Vemco Special

The Vemco Special is a rare, flipperless electro-mechanical pinball machine sold by The Vending Machine Company (Vemco) of Fayetteville, North Carolina. It is a conversion of Bally's 1938 'Bally Reserve' -- Vemco, the nation's largest game distributor in the 1930s, was known to convert and rebrand other manufacturers' games, reusing the generic name "Vemco Special" for more than one machine (an earlier, non-electrical 1934 game also carries the same name).

Gameplay on this Vemco Special features 12 spring bumpers, which would have provided a challenging and unpredictable experience for players relying on skillful shooting and table control rather than flippers. The machine's cabinet measures 44 1/4 inches long and 22 inches wide, indicating a compact design suitable for smaller spaces.

Little is known about this machine's art or theme beyond its conversion origins, but as a rebranded, flipperless EM game built on Bally hardware, the Vemco Special offers an interesting look at how distributors repackaged existing games during the era.