Numbers

Numbers is a single-player electro-mechanical pinball machine manufactured by California Games, Incorporated of Los Angeles in May 1935. The company operated for only about two years (1934-1935), making surviving examples of its output relatively scarce today.

As a mid-1930s EM machine, Numbers predates the invention of the flipper by more than a decade -- gameplay of the period relied on skillful plunging and nudging (tilting) rather than flipper control, with electrical contacts and relays used to register scoring rather than to operate paddles. Specific details of Numbers' playfield layout, bumpers, or scoring targets are not documented.

No information survives about the machine's designer, artwork, or theme. Even so, as a product of one of the industry's short-lived early manufacturers, Numbers offers a window into the pre-flipper era of pinball's formative years.