Sure Shot

The Sure Shot pinball machine, manufactured by Carlson Manufacturing Company in Chicago in 1932, holds a place in the early history of pinball. As one of the earliest known pinball machines, it predates flippers entirely - flippers would not be invented until 1947 - making it a pure game of chance and skillful shooting rather than active ball control.

Gameplay on the Sure Shot is straightforward: players insert 5 cents to play with ten steel balls. The objective is to score as many points as possible by shooting the balls into scoring areas on the playfield, relying on the plunger and the fixed layout of the game rather than any player-operated flippers.

The design of the Sure Shot is compact and utilitarian, measuring 33 inches long, 16 inches wide, and 9 inches deep at the top, mounted on a 29-inch stand that bolts to the game, with a coin box accessible from the back. Little information is available about the machine's theme or artwork, suggesting it may have been designed more as a technical exercise than a fully realized game. Nonetheless, its rarity and historical significance as a pre-flipper machine make it an object of fascination for pinball aficionados studying the pioneering era of pinball design.