On Deck

On Deck, sold by Victory Games between 1942 and 1947, is an electro-mechanical, flipperless, single-player pinball machine with a nautical sailing theme. Rather than an original design, On Deck is actually a conversion kit: it was marketed as a way to refresh Chicago Coin's 1941 game 'Snappy' with a brand-new backglass and a full set of two-tone bumper caps, giving operators a cheap way to make an older cabinet feel new again. The earliest known advertisement for the kit appeared in a June 1944 Billboard ad from Victory Games, with the company's last known ad running in April 1947.

Gameplay-wise, On Deck retains its host game's mechanics, built around 15 passive bumpers scattered across the playfield. As a wartime-era product, it reflects the resourcefulness of manufacturers during a period when materials for entirely new cabinets were scarce, making conversion kits like this an economical alternative.

Little is documented about who designed the conversion artwork or the specifics of its reception at the time. As a surviving example of a WWII-era conversion kit, On Deck offers collectors a window into how operators kept older machines profitable during a period of material shortages.