Spelling Bee

Spelling Bee, manufactured by the L & R Manufacturing Company of Chicago in June 1935, is a single-player electro-mechanical pinball machine with an education/school theme. It sold new for $39.50 and offered players 10 balls for five cents — a generous ball count reflecting the penny-arcade pricing of the era.

The playfield features 27 trap holes, a distinctive and unusually dense layout for a mid-1930s machine, paired with battery-powered operation and a short backbox. While the education theme suggests some kind of spelling-related scoring or naming convention on the playfield or backglass, the specific mechanics connecting gameplay to the 'spelling bee' concept are not documented in surviving records.

Little else is known about Spelling Bee's designer or artwork, but its theme, trap-hole-heavy layout, and battery operation make it a distinctive example of the school/education theme category from pinball's earliest, pre-flipper decade.