Phantom

The Pacific Manufacturing Corporation's Phantom, from July 1937, is a rare electro-mechanical one-ball payout machine built around a horse-racing theme. Each play lets a player back from one to eight horses, with odds ranging from 2-1 up to 40-1 on win, place, and show wagers, offering a unique glimpse into pinball's ties to early coin-operated gambling devices.

The playfield is dense with 22 spring bumpers; each contact advances one horse past another on a small movie projector built into the center of the backbox, simulating a race in real time. If the winning horse matches the player's selection, the machine pays out cash directly. The electro-mechanical design, relying on relays and switches to control the race and payout logic, was advanced for its era.

With only limited documentation surviving, the Phantom remains something of an enigma for collectors, but its horse-racing payout mechanism marks it as a distinctive and historically significant piece of pre-war coin-op history.