Hercules Novelty Company, Incorporated

Hercules Novelty Company, Incorporated was one of the earliest Chicago firms to enter the pinball field, producing a brief but important run of ten Pure Mechanical games between 1931 and 1932. Its catalog centers on compact countertop and stand models such as Ace Is High, Roll-A-Ball, Spot A Ball, New Moon, and The Joy Game, all representative of the small, inexpensive amusement pieces that carried pinball out of the bagatelle tradition and into the coin-op market.

Hercules is best remembered for Double-Shuffle (Junior) and Double-Shuffle (Senior), unusual 1932 games that replaced the usual plunger-only experience with player-operated mechanical batters. In histories of the game, Double-Shuffle is often treated as a notable precursor to the later flipper concept: not a modern flipper game, but a clear early attempt to give the player active control over the ball after launch. That experimental streak makes Hercules more significant than its short production window might suggest. Its machines belong to pinball’s founding moment, when Chicago manufacturers were still inventing what the form could be.