Derby Day

Derby Day, manufactured by the Artists and Creators Guild Incorporated of Chicago in May 1932, is a pure mechanical tabletop counter game from the very beginning of the coin-op pin game boom. Its horse racing theme is brought to life by a genuinely notable artist: A. Raymond Katz (1895-1974), a famed New York muralist and painter of religious art whose work was exhibited in museums and galleries in the USA and abroad, an unusually distinguished pedigree for a penny amusement.

The game's most interesting feature is its modular design: Derby Day is one of five interchangeable playfields sharing a common cabinet. In 1932 the cabinet plus one playfield sold for $12.50, with additional playfields at $3.00 each and a collapsible steel stand for $1.50. A period article in Automatic Age referred to the series collectively as 'Variety', though that name appears nowhere on the playfields themselves. The game accepted 1 cent or 5 cent play, and the cabinet was advertised as finished in rich walnut with all metal parts chromium plated.

As a product of a manufacturer that existed only in 1932, Derby Day offers a fascinating glimpse into the earliest, most experimental days of the coin-op amusement industry, when even fine artists lent their talents to the penny arcade.