Favorite

Favorite, manufactured by J. H. Keeney and Company of Chicago in May 1948, belongs to the horserace one-ball payout genre, gambling machines dressed in pinball form that were a staple of the industry from the 1930s into the early 1950s. Rather than an amusement flipper game, Favorite gave the player a single ball per coin, with winning holes paying out like a race wager, and it offered a skill lane option so the game could be configured for five-ball play in jurisdictions that restricted payout machines.

The playfield features four passive bumpers and no fewer than 31 trap holes, into which the single ball must fall to determine the outcome. The cabinet is substantial, measuring 55 1/2 inches long and 24 inches wide, rising from 36 inches high in front to 40 1/2 inches at the back, topped by a backbox 28 1/2 inches high.

An interesting footnote: the owner of one documented example discovered, by shining a strong light through the front door paint, the raised banner image from Keeney's 1947 Big Parlay underneath, and the cabinet's serial number BP290 confirmed that the machine began life as a Big Parlay before being repainted, a glimpse of the era's factory recycling practices. As a late example of the one-ball payout machine, Favorite is an intriguing artifact from pinball's gambling-adjacent past.