Lightning (44, New Style)

The Exhibit Supply Company's 1934 Lightning (44, New Style) is a redesigned follow-up to ESCO's original 'Lightning', the company's first pin table and first electromechanical (EM) game, designed by Harry Williams. This version features a new, red upper playfield, a new name panel, and a two-tone cabinet with a diagonal stripe, distinguishing it from the earlier 'First Style' game.

Gameplay on Lightning follows the conventions of pre-flipper pinball: a spring-launched metal ball travels through a fixed arrangement of pins, bumpers, and obstacles, with players earning points based on where the ball comes to rest, rather than actively controlling it with flippers -- a mechanism that would not be invented for another decade or more. Electromechanical components such as relays and solenoids, still novel at the time, allowed for more complex scoring than purely mechanical predecessors.

The cabinet's dimensions were advertised as 44 inches long and 21 inches wide. Little is documented about the specific theme or artistic intentions behind this early design, but as one of Exhibit Supply's earliest EM machines, Lightning (44, New Style) remains a meaningful artifact of pinball's formative years.