Sunday, January 15, 2023

Genco vertical games: 400, Silver Chest, and more

(The following information, photos and video were provided by pinball collector Joel Garblik, who graciously let me repost it here.)

Genco’s 400 and Silver Chest

It is my understanding that, between 1952 and 1953, Genco produced and distributed four upright games with vertical playfields. In 1952, “400” and “Jumpin’ Jacks” was made and in 1953, “Golden Nugget” and “Silver Chest” were produced. Sometime in that time frame, “Skyline” was produced, but apparently never went to distribution. The only information I have on that game is a copy of the promo picture. Also, in 1953, Genco produced a very limited run of six games for “LINE UP,” which according to the picture in Michael Shalhoub’s Compendium, appears to be the same design as the 400.
Sky Line promotional photo

Sky Line promotional photo - cropped
It's a bingo display!

Currently, I own 400 and Silver Chest. My friends have the Golden Nugget and Jumping’ Jacks, but they are similar enough in design and concept to discuss generally. A shout out to fellow collectors and friends, Robert Loring from whom I got these games several years ago and to Patrick Reese for providing me with a much improved glass for the 400.

1952 Genco 400/ 5 cent game - Enclosed is a photo of Myron Gensburg’s July 1952 promotional letter to his distributors wherein he predicts the upright console bingo game as a new trend in coin machine design with space-saving feature. No question that they were distributed as coin suckers taking a coin every 20 seconds. The attraction to keep “em playing and coming” was 400 bonus replays for a perfect game. Clearly a game of luck, not skill, it was possible to keep winning a few games now and then to keep you interested. But $20 would have been a nice payout in 1952 and one could imagine how many lost their lunch money trying for it.

1953 Genco Silver Chest/ 10 cent game - The last of the series, this version had more features than the earlier versions. It had extra specials, mystery spots and super specials. Similarly 400 replays were possible. This Silver Chest is a pristine home use only game previously owned by a Genco executive who had it for his personal use.

The notable features about the games are 6 balls for 1 coin. There is a flipper button is located on lower left of the backglass frame and is labeled "Skill Control,” which is somewhat humorous that the best you could do is help bump the ball before it falls down the bagatelle. There is a buy-back feature that allows up to 6 extra balls at 1 coin per ball.