Play The Joker
About This Machine
Play The Joker, manufactured by Sterling Novelty Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio in March 1932, is a pure mechanical (PM) pin table from pinball's earliest commercial era, predating the electromechanical machines that would follow later in the decade.
According to a period Billboard advertisement, Play The Joker was designed for two players, who could play for the same five-cent coin insertion — a notable value proposition for the time. As a pin table, it featured removable legs, and a counter-top version was also released by the same company (under a slightly different company name) as "Play the Joker."
Little further information is available about Play The Joker's specific playfield layout or design details. As an early two-player pinball offering from Sterling Novelty, it reflects the experimentation with pricing and player format that characterized the format's formative years.