Post Time

The Post Time pinball machine, manufactured by Mills Novelty Company in December 1936, is a one-ball payout machine built around a horse-racing betting mechanic. It is notable for its polished aluminum castings, a relatively luxurious touch for the era.

Gameplay is unlike later flipper-based pinball: a player inserts one to seven nickels to bet on any of seven horses, then cranks a handle on the front of the cabinet to register the coins. A solid aluminum arm atop the playfield slowly rotates around the "PostTime Clock," a circular display of payoff odds for Win, Place, and Show. A carefully timed ball shot into play passes through a gate that stops the rotating arm and sets the odds, then falls into a numbered hole to determine the Win, Place, or Show result. If the player had bet on that horse, a payout of up to 200 coins is made.

Measuring approximately 23 inches wide, 46 inches long, and 42 inches high, the machine's compact footprint suited a variety of locations. Little is documented about its original theme artwork beyond the horse-racing motif implied by its mechanics, but its clever betting-and-timing gameplay makes it a distinctive artifact of pre-flipper pinball history.