Slap-the-Japs

Slap-the-Japs, manufactured by Victory Games between 1942 and 1947, is a wartime-themed conversion kit released in October 1942. Rather than a standalone machine, it was sold as a conversion for Chicago Coin's 1940 'Strat-O-Liner,' consisting of a backglass, bumper caps, and score cards that let operators change over an existing game on location in about five minutes. The conversion backglass was silkscreened specifically to match the Strat-O-Liner cabinet.

Gameplay on Slap-the-Japs is a straightforward, flipperless EM design typical of the early 1940s; specific rules are not documented. What is clear is that Victory Games tapped into the patriotic, anti-Axis sentiment common in wartime American entertainment, reflected plainly in the machine's name, which used a period slur for the Japanese common in U.S. propaganda of the era.

Details about the conversion's art and design are limited beyond the backglass description, but Slap-the-Japs remains a documented piece of World War II-era pinball history, illustrating how manufacturers used inexpensive conversion kits to keep existing equipment relevant — and, in this case, to tie into the patriotic mood of the country.