Turf King

The Turf King, manufactured by Chicago Coin Machine Manufacturing Company in 1937, is an early electro-mechanical (EM) pinball machine from a company that would go on to produce pinball machines for decades. Chicago Coin confirmed a production run of 1,100 units for the game.

As a single-player EM machine from 1937, Turf King predates the invention of flippers by a decade, so gameplay would have relied on the era's typical bumpers, targets, and skillful nudging or timing of the ball rather than flipper control.

The Turf King is an interesting piece of pinball history, providing insight into the early days of commercial electromechanical games from one of the industry's longest-running manufacturers. Unfortunately, little further documentation exists on its designer or specific gameplay details.