Flamingo

The Flamingo, manufactured by Williams in July 1947, is an early example of the company's electro-mechanical (EM) output - just its ninth model. Notably, it is a flipperless game released in the very year the flipper made its debut on Gottlieb's Humpty Dumpty, making it a snapshot of pinball at the exact moment the game was about to change forever.

The machine carries a happiness and travel theme and boasts 11 passive bumpers, common in games of this era, along with four kick-out holes that eject the ball back into play. While simple by modern standards, these features show how designers of the period used electro-mechanical components to keep the ball moving and the player engaged.

A small piece of trivia: the backglass incorrectly uses an apostrophe in the manufacturer's name. As an early Williams title from the immediate post-war years, the Flamingo offers pinball enthusiasts a glimpse of the company's formative period, before it grew into one of the industry's giants.