The Internet Pinball Database Presents

Skill Race


Quick Search ] [ Advanced Search ] [ Game Lists ] [ Archives ] [ Pinball Glossary ] [ Playing Skills ] [ FAQ ] [ Settings ]

Skill Race / IPD No. 5038 / June, 1962 / 1 Player
 
[ Submit Changes ]
Average Fun Rating: Needs More Ratings!         6.6 / 10  (1 ratings)   [ Add Your Rating! ]
Manufacturer: Games, Incorporated, of Chicago, Illinois
Date Of Manufacture: June, 1962
Type: Electro-mechanical (EM) [?]
Serial Number Database:View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net)  (External site)
Theme: Sports - Dog Racing
Specialty: Flipperless [?]
Notable Features: 3 balls per game. Pop bumpers (2), Trap holes (2). Player inserts coins until backglass shows three dogs in a line. Then player has three balls to shoot into play to land in holes marked Win, Place, and Show. Payout for each hole is indicated on backglass.
Notes: The playfields pictured here each have two pop bumpers that are not shown in the flyer. A game owner states the pop bumpers are factory-fitted and wired through the wiring harness, and that no patent or identifying numbers were found anywhere on the game.

The 3-digit replay meter visible in the backglass suggests a knock-off switch might be present on the cabinet bottom.

If anyone has access to this game, please contact us. We seek to clarify details of game operation as well as receive any paper documentation for it, including any feature optioning cards stapled inside the cabinet.

This manufacturer usually made electronic upright gambling games where no skill was involved. 'Skill Race' appears to be their only gambling machine made as a pinball machine such that player skill was involved in earning the payout. It was identified as a "pinball machine" in The Billboard, Jun-23-1962, page 47, where it stated the manufacturer unveiled this game the week before. The manufacturer's flyer refers to it as a "skill game".

It's possible that the manufacturer incorporated skill into this gambling game in anticipation of the Eastland Bill, formally known as the Gambling Devices Act of 1962, which was signed by President Kennedy on October 18, 1962 and made effective 60 days later, in December 1962. We know that this Act had caused Bally Manufacturing Corporation to cease production of their bingo machines in 1962 until an amendment added to the Bill in final Senate-House conference committee allowed Bally to restart production of bingos, although allowing them mostly for export (see Bally 'Bounty'). It may not be mere coincidence, therefore, that we can find no further pinball machines from Games Inc. after June 1962 while we found this manufacturer was present at the 42nd annual Milan Fair [held April 12-25] in Italy in 1964 (per Billboard, May-9-1964, page 49). It would appear that they found that future sales of their upright machines would have to be exports, just like Bally's bingo machines. However, we do not know what types of machines they had made after 'Skill Race' or had displayed in Milan in 1964.

A September 1962 Billboard column titled "Coinmen In The News" (The Billboard, Sept-8-1962, page 70) made comment that July and August are traditionally bad months for coin-op business (in general) and quoted responses from representatives of several companies on how business fared for each. Clarence Schuyler, president of Games, Inc., was quoted there as saying, "Lousy. I could have closed the door and saved money. Hope it will be better. It couldn't be worse."

The earliest information for which we find Clarence Schuyler as the president of Games, Inc. is in 1959 (per Billboard, Jan-19-1959, page 99). The latest information we have found of the existence of this company is from the 1968 Chicago & Cook County Industrial Directory (pp 201, 578) where he is still listed as president and the company is listed as a manufacturer of amusement devices. Schuyler previously worked for H.C. Evans as early as 1940 (per a 10-year "look back" column in Billboard Jul-29-1950, page 120) and we last find him in their employ as a "factory representative" in 1953 (per Billboard Mar-28-1953, page 78).

Photos in: Cash Box, Jun-16-1962, page 55
The Billboard, Jun-16-1962, page 50
The Billboard, Jun-23-1962, page 47
Images:
(click to zoom)
Image # 26143: Skill Race Flyer
Flyer

1024x1340
[Jay Stafford]
Image # 33518: Skill Race Backglass
Backglass

400x300
 
Image # 33519: Skill Race Playfield 
(The pop bumpers shown in this image are not present in the flyer. The owner states they are factory-fitted and wired through the wiring harness.)
Playfield*

400x300
 
Image # 33520: Skill Race Cabinet - Left
Cabinet - Left

400x300
 
Image # 33521: Skill Race Cabinet - Right
Cabinet - Right

400x300
 
Image # 33522: Skill Race Front
Front

264x300
 
Image # 33523: Skill Race Inside Backbox
Inside Backbox

400x300
 
Image # 33704: Skill Race Illuminated Upper Playfield
Illuminated Upper Playfield

962x768
[Bob Pickering]
Image # 33705: Skill Race Illuminated Lower Playfield
Illuminated Lower Playfield

1024x768
[Bob Pickering]
Image # 33706: Skill Race Instructions and Score Cards
Instructions and Score Cards

1024x768
[Bob Pickering]
Image # 33707: Skill Race Under Playfield
Under Playfield

768x1024
[Bob Pickering]
Image # 33708: Skill Race Backbox Service Instruction
Backbox Service Instruction

768x1024
[Bob Pickering]
Image # 38346: Skill Race Cash Box Ad 
(Cash Box, Jun-16-1962, page 55)
Cash Box Ad*

1024x987
[Rob Hawkins]
 
Source: flyer [?]

[ Support the IPDB ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ About Us ]
All copyrighted and trademarked Gottlieb® material licensed from Gottlieb Development LLC.
Copyrighted and trademarked material from Planetary Pinball Supply, Inc® used with permission.
All photographs licensed from original photographers, who retain their copyright. Do not use without permission!
Site design, phrasing, and other local content copyright 2004-2024 by The Internet Pinball Database™.
Where appropriate, other trademarks & copyrights remain property of their owners.
[ Database Change Log ]

ipdb.org hosted at pair.com

 
blank line