Genco Pee-Wee, what is it?

ldmiller

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I have this Genco Pee-Wee game. It looks more like an old bagatelle, but seems to have later pinball styling. Basic play is a lever flips one of five balls up and gravity bounces them off of nails until they land in a slot. Internet searches are coming up empty except one like it that sold at icollector.com with almost no description. Seems purely mechanical, although looks like it could easily have lights and contacts, there are extra holes in the playfield and behind the glass, but no evidence that any wiring was ever installed. Home use wouldn't have the coin slot and locking back, so it seems like an arcade device. It's a table top model about two feet tall.

The simplicity seems to indicate very early, but the paint seems to be a later style. Any thing you can add would be appreciated, especially curious about the age.
 

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I'd say that is a commercial use bagatelle game. If the green trim around the bottom is original then it was designed to sit on a table and be played. I can't quite tell by the pics but I believe that it takes nickels?

Are the extra holes behind the circles at the top of the glass? Those look to me like areas that would be back lit to show your current score. Do the point slots have wires sticking up in them? If so these wires would be depressed causing the game to register a score. I have a Genco pinball machine that has back lit lights for score as this was the standard until score reals were invented.

The machine is almost certainly completely electro mechanical. I'd guess it was built somewhere in the 1960's to early '70s.

So does it work?
 
It has a 2 cent coin slot. Requires two pennies to be stacked into the slot to release the balls. As far as working, there's nothing to it, so of course it works. A bar has prongs that stick through holes to trap the balls in the point slots. Coin slot releases bar, lever flips them up one at a time, they bounce around on some nails and fall into slots. Even in today's economy, you feel like you got robbed for 2 cents.

There are holes drilled where the ball rests in the slot that look like they could easily have added something to make contact and light a light. There are also holes behind the painted circles on the backglass, where a bulb could be installed, but there are no decals or painted numbers. In addition, the back of the playfield has small holes, possibly where nails could be put when you layed out the wire. But there are no screw holes or anything to hold contacts, wires, or lamp sockets. So while it looks like it was made to have lights and wires, it appears that it never did.

The green trim looks original, plus there is a hole for a large bolt to fasten it down to a table, so that makes sense.

If this is the same Genco that made a lot of pinballs, they either went out of business or were bought out in 1957. So, if it is the same company, it is definitely pre-57. Even at that, this seems to be a pretty lame design for that late. Weren't they well past relying on just gravity and nails by that time? Were people really still playing repacked game designs from the 30's into the 50's? Even adding switches and lights would only change the lameness factor a little bit. Perhaps that is why there doesn't seem to be any around? Or why the company is gone?
 
While I agree that it is a pretty lame design I could easily see Genco releasing something like this to the public. Besides, here is a game from the early 70's that is very similar, they pretty much just added a score reel and baseball theme...

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Now that I know it is 2 cents to play that makes me lean more towards the game being older, maybe late 30's to mid 40's.
 
I love old mechanical games like that. Kind of reminds me of Pachinko.

In that flyer Oryk posted, it says the game was "low cost." I wonder exactly how much it cost back then.
 
Yeah, two machines like to one I posted popped up locally and I was hoping to get one to put next to my three pachinko machines. I was a little too slow on the email and missed out...
 
Hey, ldmiller, mind if I ask how much you payed for the game? Or if anyone knows the general going-rate for something like that.
 
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I bought the machine at a flea market about fifteen years ago. I hadn't seen one before and thought it was worth what the guy was asking, so even if I could remember what I paid, it probably isn't relevant now. I also got a second machine, I describe below.

I googled and found an almost identical Genco Pee-Wee at icollector.com (some type of internet auction site) that says it went for $350 US + a $70 US buyer premium, so someone shelled out $420. Hard to tell if they got ripped off or scored when you can only find one sale on the whole freakin' internet. Certainly confirms it isn't real common.

I've also asked some others about the Genco and they may offer more information. They seem to think they know when it was manufactured, just wanted to do some more research. I'll let you know what they say.

The other machine I got in the same deal is some strange electro-mechanical device that is sort of like a slot machine with a pinball back glass. You put in a dime and turn the handle and the lights randomly flicker then light up behind symbols (clowns, lions, and other circus stuff I can't recall right now). Certain combinations pay off in credits. Can't find any information about the manufacturer, only says Circus on the front. I'm assuming you could trade credits for cash (that would be gambling!) or tokens and the operator would hit the reset button to wipe the credits off. The guy I bought it from said it came from an amusement park in Denver (Lakeside?). I'll try to drag it down from my attic soon and take some pictures. Then, I'll be asking more questions. I don't even know what this type of machine is called, so kind of hard to look up.
 
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