Merchandiser

The Merchandiser, manufactured by Daval Manufacturing Co. in January 1936, is an early electro-mechanical (EM) payout machine designed by Matt Schu. It is notable for combining features of pinball with arcade digger (claw) machines, blending two distinct genres of coin-operated amusement into a single cabinet.

As a payout machine of its era, the Merchandiser reflects the experimentation and creativity that defined the early days of coin-operated games, before the flipper (introduced in 1947) transformed the genre. Its digger-style mechanism gave players an added dimension of interaction beyond typical pin-and-bumper gameplay.

Little additional information about the machine's design, art, or theme has been documented, and little is known about designer Matt Schu. Despite the scarcity of information, the Merchandiser remains an intriguing piece for collectors and historians seeking to understand the varied approaches manufacturers took in the pre-war coin-op era.