Zipper

Zipper is a 1954 tabletop/counter game manufactured by Binks Industries, Inc. of Chicago, a company reportedly founded that same year by Mel Binks. As a Pure Mechanical (PM) game, it operates entirely without electronics, relying on physical mechanisms — a design approach still common for compact counter-top amusement games even as larger electro-mechanical pinball machines had become the norm elsewhere by the mid-1950s.

Zipper accepts five balls for one cent on its vertical playfield, includes a tilt mechanism, and dispenses ball gum as a novelty bonus. The cabinet is compact, advertised at just 17 inches high, 12 inches wide, and 9 inches deep — small enough for countertop placement, though examples are also found mounted on stands. Its name, 'Zipper,' is used alone in advertising even though the playfield also displays the word 'Skill' beneath it.

A near-identical sibling machine, Binks' 'Whiz-Bowler,' shares the same cabinet size and general style but uses a different playfield layout and ten balls instead of five. Little further information survives about Zipper's designer or original production numbers, but it remains an interesting example of small-format mechanical amusement games from the era.