Advance Roll

The Advance Roll pinball machine, designed by Harvey Heiss and manufactured by Genco Manufacturing Company in December 1946, is a rolldown game — a specialty style of pinball in which players work to land the ball in a shallow arrangement of holes and channels near the bottom of the playfield rather than a full mechanical layout. As one of the earlier electromechanical (EM) machines of the postwar boom, it captures the industry in transition from the mechanical designs of the 1930s toward the more elaborate EM machines of the 1950s.

One of the standout features of Advance Roll is its use of 14 rollover buttons, which Genco advertised as "floating" — an innovative touch for the time that added mechanical interest to the rolldown format. The machine's layout and button placement reflect Heiss' approach to rolldown design, a genre that remained popular with operators through the late 1940s.

Advance Roll carries no discernible theme or artwork beyond its functional design, consistent with many EM machines of this period that prioritized gameplay mechanics over visual storytelling. Produced in a run of 5,103 confirmed units between December 1946 and October 1947, it remains a solid example of Genco's rolldown output during pinball's postwar EM era.