Whiffle-Zip
About This Machine
Whiffle-Zip, released by Automatic Industries, Incorporated of Youngstown, Ohio in June 1932, is not actually a pinball machine -- IPDB classifies it as 'Not A Pinball.' It's a competitive two-player table game: a nickel starts a match using ten steel balls, and an advertisement notes a single player could also play alone for practice.
The playfield holds nothing but four electromagnets and ten scoring pockets, five on each player's side. Each player controls a button that activates their electromagnets, using them to maneuver balls toward pockets on the opponent's side of the table, while a hand-operated sliding guard lets each player defend their own pockets from incoming balls. Because both players act simultaneously rather than taking turns, the game plays more like a fast-paced dueling contest than a traditional pinball machine.
No information survives about Whiffle-Zip's artwork or any broader theme. Its stripped-down design -- built entirely around magnetic ball control rather than a conventional playfield -- sets it apart from Automatic Industries' better-known 'Whiffle Board' and marks it as a genuine curiosity in early coin-operated game history.
Technical Details
- Notable Features:
- 10 balls for 5 cents. Diverter magnets (4). A nickel starts a 2-player game using ten steel balls. An advertisement states one player can play alone for practice. There are four electromagnets under the playfield. Each player has a button to activate the electromagnets during play. Players do not alternate but instead play simultaneously, each trying to use the magnets to maneuver balls to land in any of five scoring pockets on the opponent's side of the playfield. Each player has a sliding guard to control by hand, used to protect the player's own pockets from receiving a ball.