Trapper

Trapper was manufactured by the Exhibit Supply Company (ESCO) of Chicago in August 1936. It's a single-player electro-mechanical machine built around a hunting-and-trapping theme, offering 5 balls for 5 cents.

Despite being classified as electro-mechanical, Trapper is notable for having essentially no electrical components beyond a bell operated by a dry-cell battery. Its playfield features 28 metal drop targets styled as differently colored 'animal traps,' each mounted inside a circular metal band with an attached pointer. A ball striking a band knocks over the target, 'trapping' the indicated animal and scoring points; tethers reset the targets automatically when a new game is started via the coin slide.

This largely mechanical, battery-bell design makes Trapper an interesting transitional piece - a game officially of the EM era that plays almost entirely on mechanical principles, reflecting ESCO's hunting-themed novelty machines of the mid-1930s.