| 007-Flipper / IPD No. 5443 / 2 Players | [ Submit Changes ] |
Germany [Trade Name: Lumet]
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This is a head-to-head game where two players at opposite ends of the playfield compete in simultaneous play. Each player has flipper buttons which control only those flippers facing the opponent.
One of the two versions pictured here carries a plate designating it Model 502 with serial number 3305. It has a two-color playfield (half-green and half-yellow-green) with two posts and four flippers. Four inserts, two green and two red, briefly light simultaneously at the start and end of each game, accompanied by a buzzing sound. For each player, the flippers activate simultaneously by pressing either left or right flipper button, and this allows the player’s other hand to operate the large swivel handle that controls the goalie (aka the "Torkanone"), moving it back and forth to defensively block the opponent’s ball. Pressing the red button on the handle makes the goalie kick the ball towards the opponent as an offensive maneuver. Two posts are placed at the center line, but close to each side wall, to stay out of the way of most of the power shots. The playfield has several decals depicting women in various clothing unrelated to sports, but these decals were actually part of the intended product as evidenced by their appearance on the game in the distributor’s flyer. (It may have been the distributor’s idea to add the decals, and we have no manufacturer flyer with which to compare.) The game owner advised us that game play lasts about 100 seconds, and that the ball weighs 10g and has a diameter of 2.48 cm. This game is the only example we found that has metal plates surrounding the flipper buttons. The owner removed the plates and found that one side of the cabinet had an extra hole for each player, the size of a flipper button. If the holes were an error of manufacture or indicative of a prototype design or other experimentation, the plates presumably were added to cover them and make this cabinet useful. The table top area containing the score counters is a solid red color. The distributor, Autronic Handels GmbH, advertised itself on this game more prominently than did the manufacturer, on a large adhesive sticker above the cabinet hinge, and on the paper instruction cards inserted at each end of the table top, where they inexplicably referred to this game as "007 TORFLIPPER", an appellation found nowhere else in our research.
According to a history webpage we found (no longer online, but we found another webpage), VEB Luckenwalde Metallwarenfabrik (Lumet) was created in either 1951 or 1952 as a result of a series of post-WWII reorganizations of metalworking factories in Germany. It was a publicly-owned company (Volkseigener Betriebe, or VEB) in East Germany that made, among other things, air pumps, gas lighters, and "the first automatic vending machines", although German initiative with vending machines goes back much further. Online we have found Lumet patents from 1959-60 for coin-operated vending machines. A Billboard article shown here and dated March 20, 1961 page 118 announced their entry into the production of pinball machines.
Lumet also made arcade games that used the same cabinets as shown here. Examples of these arcade games are "Toto-Fix" (football, or American soccer) and "Eishockey" (ice hockey), where there are movable "manikins" on the playfield, controlled by each player. The pinball cabinets shown here have an unused round metal fitting at each end where the protruding manikin controls were not needed. We have read of these arcade games having manufacture dates in the late 1950s (dates unconfirmed by us) and from this we speculate that it was economical for Lumet in 1961 to simply adapt their arcade cabinets for pinball use.
The other version pictured here has a single-color yellowish playfield, four flippers, and six posts. The table top area is red with no instruction cards. It has the swiveling goalie at each end so we presume that pressing either flipper button activates both flippers simultaneously. The playfield has no picture decals, a detail that sets it apart, and with its six posts placed in such a way as if to thwart many offensive power shots, we wonder if this game had an after-factory playfield swap from a Toto-Fix arcade game, one model of which used the same plain yellow playfield. The posts may have filled the holes vacated by the manikins.
We note that the games pictured here operate on 10 pfennig per play. We show a flyer produced by the distributor indicating play is 20 pfennig. Its black-and-white picture shows a game with a two-color playfield having eight dark-colored flippers and no external Torkanone control handle. In fact, a large metal plate has been placed over the areas where the control handle and unneeded arcade fitting would have been. The object that is visible between the flippers likely is a stationary post. The glass table top has a diamond-net pattern that the other games do not have. A date for this flyer was given to us unconfirmed as 1966. If that date is true, it could support an evolutionary timeline as suggested by the game it displays and the higher price to play it. We caution, however, that we have no confirmed dates for any of the versions in this listing.
Another version we have seen (not shown here) has a half-green, half-gold playfield, four dark red flippers, four inserts, two posts, and decals. Its diamond-net table top has instruction cards. Each player has the movable goalie and external handle but the cabinet does not have the residual round arcade fitting.
Here is the flyer translation:
2-Player-Competition-Flipper
007
Finally something new!
• Pricing 0,20 DM (20 Pfennig)
• Automatic Ball-Lift
• Test-Samples left a fascinated crowd of players and satisfied operators.
• 007 is the only 2-Player-Competition-Flipper of our time who indicates and proves the real skills of both players.
• Playing this machine shows always new surprises. No game is like the other, which improves the player's joy so they can't stop playing again and again.
• Extra-large cash-box, double-locked.
• Traditional, long-proved materials and wise engineers assure you a trouble-free operation and easy maintenance.
Size- 92cm x 50cm x 91cm
DM 1880,-
Lumet is reported to be the only manufacturer that produced pinball machines in East Germany. We invite more information about this game or other pinball games from this manufacturer.
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 Billboard Article* 696x717 [Rob Hawkins] |
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 Ball* 498x330 [Matthias Flügge] |
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 Service Access* 1200x1992 [Matthias Flügge] |
 Coin Entry* 1200x1600 [Matthias Flügge] |
 Player Control - Coin Side* 1200x900 [Matthias Flügge] |
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 Under Playfield* 1200x1600 [Matthias Flügge] |
 Ball Lift Mechanism* 1200x1600 [Matthias Flügge] |
 Ball Lift Mechanism* 1200x1600 [Matthias Flügge] |
 Goalie Mechanism* 1200x900 [Matthias Flügge] |
 Goalie Mechanism* 1200x1600 [Matthias Flügge] |
 Manufacturer Plate* 1200x700 [Matthias Flügge] |
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6.0/10 
