Ak-Sar-Ben

The Ak-Sar-Ben is a fascinating piece of pinball history, produced by the Western Equipment & Supply Company of Chicago in November 1937. It is an electro-mechanical, one-ball horserace payout machine for a single player, a popular genre of the late 1930s, and it was also produced in a replay version. Its unusual name comes from the Ak-Sar-Ben racetrack in Nebraska; 'Ak-Sar-Ben' is 'Nebraska' spelled backwards. The racetrack itself was built in 1920, closed in 1995, and was demolished in 2005.

The machine features 6-coin multiple-play, allowing a player to insert multiple coins on a single game, in keeping with its wagering-style horserace format. Beyond that, relatively little is documented about the designer or the specifics of its gameplay.

Coming from a manufacturer that operated only from 1934 to 1938, the Ak-Sar-Ben offers an intriguing glimpse into the payout-machine side of pinball's early development, a corner of the hobby that fascinates collectors and historians alike.