HI-LO

The HI-LO is a rare and intriguing pure mechanical pinball machine, shrouded in mystery due to its unknown manufacturer and exact release year. Its most distinctive feature is its use of marbles instead of standard steel balls: ten are used for play at a cost of 5 cents, made up of one blue marble, two burgundy marbles, and seven white ones, likely used to visually distinguish scoring or bonus balls during play.

Beyond the marble color scheme, few gameplay details have been documented for the HI-LO. One known example was missing its coin box, meaning coins inserted through the coin slide would simply drop through to the floor rather than being collected - a quirk of the specific surviving unit rather than the original design.

As one of many unattributed pure mechanical machines from pinball's early history, HI-LO offers collectors a glimpse into an era when countless small operators and manufacturers produced simple coin-operated amusements, many of which - like this one - have lost their maker's identity to time.