Big Shot

The Big Shot, manufactured by the Field Manufacturing Corporation of Peoria, Illinois in April 1932, is an early pure mechanical pin table from the first boom years of the coin-operated game industry. Field was active only from 1931 to 1933, making its games artifacts of a brief but pivotal period.

Big Shot was a payout machine, dispensing winnings to lucky players, and was built in the square machine pin table format, a compact style common among counter and tabletop games of the early 1930s. As a pure mechanical game, play relied entirely on the plunger and gravity, years before electricity, bumpers, or flippers entered the picture.

Little additional information about the Big Shot's design, artwork, or theme survives. Nonetheless, its age, its payout format, and its origin with a short-lived Peoria manufacturer make it an interesting find for pinball historians and collectors.