- ipdb.corporate_entity_name
- A. L. Randall Company, Standard Games Dept.
- ipdb_id
- 6052
- ipdb.image_urls
- ["https://www.ipdb.org/images/6052/image-1.jpg"]
- ipdb.manufacturer_trade_name
- Standard Table Company
- ipdb.notable_features
- The playfield was advertised as 40 3/4 inches long and 23 inches wide.
- ipdb.notes
- The advertised price for one machine was $89.50.
The manufacturer referred to its interchangeable playfields as "tops" and an Automatic World advertisement from 1932 (not shown here) indicates that the measurements we display in this listing are its "top size" (the playfield only, not the cabinet itself). This ad also states:
Our exclusive interchangeable top feature enables you to change from one pin game to another at a very small expense. We have a large selection of tops available at all times. When the game on a certain top seems to lag - pep it up and make it an entirely new game by inserting a new top. Interchangeable tops are available for all tables in numerous designs at $5 each.
While this ad states numerous tops existed for each of their three cabinet models of 'Skill Ball', the only picture ads we have found of their interchangeable tops show only three of them, pictured next to the three cabinet models, each top displayed in the ad to possibly suggest it belonged only to the cabinet model pictured nearest it. In the Encyclopedia of Pinball Volume 1, only three tops are listed in an Index, as 'Loop Top', 'Cross Top', and 'Board Top'. Without knowing the measurements of these specific tops, it is hard to conclude which of them are interchangeable with any cabinet model.
The ad also states the 'Combination' model is "Interchangeable from pool to pin table in a few minutes, comes complete with all accessories, balls, cues, etc." It does not mention a flat billiard playing surface. We presume from the ad images of this model that the two cue sticks are for two players who would walk around the perimeter of the 'pool table' looking to make shots, just as they would a regulation-size billiard table. That could only mean that the inclined pin-studded playfield shown in the pool table cabinet would be completely impractical for an actual game of pool. Because these ads are promoting the pin game use of this 'Combination' model, perhaps it was left to be implied that this model would come with a flat (and felt-covered) interchangeable billiard playing surface.
- month
- 3
- player_count
- 1
- technology_generation
- pure-mechanical
- year
- 1932