Shuffle-King Score Board

The Shuffle-King Score Board is not actually a pinball machine - it is an electromechanical scoring device made by Chicago Coin Machine Manufacturing Company in October 1948 to attach to existing coinless, non-electric shuffleboard tables. Shuffleboards were extremely popular in the late 1940s, and numerous companies produced similar coin-operated add-on 'scoreboards' that let operators convert free-play shuffleboards into pay-to-play machines by electrically tracking players' scores. Chicago Coin's own documentation grouped this device with their pinball games, which is why it appears in pinball listings.

Built of solid walnut and maple, the Shuffle-King Score Board was mounted above the shuffleboard's center point, with two backglasses facing outward toward players on each end of the table. It accepted nickels, dimes, and quarters and supported games of 2 or 4 players. Chicago Coin produced 500 confirmed units, sold at a list price of $250 (with a $185 distributor price), and it could be purchased on its own for use with any shuffleboard, not just Chicago Coin's own Shuffle-King model.

While it shares terminology and manufacturing lineage with pinball machines of the era, the Shuffle-King Score Board is best understood as a piece of shuffleboard history - a clever electromechanical solution that let operators monetize an already-popular tabletop game.