Orbit 1

Orbit 1, released in 1978 by A. Hankin & Company of Australia, holds a special place in that country's pinball history as the first game manufactured by Hankin. According to the book Pinball Memories, it was named after an arcade Hankin opened in the vicinity of Newcastle, Australia in the late 1970s. Roughly 1,020 units were produced.

The solid-state, four-player machine carries an outer space theme and features two flippers, two pop bumpers, a messenger ball, and a roll-under spinner — a modest but solid feature set typical of late-1970s pinball design.

No designer is credited in surviving records for Orbit 1, an unusual gap for a manufacturer's debut title. Even so, as Hankin's first pinball release and a rare example of Australian-manufactured pinball from the era, Orbit 1 is of particular interest to collectors and historians tracing the game's spread beyond the U.S. and Europe.