1932 Time Capsules

In Minneapolis in the 1930's a guy who owned a cab company purchased these three games and put them in the break area for the cabbies to use (the cabbies may have chipped in some too, at least by spending their money to play them). About 20 years ago, the owner was downsizing and sold these three games to another gentleman, and today I bought them from him, making me the third owner.

The Whizz-Bang is a Model C, and the Baffle Ball is the counter model.

The Hi-Skor isn't pictured in IPDB (yet!), so this might be the first time anyone's seen one for quite a long time.

I guess I'm back to collecting 1930's games now, having doubled my collection of them in one go.

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#2 8 years ago

DK

Pinball Naples

12y 155K 4,879 129 3

Awesome stuff!

#3 8 years ago

RON

manitouguy

Inactive member

Vancouver, BC

10y 53,050 953 4 9

Very nice! Good for you
I've been looking for a donor baffle ball as all the bits are the same as used on my '32 king pin too

#4 8 years ago

???

LyonsRonnie1

Pinside member

Rock Hill, SC

9y 34,550 662

These machines look great! Glad they found a good home.

#5 8 years ago

JTK

Captain_Kirk

Inactive member

Very cool. I'm looking to add an early 30's pin to my collection at some point.

#6 8 years ago

aeneas

Flippers.be

11y 76,050 1,525

Nice find ! and great to know the history.

#7 8 years ago

DDS

presqueisle

Inactive member

Presque Isle, WI

11y 92,550 1,994 10 18

Very cool DF. Go back any further and you'll be a 'flapper' and not a 'flipper'.

#8 8 years ago

JSG

oldcarz

Pinside+ Addict

Holland, PA

10y 71,400 478 27 6

Very nice. I, too, like some of the early table top games. They are fun and I like using some old Indian Head pennies with them...

Interesting...your Baffle Ball looks very similar to the 1932 Pace(?) Lucky Strike. Although the sticker says "The Vending Machine Company"

I noticed that several companies made similar machines. My Five Jack's was made by Rockola, other's by Fields...The Steeplechase, too, had several variations.

Good luck with yours!

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#9 8 years ago

Shapeshifter

Pinside member

13y 150K 10,470 8 144

Nice pick up's! Entertainment 1930's style

#10 8 years ago

NWB

bingopodcast

For Amusement Only Games

Richmond, VA

11y 131K 5,844 26 9

Very nice Baffle Ball example! And that Whizz-Bang looks like a devilish layout.

#11 8 years ago

JTK

Captain_Kirk

Inactive member

Man, I would love to have been able to go into a 1930's pinball arcade. A time when gentlemen dressed up to play pinball. A far cry from the 70's and 80's arcades!

1930_Pinball_(resized).jpg

#12 8 years ago

FJB

jasonp

Pinside member

Wesley Chapel, NC

10y 91,050 1,257 7

Put some sweet toppers and LED'S in those and they will be perfect!!!

#13 8 years ago

WRD

way2wyrd

History Of Pinball

Fort Worth, TX

13y 116K 4,917 21 12

Very Nice!
At TPF this year ill be hosting a PreWar booth and we will have 7 playable games on display.

Come on down and bring yours!

--Jeff

#14 8 years ago

LEP

jjpm

Inactive member

Milford, CT

9y 24,900 212 10 10

Those all look to be in great shape. Congratulations!

#15 8 years ago

ULL

ullsokken

Inactive member

Svarstad

10y 25,150 70 3

I like the WHIZZ-BANG the best, it has awesome patina. Too bad the top of the wood frame is gone?
So will there be any videos of these?

#16 8 years ago

JTK

Captain_Kirk

Inactive member

Yes...videos please.

#17 8 years ago

WEN

jrpinball

Pinside+ Addict

10y 115K 10,722

Nice find, Dirt!

#18 8 years ago

???

LyonsRonnie1

Pinside member

Rock Hill, SC

9y 34,550 662

Quoted from Captain_Kirk:
Man, I would love to have been able to go into a 1930's pinball arcade. A time when gentlemen dressed up to play pinball. A far cry from the 70's and 80's arcades!

1930_Pinball_(resized).jpg

I've always loved that picture, you can just imagine what was going on. So there's like 30 or 40 machines in there, and they were all basically gambling on them, the one i've got from the early 30's has a bunch of lights that light up on the back, if you win, there's a little window to show that the last nickel you put in was real instead of a slug... so I guess if you won, you'd have to go over to the guy running the joint and have him walk back over and check your machine... on mine the lights turn themselves off after about 10 seconds, and if you press the coin mech back in, and press the ball load it makes the lights come back on. I guess you'd have to make sure one of those other well-dressed jerks didn't steal your free game before you got back, lol.

It must have been such a different world back then, before computers and cellphones and even television.

#19 8 years ago

GTB

DirtFlipper

Inactive member

Quoted from Captain_Kirk:
Man, I would love to have been able to go into a 1930's pinball arcade. A time when gentlemen dressed up to play pinball. A far cry from the 70's and 80's arcades!

1930_Pinball_(resized).jpg

This a great picture - thanks for sharing it. The game in the lower left is a Rockola Jig-Saw, and then there are two pairs of games I've not ID'd yet, but I'd guess are 1935-ish vintage. The rest lack detail to ID.

The guys in the middle who are standing in between the games seem to be monitoring the games/gameplay, and I'd guess are tallying scores and validating them. There may have been awards for high play.

Pinball in the 1930s was a big deal. Jig-Saw alone had around 70,000 made. And the number of manufacturers was staggering. It was like the smartphone 'app' of the era.

#20 8 years ago

GTB

DirtFlipper

Inactive member

Quoted from way2wyrd:
Very Nice!
At TPF this year ill be hosting a PreWar booth and we will have 7 playable games on display.
Come on down and bring yours!
--Jeff

You'll have to dress the part, hat and all then. And show up in a gangster car.

(I'll set up a booth here in spirit.)

#21 8 years ago

GTB

DirtFlipper

Inactive member

Quoted from ullsokken:
I like the WHIZZ-BANG the best, it has awesome patina. Too bad the top of the wood frame is gone?
So will there be any videos of these?

Thanks - the premium condition and patina on these was the major draw. It is difficult to find games from this early period that are complete and unmolested, and these even have what appear to be the original balls with them still. That top lockdown bar on Whizz-Bang is the only piece missing among them, as far as I can tell. But I can get a replacement fabricated, and it will blend in.

Gottlieb made three models of Whizz-Bang concurrently (A, B, and C), with this being model C. Model B is the wildest one, graphically.

#22 8 years ago

JJK

hawkmoon

Pinside+ Addict

9y 84,650 3,119 13 8 1 1

Well,children,in my young world,computers,cell phones,and just BW tv to watch,was the time!!Cell phones came into existence,cause people are so f,,,,d up!Computers are mostly for hackers,and now you buy a new tv every 5 years! You have to protect your atm cards in a special wallet,or some ass...e will scan it through your jeans,cars drive themselves cause so many humans from other places that have never had a car,now own two,but no CLUE how to drive,let alone speak our language!! The future??More very stupid people!!!

#23 8 years ago

DDS

presqueisle

Inactive member

Presque Isle, WI

11y 92,550 1,994 10 18

You forgot to say "...and get off my lawn!".

#24 8 years ago

JTK

Captain_Kirk

Inactive member