De Luxe Big Tent

The De Luxe Big Tent, manufactured by J.H. Keeney and Company Incorporated in December 1957, is not a pinball machine but an electronic "upright" or "flasher-type" device — a coin-operated amusement that does not pay out cash, instead incrementing a credit meter to allow continued play. By May 1959, Cash Box reported the game had been in its eighteenth month of production.

Gameplay on the De Luxe Big Tent centers on its 5-cent play feature, reflecting the coin-operated entertainment pricing of the time. As an electro-mechanical device, it relies on relays, switches, and solenoids typical of the era's amusement equipment.

The De Luxe Big Tent's design evokes the classic circus and carnival themes common to Keeney's amusement devices of the period. Little is known about the machine's designer or other specific details of its creation, but it remains an interesting relic of the electronic upright/slot-machine category of coin-operated amusements from the 1950s.