Equity

Equity, released by the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago in February 1935, is an early electro-mechanical payout machine from the first decade of coin-operated pinball. Mills, a company active in the coin-machine trade from 1932 to 1942, built Equity as a one-ball game: a single ball cost five cents, and rather than simply awarding points, the machine paid out coins directly from a locking metal payout tray mounted on the lower front of its wood cabinet.

The payout rules give Equity its character. Eight consecutive misses pays the player eight coins, softening the sting of a losing streak, while the machine's headline prize is the Gold Award hole, which pays a gold token worth 100 coins. Features like these place Equity firmly in the payout-game tradition of the mid-1930s, when the line between pinball and gambling equipment was still being drawn.

While little is recorded about the design or artwork behind Equity, its electro-mechanical construction offers a glimpse into the early days of pinball, when physical mechanisms, relays, and electrical contacts controlled the game. It is as much a product of its time as it is a milestone in the evolution of coin-operated amusement.