Flip Skill

Flip Skill, made by the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago (active 1932-1942), is a mechanical arcade game from around 1938-1939 — sources differ on the exact date, though researcher Dick Bueschel dates it to February 1939. Despite sometimes being grouped with early pinball machines, IPDB explicitly notes that Flip Skill is not a pinball machine; it is included in the database for reference and clarification purposes only.

The game uses 8 flippers arranged to let the player flip a ball upward into a scoring hole at the top of the cabinet, with successful shots visible through a viewing window. It accepted 5 balls for either 1 cent or 5 cents, and its cabinet stands an estimated 32 inches tall.

Because it predates true pinball flipper design (which would not appear in pinball machines until 1947), Flip Skill is best understood as an early, related coin-operated skill game rather than a pinball machine itself. Little further information exists about its designer or original popularity.