Pace 1930’s Style Skill Amusement

1¢ Baseball Game

Limited Extended Production Edition


This coin-op fun game is one of the all time classic penny skill games! Commonly used in a Pool Hall, Saloon, Ma & Pa General Store, Barber Shop, etc. in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. First made in the late 1930’s by Pace Manufacturing Company. It is one of the classic counter top skill games. It’s only 9 inches wide and 17 inches tall to the top of the marquis, it didn’t take much valuable counter space, and as a trade stimulator, its play appeal made it profitable to operate. Patrons would line up to play this machine, each trying to top the high score! Some merchants would offer a candy bar or other prize for a high score. It also has a feature that allows it to be wall mounted with 1 screw!

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It works like this; The player inserts a penny into the slot, turns the crank on the side of the machine, and 5 steel balls drop below the playfield to the "On Deck" shooting trough. One at a time, the player “snaps” the thumb operated shooting handle, and shoots one of the steel balls whirling up into the baseball playfield. The playfield looks like a baseball diamond. It has 5 individual scoring pockets, Home Run, Triple, Double, Single and Walk. It also has a large V backstop near the bottom labeled “Foul Ball”.

Balls landing behind the 3rd base and the 1st base (walk) lines hit the backstop and are foul balls, just like in the real game! A hole at the bottom of the foul ball backstop V funnel is marked Shoot Again. All foul balls go into this hole and re-emerge back into the On Deck shooting trough to be played again! Only one hole at the absolute bottom of the playfield is labeled Out. All the balls that score into one of the scoring pocket are sorted out into the score columns below the playfield. Outs go directly to the Out column.

See Photo Below

When all 5 balls are played, a player tallies his score according to the instruction card. The balls line up in individual scoring columns. Base hits are added up, every 4 bases counts as a run. According to the instruction tag, 2 runs are a minor league player and 4 runs are a major league player. The Foul Ball Return feature makes this a more fun game to play than the similar spiral playfield baseball games made by Pace’s competitors. This is a cousin to the Pace Whiz Ball penny skill game. It is the same size and style of case and coin actuated mechanism.

To Watch a Game played on YouTube, Click Below 

https://youtu.be/AhwbMZtDWx0?list=PL18KZNbShv9WG_QNoVwDDF1-TxJPXZmez

 

Genuine solid Rosewood top and bottom. This is exactly how the machine was made and looked when it was shelved in 1952! Each machine has a serial number deep stamped into the wood back base and is accompanied by a corresponding numbered Certificate of Authenticity signed by the slot master who supervised this final run and is suitable for framing. A limited number of 500 machines are being manufactured. When this last production run of this model is made, the tooling for it will be destroyed. This machine will never be made again. 500 might sound like a lot, but that’s only 10 per State! When they are gone, they are gone for good! I used to work for Johnny Frantz who bought Pace in 1952. I assembled The Baseball and Whizball games, the Kicker Catcher games and the ABT shooting galleries for him in the 1970's and early 1980's before he was murdered in Chicago at his factory. In 1952 they made slot machines illegal. Pace was mostly a slot machine manufacturer. J.F. Frantz Co. bought out all of the Pace games and penny scales businesses. Johnny Frantz really only wanted the penny scale business. I acquired the Baseball and Whizball businesses from him.

We ended up making only 400 of them. I wish we did make 500. They are a very popular selling game. After we made 400, we cut the casting patterns in half with a band saw, destroyed and scrapped out all the original Pace tooling, Fixtures, Jigs, etc. so these machines can never be made again. We only have a few dozen left. Not all new parts. Some of the parts we used to make these were left over original parts from Pace Mfg. before 1952. Like the Brass turn handle, some of the precise mechanism parts, the instruction sheet, the coin actuator sub-assembly, etc.

This machine is a working extended production of the original Pace Baseball game, made from original Pace tooling. It looks and plays identical to the old machine. Aluminum, Brass, Steel and Wood, No Plastic, made to original 1952 print specs, right down to the brass handle and the slotted screws! Works great! Not all new parts. Some of the parts are Original, Unused Pace Parts, left over from Pace Mfg. when they were in production. Some parts we had cast from the original Pace patterns. Excellent Condition. Typical age patina from tooling marks made from the well used, almost 90 year old tooling. Comes with the top marquis and key. Can still be used on location, but at a penny a game it will wear out before you make your money back. In the 1930's it sold for $27.00. It is heavy due to original thickness plate glass, Steel Case, brass parts, etc. 16 Lbs. Shipping weight.  Securely packed and boxed for free. Buyer pays actual Priority Mail charges based on zip code.

 

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