High Pockets

High Pockets, manufactured by Western Equipment & Supply Company of Chicago, Illinois, in October 1935, is an early electro-mechanical (EM) one-ball payout pinball machine, dating from years before the 1947 introduction of flippers.

As a one-ball payout game, gameplay on High Pockets would have centered on the skill of the initial plunger shot and the arrangement of pins, holes, and targets on the playfield, with the ball's final resting place determining the payout, in keeping with common one-ball payout machine designs of the mid-1930s.

Western Equipment & Supply Company's contribution to the development of early pinball machines is often overlooked in favor of more prominent manufacturers like Bally or Gottlieb. High Pockets, though sparsely documented, offers a glimpse into the lesser-known corners of pinball history and the many small manufacturers active in the mid-1930s.