Flicker

Flicker is an electro-mechanical payout machine from May 1936, produced by O. D. Jennings and Company of Chicago, a coin-op manufacturer active from 1932 to 1938. As a payout machine, Flicker belonged to the gambling side of the 1930s coin-op trade, where successful shots could return money to the player.

Its pricing structure is one of its more interesting documented details: the game offered 1 ball for 5 cents, and also 4 balls for 5 cents - two different play configurations from the same machine. This kind of flexibility reflects an era when manufacturers and operators were still experimenting with how these games should be priced and played.

Little else about Flicker's design, artwork, or development has been documented, but as a surviving record of a short-lived Chicago manufacturer, it offers a glimpse into the crowded and rapidly evolving coin-op marketplace of the mid-1930s.