Startime

The J. H. Keeney and Company Incorporated's October 1961 release, Startime, is a gambling machine disguised as a pinball machine -- its score card and operations manual were purposely written to obscure this fact. Designed by Ed Krynski, it uses large score reels ("Total Score") to track games won, and a separate set of reels ("Sub-Total") to track games played off; locations could pay out cash based on the difference between the two, witnessed via the backglass before the timer expired.

As a Flipperless machine, Startime relies on three pop bumpers and six scoring bumpers rather than flippers to determine where the ball goes, with bulb scoring and score reel payout counters providing the tactile feedback typical of the payout-machine era. The game is adjustable for one or two ball play.

An October 1961 Cash Box article reported that Keeney had just put Startime into full production and noted rising foreign demand for Keeney games at the time. As a lesser-documented model from Keeney's long run (1934-1964), Startime offers a glimpse into the coin-op industry's blurred line between amusement pinball and gambling equipment during this era.