Flagship

The Flagship, released in February 1940 by the Exhibit Supply Company (ESCO) of Chicago, is an electro-mechanical (EM) pinball machine from the industry's pre-war years. ESCO was a long-running Chicago manufacturer, active from 1932 to 1957, and the Flagship is one of the many single-player games it produced during the busy years just before America's entry into World War II.

Unfortunately, very little is documented about the Flagship beyond its basic specifications - its designer, artwork, theme, and playfield features are not recorded in the available sources. That scarcity of information is itself typical of games from this period, many of which had short production lives and modest documentation.

For enthusiasts interested in early pinball history, the 1940 Flagship represents an example of an industry in rapid growth, from a manufacturer that was part of Chicago's coin-op heartland for a quarter of a century.