El Rancho

El Rancho, produced by J. H. Keeney and Company of Chicago in early 1962, is a rare and unusual entry in electro-mechanical (EM) game history. Designed by Ed Krynski and dressed in a Western theme, it is a flipperless, single-player machine — and, more remarkably, it is a gambling machine disguised as a pinball. Its large Total Score reels quietly counted games won, while separate Sub-Total reels tracked games played off; a location could cash a player out at a dime per point of the difference, with the score card and manual purposely written to obscure this arrangement. Keeney advertised El Rancho as the same game as its 1962 Hacienda but with the 'Panascope Vision Unit' in the backbox.

Gameplay features three pop bumpers and six passive bumpers, each scoring 10 points, in a drop-down cabinet. The machine offers 2-ball play with an earned option for a third ball, bulb scoring topping out at 999 displayed points, and the distinctive Panascope projection at the top of the backbox. Unusually, the game has no bells or knocker — it plays in complete silence.

Several serviceability touches are noteworthy: the backglass can slide out to either side of the backbox, the playfield glass can slide out the front or back of the cabinet, and the coin box has an adjustable coin divider to split earnings between the operator and the location. At 270 pounds uncrated and standing nearly 68 inches tall, El Rancho is a substantial machine, and its double life as a covert payout game makes it a genuinely fascinating piece of coin-op history.