Bomber

The Rock-ola Bomber, manufactured by the Rock-ola Manufacturing Corporation of Chicago, Illinois in November 1935, is a historically interesting electro-mechanical pinball machine with a warfare theme, offering five balls for five cents.

The playfield features 15 cellar holes and five hooded vertical up-kickers. The cellar holes are color-coded to match the up-kickers and the five score pockets below them: a ball falling into a cellar hole is kicked back up onto the playfield toward the score pocket of the same color. Landing three balls in the same score pocket lights that score on the backglass, after which the three balls are dumped from the pocket back to the player to shoot again, accompanied by a simulated bombing noise made by a crude hammer striking the bottom of the cabinet.

Rock-ola made a point of promoting the game's sound effects. As quoted in Automatic Age magazine of January 1936, the company's "ingenious sound effects device reproduces the actual sound of a bomb as it hits its target," with a brilliant flash of light accompanying the explosion. These effects give the Bomber a level of showmanship notable for a mid-1930s game.