Parlor Bagatelle (Two Star / Three Bell)

The Parlor Bagatelle (Two Star / Three Bell) is an early relic of pinball's ancestry, dating back to 1870 and manufactured by the M. Redgrave Bagatelle Company of Jersey City, New Jersey. As a Pure Mechanical (PM) bagatelle game, it predates true pinball by decades — flippers would not be invented until 1947 — and instead relies on a spring-loaded plunger to launch the ball into a field of pins and scoring holes.

Players control only the launch of the ball via the plunger mechanism; once in play, the ball's path is governed entirely by gravity and the fixed pins on the playfield, with no way to actively guide it. This game-of-chance-and-skill design is typical of bagatelle tables from this era.

The game's design is minimalist by necessity, reflecting the era's focus on functional simplicity over elaborate theming. The name "Parlor" suggests it may have been intended for home use rather than commercial coin-op locations, though this detail is not confirmed in available records.