Totalite

The Totalite, manufactured by Rock-ola Manufacturing Corporation in May 1936, holds a genuine claim to pinball history: it was the first machine to feature electric light bulbs on the backglass that automatically advanced the score total, an innovation that pointed the way toward the illuminated scoring displays that would become standard on later machines.

Beyond that headline feature, Totalite is a single-player, electro-mechanical game offering five balls per play. As with other machines of 1936, it predates the flipper by more than a decade, so gameplay relied on tilting, plunging, and passive scoring elements rather than flipper-based shot-making.

Specific details about Totalite's designer, artwork, or exact production numbers are not well documented. Its historical significance as the origin point for automatically-advancing backglass scoring, however, secures its place as a notable milestone in the early development of pinball.