Man-O-War

Man-O-War, manufactured by D. Gottlieb & Company in November 1938, is a one-ball payout machine built around a horse racing theme, reflecting the popularity of racing-themed wagering games in pinball's pre-flipper era.

As a payout machine, Man-O-War dispensed winnings directly to successful players rather than awarding extra balls or replays, a common format for the one-ball horse-racing genre of the late 1930s. Specific details of its playfield layout and scoring mechanics are not well documented.

Little is known about the machine's designer or other notable aspects of its design, but as an early Gottlieb release built around horse racing, Man-O-War offers a window into the wagering-adjacent side of pre-war pinball, a category that later gambling regulation would curtail.