Do-Re-Mi

The Exhibit Supply Company's Do-Re-Mi, released in April 1941, is a flipperless electro-mechanical game with a cheerful music, singing, and dancing theme. Produced by the Chicago firm known by its trade name ESCO, it arrived in the final stretch of pinball production before America's entry into World War II halted the industry.

Do-Re-Mi boasts a surprisingly rich rule set for its era, built around 13 passive bumpers. Five numbered bumpers score 1,000 points each, and six bumpers spell out D-O-R-E-M-I, scoring 1,000 points each only when not lit. A '5000 When Lit' bumper and a 'Solo' bumper round out the layout. Hitting all five numbered bumpers lights the '5000 When Lit' bumper; completing the numbered bumpers plus all the D-O-R-E-M-I bumpers awards five replays. The real prize comes from hitting the numbered bumpers, the D-O-R-E-M-I bumpers, and the Solo bumper, which qualifies the bottom middle rollover to award a Jack Pot of 25, 45, or 90 replays depending on the operator's setting - a strikingly generous award structure for 1941.

The machine's designer is not documented, and the game has appeared in some pinball resources under the alternate spelling 'Do Re Me'. Its layered, replay-driven rules make it an interesting study for historians of pre-war pinball, showing how much scoring depth manufacturers could wring from a playfield of passive bumpers years before the flipper existed.