Buster Ball

Buster Ball, manufactured by Genco Manufacturing Company of Chicago in December 1931 and designed by Harvey Heiss, is one of the earliest games from a company that would remain in the coin-op business until 1958. It is a pure mechanical (PM) tabletop counter game from the very dawn of the pinball industry, offering five balls for a single cent.

Its construction is its most distinctive trait: both the playfield - pins included - and the cabinet are painted cast aluminum, an unusual choice in an era dominated by wooden games. The machine was advertised as 18 1/2 inches long, 11 inches wide, and 6 1/2 inches high in the front rising to 7 1/2 inches in the rear, with a stand sold separately for operators who wanted a floor-standing presentation.

As a countertop game from 1931, Buster Ball relied purely on gravity, springs, and pins - there were no flippers, bumpers, or electric components, all of which lay years in the future. It stands as an early artifact of both Genco's history and the industry's transition from simple novelty marble games to the pinball machines that would follow.