Bikini

The Thames Mfg. Co.'s Bikini, produced under the TACO trade name, is an electro-mechanical (EM) conversion built from United's 1947 flipperless game 'Mexico.' Thames advertised in a February 1950 Billboard ad seeking flipperless games to convert into flipper-equipped machines, and Bikini appears to be one of these TACO conversions — its paper apron is stamped 'A TACO Conversion.'

Bikini's most striking element is its backglass, which depicts a nuclear bomb detonation over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands — the real-world site the United States used for nuclear weapons testing from 1946 to 1958. It's an unusually stark image for a pinball backglass and gives the machine its historical, military theme, a departure from the lighter fare typical of the era.

Gameplay offers five balls for five cents, with two flippers, two pop bumpers, six passive bumpers, four kick-out holes, two tower bumpers, and two rollover buttons — a dense, feature-rich layout typical of early flipper conversions. Beyond these specifications, little else is documented about the machine's designer or original release details, leaving Bikini a fascinating artifact bridging pinball history and Cold War-era iconography.