Double '8'

The Stoner Manufacturing Company's 1934 "Double" (full name possibly "Double 8") is a rare and enigmatic electro-mechanical (EM) pinball machine with an unusual history: according to the Encyclopedia of Pinball, Stoner's manufacturing plant was destroyed by fire in May 1934, taking with it all completed machines and those in production. "Double 8" was announced the following month and, per historian Dick Bueschel, was a "progressive scoring game" -- but almost nothing else is documented about it.

Gameplay-wise, like other machines of its era, the ball would have been launched with a plunger, since flippers had not yet been invented and would not appear until 1947. Beyond the "progressive scoring" description, no further details about its rules or features have survived.

The machine's art and theme, if present at all, have likely been lost to time given the destruction of Stoner's records and production line, leaving us with an incomplete picture of what this game was like. Despite this, "Double" remains an intriguing relic of pinball's early days, offering historians and collectors a chance to piece together the puzzle of its development and significance.