Nord-Express

The Nord-Express, manufactured by T.H. Bergmann & Company of Hamburg, Germany, in February 1955, is a flipperless, one-ball payout machine typical of the company's long production run (1938-1968). It's a single-player EM game whose notable feature is a set of nine passive bumpers.

Gameplay on the Nord-Express centers on those nine passive bumpers, a straightforward but effective mechanic for the payout-machine format common in 1950s Europe. As a flipperless game, its design and skill demands differ considerably from the flipper-equipped machines that were becoming more common elsewhere by the mid-1950s.

The Nord-Express' rarity and age make it a highly sought-after find among pinball collectors and historians of European EM machines. Its flipperless payout design predates the more advanced solid-state technology that would later dominate the industry, making it an interesting piece of the game's mechanical heritage.