Chicago Coin was one of the early major manufacturers of

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

tables founded in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The company was founded in 1932 by Samuel H. Gensburg to operate in the coin-operated amusement industry. In 1977, Gary Stern and Sam Stern purchased the assets of the Chicago Coin Machine Division as it was then called to found Stern Electronics, Inc. They also produced various

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

s during the 1960s to 1970s.

History

Sam Gensburg founded Chicago Coin Machine Exchange with brother-in-law Sam Wolberg and third partner Lou Koren, a company which had a business of trade-ins for coin-operated games. In 1931, Sam Genburg's brothers Louis Gensburg, David Gensburg, and Meyer Gensburg had founded Genco as an amusement manufacturer and Samuel decided to enter that business by establishing Chicago Coin Machine Exchange. The company started off by making replacement boards for early pinball games before creating the table ''Blackstone'' (1933) which was manufactured by a partner named Stoner."The Early Pinball Books"
by Russ Jensen"Encyclopedia of Pinball Volume 2: Contact to Bumper 1934-1936" review by Tim Ferrante In 1957, the company changed its corporate name to Chicago Dynamic Industries, retaining Chicago Coin as a label of the company. Genco would remain a competitor with Chicago Coin until the companies merged in 1959. Though never a technologically-driven or innovative company, Chicago Coin was highly successful in the years preceding and immediately succeeding

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Their pinball table ''Beam-Lite'' (1935), which featured a lighted playfield, sold 5,703 units and their flipperless game ''Kilroy'' (1947) sold 8,800 units which was the highest selling pinball table up until the 1970s. The company also diversified in later years, creating sports tables and shuffle alleys.

1960s

They later manufactured various other

electro-mechanical game Electro-mechanical games (EM games) are types of arcade games that operate on a combination of some electronic circuitry and mechanical actions from the player to move items contained within the game's cabinet. Some of these were early light gun g ...

s (EM games) for

amusement arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as cl ...

s. In 1969, they manufactured ''Speedway'', a licensed North American version of racing game ''Indy 500'' (1968) from Japanese company Kasco. It resembled a prototypical arcade

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

, with an upright cabinet, yellow marquee, three-digit scoring, coin box, steering wheel, accelerator pedal, and

pseudo-3D 2.5D (two-and-a-half dimensional) perspective refers to gameplay or movement in a video game or virtual reality environment that is restricted to a two-dimensional (2D) plane with little to no access to a third dimension in a space that otherwise ...

first-person perspective. While Kasco's original ''Indy 500'' had sold over 2,000

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

s in Japan, ''Speedway'' went on to sell over 10,000 cabinets in North America, making it the biggest hit

in years, * and setting an arcade sales record that was not surpassed until the arrival of

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arca ...

s in the 1970s. Like

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

's ''

Periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

'' (1966), ''Speedway'' also charged a higher US quarter price point per play, further cementing quarter-play as the standard for North American arcade games for over two decades. Chicago Coin also adapted ''Speedway'' into a

motorcycle racing Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...

game, ''Motorcycle'', in 1970. ''Speedway'' had an influence on

Nolan Bushnell Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consume ...

, who as a college student worked at an arcade where he became familiar with EM games such as ''Speedway'', watching customers play and helping to maintain the machinery, while learning how it worked and developing his understanding of how the game business operates. When he founded

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

, Bushnell had originally planned to develop a driving video game, influenced by ''Speedway'' which at the time was the biggest-selling game at his arcade, but ended up developing ''

Pong ''Pong'' is a table tennis–themed twitch arcade sports video game, featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcor ...

'' (1972) instead; Atari eventually developed a driving video game later on, ''

Gran Trak 10 ''Gran Trak 10'' is an arcade driving video game developed by Atari through its subsidiary Cyan Engineering, and released by Atari in May 1974. In the game, a single player drives a car along a race track, viewed from above, avoiding walls of py ...

'' (1974).

1970s

In 1973, Chicago Coin was one of the many companies who created ''

'' (1972) clones with ''TV Ping Pong'' (1973). In subsequent years, the company took to licensing games from other manufacturers including ''TV Goalee'' (1974) from Australian Leisure & Allied Industries, ''Super Flipper'' (1975) (originally ''UFO'') from Model Racing of Italy, and ''Destruction Derby'' (1975) from

Exidy Exidy was a developer and manufacturer of coin-operated amusements. The company was founded by H.R. "Pete" Kauffman and Samuel Hawes in 1973. The name "Exidy" was a portmanteau of the words "Excellence in Dynamics". Notable games released by Exid ...

of California. As a result of entering the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

market, in 1974 Chicago Dynamic Industries was one of the many companies sued by Magnavox regarding patents related to the

Magnavox Odyssey The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September ...

(1972). Chicago Coin's ''TV Pingame'' (1973) was a digital video game adaptation of pinball that had a vertical playfield with a paddle at the bottom, controlled by a dial, with the screen filled with simple squares to represent obstacles, bumpers and pockets. This inspired a number of clones, including ''TV Flipper'' (1973) by

Midway Manufacturing Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included '' Mortal Kombat'', '' Rampage'', ''Spy Hunter'' ...

's ''TV Pinball'' (1974), and ''Pin Pong'' (1974) by

Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...

The latter replaced the dial controls with button controls.{{cite book , last1=Williams , first1=Andrew , title=History of Digital Games: Developments in Art, Design and Interaction , date=16 March 2017 , publisher=

CRC Press The CRC Press, LLC is an American publishing group that specializes in producing technical books. Many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics. Their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information tec ...

, isbn=978-1-317-50381-1 , pages=62-3 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xLVdDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 Following subsequent financial trouble, Chicago Dynamic Industries sold the assets of Chicago Coin which were incorporated into the new company Stern Electronics, Inc.

Notable pinballs

Chicago Coin tables are often lesser known than those made by

Gottlieb Gottlieb (formerly D. Gottlieb & Co.) was an American arcade game corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. History The main office and plant was located at 1140-50 N. Kostner Avenue until the early 1970s when a new modern plant and office was lo ...

, Williams, and

Bally Bally may refer to: Places *Bally, a historical spelling of Bali *Bally (from the Irish ''baile'') or townland, a traditional division of land, as well as a common prefix in the names of settlements throughout Ireland *Bally, Bally-Jagachha, a c ...

. Nonetheless, there were several Chicago Coin tables which stood out amongst the larger market. *''Sun Valley'' (1962) *''Bronco'' (1963) *''Stage Coach'' (1968) *''Casino'' (1972) *''Hee Haw'' (1973) *''Riviera'' (1973) *''Hi Flyer'' (1974) *''Gold Record'' (1975) *''Red Baron'' (1975) *''Hollywood'' (1976) *''Sound Stage'' (1976)

References

External links

Internet Pinball Database
Game manufacturers Pinball manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Chicago Defunct companies based in Chicago