Chicago Coin Machine Co.

Chicago Coin Machine Company was one of the early major manufacturers of pinball games and founded in Chicago, Illinois. The company was first a label and then a division of Chicago Dynamic Industries which was founded in 1931 by Samuel H. Gensburg to operate in the coin-operated amusement industry. Sam Gensburg founded Chicago Dynamic Industries after a stint as the co-founder of 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 Sam decided to enter that business by establishing Chicago Dynamic Industries with the label Chicago Coin to use on its products. The company initially started off by making replacement boards for early pinball games before creating the Blackstone machine in 1933, which was manufactured with a partner named Stoner. Chicago Coin made beautiful addicting art-deco amusements that were a lot of fun to play, including the Midget Skee Ball, Basketball Champ and All Star Hockey. Chicago Coin merged with Genco Manufacturing in 1959. In the late 1960s Chicago Coin introduced the game "Speedway" and wanted to set the machine to one play per quarter, but operators initially balked and asked for two plays per quarter. Chicago Coin therefore tested the game both ways and discovered both models received roughly equal play, which meant the quarter play machine took in twice the money since a single coin bought half the playtime. Speedway consequently shipped with one play per quarter, cementing a new price point that would persist for over twenty years. In 1977, brothers Gary Stern and Sam Stern purchased the assets of the Chicago Coin and formed Stern Electronics, Inc.

Chicago Coin Machine Co. released 317 machines. (1931 - 1977) - Below are some examples from The Torrence Collection.

1940S CHICAGO COIN SHUFFLE BASEBALL

Extremely rare! Only one known example to exist. Early 1940s Chicago Coin Shuffle Baseball in pristine original perfect working condition. First rate art deco vintage baseball themed shuffle with illuminated animated base runners in the head.

1941 CHICAGO COIN ALL STAR HOCKEY

Extremely rare. What a truly beautiful art deco machine. Another super fun and entertaining sports manikin game. Fantastic condition, fun, works perfectly and you can play against yourself. Great Americana piece and a must have for the hockey or sports coin op collector.

1945 CHICAGO COIN GOALEE

Extremely rare and operates on a nickel. One or two players. Each player turns their dedicated handle to control their respective manikin goalie. Each handle spins the manikin goalie in the effort of hit the small steel ball and scoring goals. A very desirable game.

1947 CHICAGO COIN BASKETBALL CHAMP

Chicago Coin's Basketball Champ is always a crowd favorite and a game that should be in all vintage arcade collections. Jon has owned and restored several of these and have loved every one of them. The player controls the manikin that shoots the ball, who automatically turns to get a ball from the feeding tube, then automatically turns into the shooting position. The player controls the manikin's shot by squeezing the shooting handle. The player has to control how hard the ball is released into the air, by the force he uses when squeezing the handle. The defensive manikin does move left and right (using a motor) and raises his arms to block the offensive shot. After the manikin shoots, he automatically turns towards the ball feeding tube to get another ball. 15 balls for a nickel. An art deco game that is a ton of fun!

1947 CHICAGO COIN BASKETBALL CHAMP

2nd example of Chicago Coin's Basketball Champ. Always a crowd favorite and a game that should be in all vintage arcade collections. Jon has owned and restored several of these and have loved every one of them. The player controls the manikin that shoots the ball, who automatically turns to get a ball from the feeding tube, then automatically turns into the shooting position. The player controls the manikin's shot by squeezing the shooting handle. The player has to control how hard the ball is released into the air, by the force he uses when squeezing the handle. The defensive manikin does move left and right (using a motor) and raises his arms to block the offensive shot. After the manikin shoots, he automatically turns towards the ball feeding tube to get another ball. 15 balls for a nickel. An art deco game that is a ton of fun!

1947 CHICAGO COIN BASKETBALL CHAMP

Third example of Chicago Coin's Basketball Champ. Always a crowd favorite and a game that should be in all vintage arcade collections. Jon has owned and restored several of these and have loved every one of them. The player controls the manikin that shoots the ball, who automatically turns to get a ball from the feeding tube, then automatically turns into the shooting position. The player controls the manikin's shot by squeezing the shooting handle. The player has to control how hard the ball is released into the air, by the force he uses when squeezing the handle. The defensive manikin does move left and right (using a motor) and raises his arms to block the offensive shot. After the manikin shoots, he automatically turns towards the ball feeding tube to get another ball. 15 balls for a nickel. An art deco game that is a ton of fun!

1947 CHICAGO COIN PISTOL CHAMP

Beautiful Art Deco cabinet design. It's a cross between a beautiful piece of furniture and a great arcade piece. You rarely see Pistol Champ that is in this type of condition. Chicago Coin's first shooting gallery game. Four animal targets. 15 shots for a nickel. In perfect working order and a beautiful piece of Americana!

1949 CHICAGO COIN MIDGET SKEE BALL

One of the favorites in the Torrence Collection. A must have for any serious manikin vintage coin op collector. This is a single player game. The ball is automatically fed up and then the manikin automatically turns to get the ball from the feeding tube, then automatically turns into the shooting position. The player squeezes the handle, and the manikin releases the ball in the air towards the target area. The player has to control how hard the ball is released into the air, by the force he uses when squeezing the handle. 15 balls for a nickel. A very pretty art deco design and in museum quality!

1949 CHICAGO COIN MIDGET SKEE BALL

2nd example and in pristine working order. The collection has been fortunate enough to have had three of these wonderful machines. Always a favorite. A must have for any serious manikin vintage coin op collector. This is a single player game. The ball is automatically fed up and then the manikin automatically turns to get the ball from the feeding tube, then automatically turns into the shooting position. The player squeezes the handle, and the manikin releases the ball in the air towards the target area. The player has to control how hard the ball is released into the air, by the force the player uses when squeezing the handle. 15 balls for a nickel.

1949 CHICAGO COIN CHAMPION

Rare vintage basketball themed woodrail. Five balls for a nickel. Art deco themed artwork on the playfield. Two flippers, four pop bumpers and four passive bumpers.

1951 CHICAGO COIN KING PIN

Extremely unique and rare woodrail pinball with the deluxe console cabinet and reverse flippers. Bowling themed manikin pinball with animated "Fly-Away" pins. Each pop bumper reflects a pin and when the bumpers are hit, the manikin pins retract (fly-away pins). Interesting game that is a pinball and a shuffle alley combined.

1952 CHICAGO COIN 4 PLAYER DERBY

Super rare and a very unique game. Very few games, if any, can four players compete at the same time and have this much fun! Use the plunger to shoot a ball, trying to shoot for the highest point alley. Higher points make the player's horse go further. The first horse to the end wins. In case of a tie, the highest points total wins. Truly one of the best and fun themed games ever made.

1954 CHICAGO COIN SUPER HOME RUN

Rare and nicely restored. Awesome pitch and bat baseball themed game made by Chicago Coin. One to six players capable of playing with individual scoring for each player illuminated in the head. There is a total of eight skill holes that are either outs, singles, a double, a triple or a home run. There is a home run triple deck.

1958 CHICAGO COIN BATTER UP

Only three known in existence! This vintage baseball themed one of a kind uses playfield light animation instead of a steel ball to show ball being pitched and batted, has playfield manikins, uses a mirror to make the playfield seem "deeper". Back glass has light animation that shows runner moving from base to base. The Batter Up does not use any balls and there's no pitching or batting mechanism seen by the player. Instead, everything is done 'virtually' and with moving lights.

1961 CHICAGO COIN LONG RANGE RIFLE GALLERY

Another fun and interesting shooting gallery. Very similar to the World's Fair Rifle Gallery. The Long Range Rifle Gallery came out in 1961 and its claim to fame was the use of a mirror to give the illusion of aiming at targets that are 15 feet away. Clown and circus themed with moving targets. The very next year Chicago Coin came out with the World's Fair and double reflective mirrors that give the player the illusion of shooting targets 20 feet away.

1962 CHICAGO COIN WORLD'S FAIR RIFLE GALLERY

Another rare and an interesting shooting gallery. World's fair themed, with both moving and spinning targets. The unique feature to this game is the double reflective mirrors that gives the player the illusion of shooting targets 20 feet away. A unique art deco shooting gallery.

1965 CHICAGO COIN SUPER PAR GOLF

Game play is very realistic to golf. Actually, has a manikin golfer that hits the ball like a conventional pitch and bat. First the left side of the back glass is lit for the "drive". You play nine holes and there are targets across the back of the playfield representing drives of different yardage (100 to 250 yards). Then the back glass lights up the "putt" side, and the rear playfield targets now represent the number of putts played to sink this hole. After one "putt" pitch and bat, the putt number (one to four) is added to the score ("1" putt stroke is the center target). The game then advances to the next hole and the back glass goes back to "drive". The object is to get the lowest number of strokes for the nine holes. This game works to perfection and is in pristine condition!

1967 CHICAGO COIN ALL AMERICAN BASKETBALL

A very fun and rare arcade game. A basketball themed shuffle alley. One or two players. The goal is to hit the rollover switch lights by sliding the metal puck across the playfield. With each hit made, the back glass animation must also score a basket from the kickout hole. A very unique and challenging game. Twenty shots per game, consisting of two halves with points increasing as the game goes into the second half.

1976 CHICAGO COIN SHOOT OUT

A fantastic vintage western themed arcade shooting gallery. Great black light themed gun fight in the streets of the old west. Game is timed at one minute with unlimited shots. If you score 3000 points, you get another minute. Targets appear one at a time, popping up from behind a barrel or in a window and you have a few seconds to shoot the target. Each hit target is worth 100 points. There are two moving light animated targets. One that appears above Saloon doors. The other appears as a hologram in the foreground by the barrel. If hit it changes directions. Can be hit repeatedly, changing directions with each hit. There is also a "shoot out" where a relay pulls in and activates just the right sound channel repeating the phrase, "Get Ready for the Big Shoot Out" for about 5 seconds. Then a cowboy with a gun appears in the opening of the saloon doors. If you shoot quickly before he shoots you, the cowboy falls down and a light turns on saying "you got him". If you are not fast enough another light goes on that says, "he got you". Shooting the cowboy first is worth 500 points.