Cherry Reel Football Board

The Cherry Reel Football Board, made by Lucky Star Manufacturing Company of Baltimore, Maryland in 1932, is an early example of pinball ingenuity -- though it wasn't sold as a complete machine. It was a $5.50 replacement playfield, a conversion kit meant to be installed into existing games such as Lucky Star Manufacturing's own 'Lucky Star', 'Ballyhoo', Lucky Strike Manufacturing's 'Lucky Strike', and Royal Novelty's 'Jostle'. This Pure Mechanical (PM) playfield predates the electromechanical era that would soon dominate the industry.

The Cherry Reel Football Board's selling point was its three-in-one gameplay, advertised as a high-score pin game, a game of football, and a "ten ball spinning over the cherry reels" feature. The playfield has no moving parts; instead, 38 trap holes are arranged in a 3-by-12 matrix meant to simulate rows of slot-machine reels, with four separate outholes at the bottom and two special stars marking a 'double score' hole and a 'lost ball takes field' hole.

The playfield's design is built around its "Lucky Star" branding and three-star layout, distinguishing it from the manufacturer's related single-star version used only in their own counter game. While little is known about the kit's designer, its existence as an interchangeable replacement playfield offers an interesting look at how manufacturers extended the life of existing cabinets in the early 1930s.