Dark Horse

Dark Horse, manufactured by Bally in November 1940, is an example of the horse-racing games that were popular in the pre-World War II era. This single-player electro-mechanical one-ball game captures the excitement of the racetrack, a theme that resonated strongly with players of the period.

Dark Horse offered one ball for 5 cents, a pricing model typical of one-ball horserace games at the time. The playfield's 28 trap holes present a real challenge, as players must carefully judge the ball's trajectory to succeed. A Skill Lane option was available for jurisdictions that required 5-ball play. Curiously, the game's name is not found on the backglass but instead appears at the very top of the playfield.

Little is known about the specific designer of Dark Horse, but the game has a notable sibling: its payout version was released as Bally's 1940 'Long Shot'. For pinball enthusiasts and collectors, Dark Horse offers a glimpse into the one-ball horserace games that occupied an important niche in the coin-op industry of the early 1940s.