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Rock-ola Manufacturing Corporation is best remembered today as one of the great American jukebox manufacturers, but the company was also a significant early producer of pinball machines. Founded by [[person:david-rockola]] — a Canadian-born entrepreneur whose surname, through a twist of industrial history, became synonymous with rock and roll music — Rock-ola entered the pin game market in 1932 and produced over fifty titles before shifting its focus to other amusement categories by the late 1930s. Rock-ola's pinball catalog spans the industry's formative years, beginning with [[technology-generation:pure-mechanical]] games like [[title:juggle-ball]] and [[title:ballyhoo-2]] (both 1932) and progressing through the rapid adoption of electric scoring and solenoid-driven features that transformed the medium during the mid-1930s. The company's [[technology-generation:electromechanical]] machines competed for operator placements alongside those of [[manufacturer:gottlieb]], [[manufacturer:genco]], [[manufacturer:keeney]], and the other Chicago firms that dominated the early industry. By the late 1930s, Rock-ola had largely moved on from pinball to concentrate on jukeboxes and other coin-operated amusements, where the company would achieve its lasting fame. David Rockola's firm survived well into the postwar decades as a major force in the jukebox business — a trajectory that makes the company's early pinball work an interesting footnote in a larger industrial story, and a reminder of how many of Chicago's amusement manufacturers moved fluidly between product categories during the industry's pioneering era.

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Rock-ola Manufacturing Corporation

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rock-ola-manufacturing-corporation