Atlas

The Atlas pinball machine, manufactured by Lindstrom Tool and Toy Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut in June 1934, is an early example of a coin-operated bagatelle-style game, a category of pinball's ancestors built around a fixed, non-mechanical playfield. It offers a window into the game's design during the early years of commercial pinball's popularity.

The Atlas features a distinctive "Figure 8" playfield layout, a compact design that made efficient use of limited cabinet space. Gameplay is straightforward: players launch the ball toward a series of scoring holes at the top of the machine, with its final resting position determining the score. The game was produced in three known variants across two cabinet sizes — two round-topped versions distinguished only by their trim color (green-speckled or brown-speckled), and a smaller, square-topped version that was sold as part of a boxed set of three double-sided games alongside 'Rocket Shot/Checkers' and 'Gold Star/Hop-O.'

Little is documented about the machine's designer or broader thematic details beyond its travel motif, but its multiple production variants and inclusion in an early boxed game set make Atlas a distinctive artifact of pre-electromechanical pinball history.