Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby, manufactured by O. D. Jennings and Company of Chicago in 1936, is a single-player electro-mechanical (EM) payout machine built around a horse-racing theme, consistent with Jennings' output as a manufacturer of coin machines and payout equipment through the 1930s.

As a payout machine, Kentucky Derby's operation differed from later replay-style pinball: relays and switches tracked outcomes tied to its horse-racing theme, with winnings paid out directly rather than through free replays. Player-controlled flippers, now a hallmark of pinball, would not be introduced to the industry until 1947 -- more than a decade after Kentucky Derby's release -- so gameplay depended entirely on the ball's own path, gravity, and the machine's mechanical scoring features.

Little further information about Kentucky Derby's specific playfield layout or artwork has survived, which is typical for payout machines of this era, many of which were treated as disposable equipment rather than preserved the way collectible replay pinballs later would be. Even so, its existence is a useful data point in tracing Jennings' work in the coin-op payout market of the mid-1930s.