Bullet

The Pierce Tool and Manufacturing Company's 1935 creation, Bullet, is an early artifact from pinball's formative years. Manufactured in May 1935 by this short-lived Chicago company (in business from 1932 to 1935), Bullet is an electro-mechanical payout machine - a game that rewarded successful play with actual coins, a popular category in the mid-1930s before such machines drew legal scrutiny.

As a pre-flipper game, Bullet was played by launching balls onto the playfield and letting skill and gravity determine the outcome, with winning results paying out in coins. Its World War I military theme gives the game its name, and the design has an interesting production history: Pierce also made a ticket-payout version called 'Totem', and had previously manufactured essentially the same game for another company as Beverator Co.'s 1935 'Target' - the playfields of 'Bullet' and 'Target' are identical except for a patch of blue billowy art in Bullet's lower right playfield.

Little is known about Bullet's production numbers, and details on its designer are scarce. Given its age, the machine remains shrouded in some mystery, but its electro-mechanical payout design and distinctive military theme make it a fascinating piece of 1930s coin-op history for enthusiasts seeking unique additions to their collections.