grand's design is understated compared to later machines, but its slot-machine-driven payout mechanic and its relationship to similar Mills machines, such as the 1937 Flasher (Bell Fruit), make it a notable example of pinball's early crossover with gambling devices.