G. M. Laboratories, Incorporated

G. M. Laboratories, Incorporated was a Chicago manufacturer with a remarkably inventive but short-lived pinball presence in 1935 and 1936. Only eight titles are presently cataloged, yet the line is unusually rich in mechanical ideas: Builder Upper uses multiball and a rotating carousel mechanism, Par Golf turns scoring into a sequential golf challenge, Shoot the Chutes combines captive balls and lighted action, and Soccer uses miniature kicking figures to send the ball toward the goal. With the exception of Junior, the company’s output was predominantly Electromechanical.

That concentration of feature-driven designs gives G. M. Laboratories a profile larger than its production totals suggest. Its games belong to the mid-1930s moment when pinball makers were rapidly adding electricity, moving parts, and more elaborate rule concepts in order to stand out in a crowded Chicago market. Even without a long corporate history in pinball, G. M. Laboratories stands out as one of the period’s more mechanically ambitious minor manufacturers.