Birdie

The Baker Novelty and Manufacturing Company's 1940 Birdie is a rare single-player electro-mechanical pinball machine from a manufacturer that operated only briefly, from 1939 to 1941. Its early date and short-lived maker make it a notable curiosity for historians studying the pinball industry's formative years.

As a 1940 release, Birdie predates the pinball flipper by seven years; flippers were not introduced until Gottlieb's Humpty Dumpty in October 1947. Gameplay therefore relied on plunging, tilting, and target- or hole-based scoring typical of pre-flipper EM machines, using electromagnets and mechanical relays to control ball movement and scoring rather than flippers.

No specific details about Birdie's artwork, theme, or standout features have survived in available records. Its rarity and the brief two-year existence of Baker Novelty and Manufacturing Company make it a valuable, if enigmatic, artifact for collectors tracing the earliest days of pinball design.