Dead Heat

Dead Heat, produced by Western Products, Incorporated in September 1939, is an electro-mechanical payout machine built around a horse racing theme - one of the most popular subjects in the coin-op industry of the late 1930s. Western Products operated only from 1938 to 1941, making Dead Heat a product of a short-lived manufacturer from a turbulent period in the industry.

As a payout machine, Dead Heat belonged to the gambling side of the coin-op business rather than the amusement side: games of this type dispensed winnings directly, which would soon draw heavy legal scrutiny in many jurisdictions. The single-player game predates the invention of the flipper by nearly a decade, so play depended on the launch of the ball and the luck and skill of its journey down the playfield.

Details about Dead Heat are sparse; the facts on record note that its backglass measures 22 by 20 inches, but the designer and production figures are unknown. For collectors and historians, it stands as an example of the horse-race payout games that occupied a significant and controversial niche in pre-war coin-operated amusements.