Manhattan

Manhattan is a single-player electro-mechanical pinball machine manufactured by the Exhibit Supply Company (ESCO) of Chicago in August 1935, built around a World Places theme. It cost a nickel for ten balls of play.

The game's standout feature is the captive ball chamber at the center of the lower playfield: a chevron of five kick-out holes into which a captive ball is propelled from a kicker below. During play, the captive ball can be ejected from one scoring pocket and kicked into another of higher or lower value, adding an extra layer of strategy. There is no out hole; a ball reaching the bottom of the playfield is instead kicked back into play across an aerial habitrail until it scores in one of the pockets. The playfield also includes 22 trap holes, 5 kick-out holes, 2 free-play holes, and 2 kickers.

Manhattan is a product of Exhibit Supply Company, a long-running Chicago manufacturer (1932-1957) known by the trade name ESCO. Little else is documented about the machine's designer or specific artwork, but its habitrail and captive-ball mechanism make it a notable example of 1930s payout-era pinball engineering.