Steeple Chase

The Steeple Chase, manufactured by United Manufacturing Company in January 1952, is a single-player, flipperless electro-mechanical pinball machine with a horse-racing theme. It's part of United's broader run of bingo-style and novelty EM machines produced between 1942 and 1962.

Gameplay on Steeple Chase allows 5-cent or 10-cent play, with players able to insert one to six coins per game. The machine features a range of bumpers, including three pop bumpers and thirteen passive bumpers, as well as eleven kick-out holes that add variety to gameplay. A distinctive mechanical backbox animation depicts horses racing, adding an immersive element to the overall experience. Notably, as a flipperless machine, Steeple Chase relies entirely on ball placement and timing rather than flipper control — a design approach still common among EM machines of the early 1950s.

While detailed information about the machine's individual designer is scarce, its horse-racing motif and mechanical backbox animation make it a distinctive example of early-1950s EM pinball, blending mechanical showmanship with straightforward flipperless gameplay.