Submarine Gun

The Submarine Gun is an electro-mechanical gun game from J. H. Keeney and Company Incorporated of Chicago, introduced in November 1941, shortly before the United States entered World War II. Rather than a traditional roll-down pinball table, it belongs to Keeney's line of "gun games," in which players fire at targets on the playfield rather than shoot and control a ball with flippers (which had not yet been invented).

Specific details of Submarine Gun's rules, artwork, and mechanical layout have not survived in the historical record; the only known period reference is a trade note in The Billboard from December 1941 confirming Keeney had introduced the game the week before. As with many gun games of the era, it likely combined electromechanical switches and relays with a simple shooting objective built around its submarine theme.

For collectors and historians, Submarine Gun's chief interest lies in its rarity and its place as a snapshot of the amusement industry on the eve of America's entry into World War II, when manufacturers like Keeney were still producing coin-operated novelties before wartime restrictions curtailed production.