Electro

The Electro, designed by Wendell Bartelt and manufactured by Stoner Manufacturing Company in March 1938, is a single-player electro-mechanical pinball machine from the pre-flipper era. Its existence demonstrates that pinball manufacturers outside the largest Chicago firms were also actively producing games during the late 1930s.

As with other EM games of its time, Electro's gameplay would have relied on plunger-launched balls navigating a pin-and-target layout under gravity, rather than any player-controlled flippers, which were still roughly a decade away from being introduced to the industry. Its mechanical components and simple layout reflect the state of pinball engineering in the late 1930s.

Little is documented about Electro's specific theme, artwork, or notable features beyond its designer and manufacturing date. As an early example from a lesser-known manufacturer, it remains a piece of interest for collectors and historians researching pinball's formative years.