Pamco Ante

The Pamco Ante, manufactured by the Pacific Amusement Manufacturing Company (PAMCO) of Chicago in February 1936, is a rare electro-mechanical (EM) machine from the early days of the industry. PAMCO operated from 1932 to 1937, and the Ante belongs to the wave of electrified games that followed the pure-mechanical machines of the early 1930s.

The Ante is a payout machine, meaning it dispensed awards to players, a common and popular category in the mid-1930s before such games came under legal scrutiny in many jurisdictions. Like all pinball machines of its era, it predates the invention of the flipper by more than a decade, so play consisted of launching balls onto the playfield and letting skillful plunging and nudging determine the outcome.

Little information survives about the designer or the machine's art and theme. However, its rarity and age make it a valuable piece for collectors and historians seeking to understand the early development of pinball, when manufacturers' experiments with electromechanical components paved the way for the more complex machines that followed.