Fortune

Fortune, manufactured by Rock-ola Manufacturing Corporation in January 1936, is a rare artifact from the brief period when this Chicago company, later famous for its jukeboxes, was in the pinball business. Rock-ola produced pin games only from 1932 to 1938, which makes any surviving example of its output an interesting piece for collectors and enthusiasts.

Fortune is a single-player electro-mechanical payout machine, part of the gambling-style branch of 1930s pinball in which a winning ball could return coins to the player. Specific details about its playfield layout and rules are scarce, but as a flipperless game of its era it would have relied on the plunger shot and the luck of the bounce rather than player-controlled flippers, which would not be invented until 1947.

The machine carries an "Affluence - City Buildings" theme, evoking prosperity and the big-city skyline, an aspirational choice for a Depression-era gambling game. No information is available about the designer, but Fortune's rarity and its place in Rock-ola's short-lived pinball chapter make it a noteworthy glimpse into the early days of the game's evolution.