Tri Gate

The Tri Gate pinball machine, manufactured by C. E. Hoagland of Los Angeles, California in 1935, is a notable example from the early days of electro-mechanical (EM) pinball. Pinball itself had already become a popular pastime by the early 1930s, and the Tri Gate represents part of the industry's move from purely mechanical designs toward electrically operated mechanisms.

As an EM machine, the Tri Gate would have relied on relays and solenoids to operate its scoring and ball-handling components, mechanisms that were still novel for the period. Players inserted coins and worked the ball through the game's gate-based layout suggested by its name, though the precise rules are not documented.

Despite its age and relatively unknown status, the Tri Gate remains an interesting artifact for collectors and historians of pinball. As an early surviving example of a pre-war EM machine, it offers a glimpse into the evolution of pinball design, though its true rarity and historical ranking among early EM machines cannot be confirmed from available records.