1952 United 10th Frame Star Shuffle Alley

Description: Tenth Frame Star Shuffle Alley, United, 9/52. This game was made as a shuffle alley. But was it also the first ball bowler as an experiment by United? The 3" ball is returned to the player under the lane in an alley, and looks very factory to me on the example shown below. The game came with three 3" balls, which work well given the lane switch layout and distance between switches. Examine the pictures below and let me know what you think. Was it a factory experiment, or a conversion after the fact? I believe this was done at the factory (after all no carriage bolts or drywall screws were used!) Note the first 'official' ball bowler was United's 1956 Bowling Alley.


Flyer for the shuffle alley:

An experiment by United, or a conversion? I can't tell! It looks factory original to me. Could this be the first Ball Bowler?
Total length 9 foot 1 inch. Playfield is 20" from the ground. Note the end of alley switches are
missing. These are used on shuffle alleys to tell the game the puck has reached the end of the lane.
On this game instead a wood bar is behind the alley which the ball hits as it comes off the lane.
This single switched wood bar is what tells the game a shot has been thrown the length of the alley.


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