Neck N Neck

Neck N Neck, manufactured by Daval Manufacturing Co. in 1935, is an electro-mechanical (EM) pinball machine with a horse-racing theme, reflecting the sports-themed games that were popular among manufacturers of the era. For five cents, players received five balls, offering an extended session compared to many single-ball payout games of the period.

The machine's defining feature is its 21 trap holes, which required players to guide balls into scoring pockets scattered across the playfield to rack up points. As with all pinball machines of the mid-1930s, Neck N Neck predates the flipper by more than a decade, so the ball's path was determined entirely by gravity, pins, and the tilt of the playfield rather than any player-controlled mechanism.

Little information exists about the designer or specific artwork of Neck N Neck, but its horse-racing theme and trap-hole layout make it a notable example of Daval Manufacturing's mid-1930s output, offering collectors a look at the variety of gameplay mechanics manufacturers experimented with before standardized flipper-based design took hold.