They're Off

They, manufactured by Exhibit Supply Company (ESCO) in July 1935, is an early electro-mechanical, single-player tabletop/counter game — a compact format meant to sit on a counter rather than stand on its own legs, common for smaller coin-op locations of the era. As a 1935 release, it predates the invention of the pinball flipper by more than a decade, so gameplay would have relied entirely on gravity, bumpers, and skillful plunging rather than any flipper control.

Beyond its manufacturer, release date, and tabletop format, no designer, artist, or specific notable features are documented for this title, which limits how much can be said about its playfield layout or theme.

As an early EM counter game from ESCO, They is best understood as a snapshot of the pre-flipper pinball landscape of the mid-1930s, when manufacturers like Exhibit Supply were experimenting with electrified scoring in compact, affordable cabinets.