Nordamatic

Nordamatic was a short-lived Swedish pinball manufacturer based in Stockholm, active primarily in the early 1970s. Although precise details regarding its founders remain unclear, Nordamatic emerged at a time when the European pinball scene was experiencing gradual expansion, with smaller regional players joining established manufacturers. The company aimed to capitalize on a growing market in Scandinavia by providing locally branded machines in an era largely dominated by international exports.

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One of Nordamatic’s earliest documented releases was “Cosmos,” produced around 1971 in collaboration with Rally Rekord of France. Another noteworthy title was “Trick Shooter” (1974), co-branded with the Spanish firm Playmatic (also known as Recel S.A.). These partnerships underscored a common practice in European pinball manufacturing during the period, whereby smaller companies formed agreements with better-resourced firms for design, parts, and distribution. This strategy allowed Nordamatic to place its name on games that might otherwise have been inaccessible to the Swedish market.

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Despite its collaborative efforts, Nordamatic never attained widespread international prominence and is believed to have ceased operations in the mid-1970s. The exact reasons for its closure are not thoroughly documented, but shifts in technology—marked by the advent of solid-state machines—and the dominance of larger competitors made sustained growth difficult. Although brief in its tenure, Nordamatic’s presence represents an intriguing facet of the European pinball industry’s history, illustrating both the potential and challenges faced by smaller manufacturers seeking to establish local footholds during a transformative period in pinball’s evolution.