Army and Navy

Army and Navy, designed by Bill Huenergardt and manufactured by Rock-ola in December 1934, is a charming artifact of pinball's purely mechanical era. Notably, it is one of the last fully mechanical pinball machines Rock-ola produced, built with a wood-finish playfield just as the industry was moving toward electrically powered features. Its football theme made it a natural fit for American audiences, and Rock-ola revisited the concept with its 1935 'Gold Top Army and Navy'.

The gameplay mechanics are what set Army and Navy apart. Players get 10 balls for five cents, shooting into an upper playfield studded with 15 gobble holes while a single ball in play is recycled. The machine's signature feature is a yellow 'football' in the lower playfield that sits on a chain: depending on which hole the player scores up top, the football advances 20, 40, or 60 yards across a painted football field. When the football reaches an end zone it falls into a scoring hole, adding 6 points for a touchdown (or 3 for a field goal) to the score reel, and is then kicked back up onto the chain at the 50-yard line, ready for the next drive. The kicker mechanism beneath the playfield is powered by the motion of the ball lift lever, resetting each time the player lifts the next ball to the shooter alley.

This clever all-mechanical simulation of a football game makes Army and Navy a standout piece of pinball history. It stands as a testament to designers like Huenergardt who wrung remarkable gameplay out of nothing but gravity, springs, and linkages.