Gun Club

Gun Club is a flipperless electro-mechanical pinball machine produced by Genco Manufacturing Company of Chicago in October 1941. Built in the years just before America's entry into World War II halted game production, it reflects the pre-flipper era of pinball, when scoring depended on the plunger shot and the bounce of the ball among passive bumpers.

The playfield carries twelve passive bumpers tied to a clever backglass light animation: ducks light up in the backglass as bumpers are hit, bringing the hunting theme to life. The player's larger goal is to spell G-U-N C-L-U-B in lights on the backglass, which lights GENCO for a Super Special award. The game also includes a time clock, an unusual touch for the period.

While the designer is not documented, Gun Club remains an appealing piece of early pinball history, its backglass animation showing how manufacturers of the era used lights and theming to add spectacle to what was still a mechanically simple game.