Double Play

Double Play, produced by the Exhibit Supply Company of Chicago in May 1941, is a flipperless electro-mechanical pinball machine with a baseball theme. Released just months before America's entry into World War II halted game production, it belongs to the last generation of pre-war pinball.

As a flipperless game, Double Play offered no direct control over the ball once it left the plunger. Instead, the playfield's twelve passive bumpers shaped the ball's path as it worked its way down toward the scoring areas, with the player's skill expressed mainly through the strength of the initial shot. The baseball theme tied the game's scoring to America's pastime, a perennial favorite subject for coin-op machines.

No designer is documented for Double Play, and little else is recorded about the machine. It remains an intriguing find for pinball enthusiasts, offering a chance to experience the pre-flipper era of the game from one of Chicago's longer-lived coin-op manufacturers.