Big Top

Big Top was manufactured by the J.F. Frantz Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois (later operating as the J.F. Frantz Division of Johnston Products in East Moline, Illinois, per its Model 900 nameplate). Despite its electro-mechanical construction, it is not a pinball machine -- it is a pistol-style gun game that dispenses gumballs, visible to the player through a window in the backbox, for 25 cents per play.

The game blends two themes: its cabinet is painted with circus imagery, while the playfield depicts an old-West saloon scene -- the same scenic saloon backdrop later reused on Fun Industries' 1988 'Silver Dollar Saloon.' The cabinet is a substantial piece of equipment, measuring 65 1/2 inches high, 17 1/2 inches wide, and 34 inches deep.

Little further documentation survives about Big Top's designer, exact release date, or commercial history, but its combination of circus and Old-West theming with a gumball-dispensing pistol mechanism makes it a distinctive example of mid-century gun-game amusements.