Episode 263 - 1949 Chicago Coin Champion

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·8m 5s·analyzed·Nov 29, 2015

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.016

TL;DR

Nick Baldridge identifies 1949 Chicago Coin Champion as the elusive kicker-based pinball game he'd been searching for.

Summary

Nick Baldridge documents his discovery of Champion, a 1949 Chicago Coin basketball-themed electromechanical pinball game featuring an unusual controlled-kicker mechanism instead of traditional flippers. The game uses player-actuated kicking arms to propel the ball and includes innovative playfield design with scoring based on baskets and team position advancement. Baldridge notes this mechanical innovation was rarely repeated in pinball history, with only Stern's WWE featuring similar kicker controls in recent decades.

Key Claims

Champion was made by Chicago Coin in 1949 and features controlled kickers or slingshots instead of traditional flippers
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, host of For Amusement Only, describing the game's mechanics based on machine examination
The game has a basketball theme with a back glass depicting a player performing a layup
high confidence · Nick Baldridge describing the back glass artwork and theme
Player-controlled kicking rubber features appear on Stern's WWE as a recent example of this mechanic
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge speculating on the rarity of the kicker mechanism in pinball history
The playfield includes multiple bumpers (some pop bumpers), rollover switches that lower opponent score and advance team position, and scoring based on baskets
high confidence · Nick Baldridge describing detailed playfield layout and mechanics
The game likely used operator-adjustable variables for replay thresholds based on baskets scored or millions earned
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge speculating on operator configurability based on typical EM-era practices

Notable Quotes

“Well, today, I finally found it. The game in question is called Champion, and it was made by Chicago Coin.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~0:30 — Marks the identification of the game Baldridge had been searching for over a year
“So there are flipper buttons on the side of the cabinet, but instead of actually actuating flippers, it pushes the kicker arm and moves the ball.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~0:10 — Explains the unique mechanical innovation that distinguishes this game
“I think that that is incredibly neat, and I'm sorry that it was not used more frequently.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~5:00 — Expresses appreciation for the rarity and unique design of the kicker mechanism
“So this game is pretty special it looks like it's fairly difficult as well which is appealing to me”
Nick Baldridge @ ~4:45 — Indicates the game's challenge level and operator appeal
“The kicking rubber feature is really cool. And the photos on IPDB do not show the little plastics in the shape of basketballs that kind of covered up the kicking arms as represented on the flyer.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~6:30 — Notes discrepancy between original design documentation and surviving machines, suggesting fragility of components

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonChampiongameChicago CoincompanyFor Amusement OnlyorganizationStern PinballcompanyWWEgameIPDBorganization

Signals

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historical_signal: Champion represents a significant but underexplored alternative to traditional flipper-based pinball design from the EM era
high · Nick Baldridge notes the kicker mechanism was rarely repeated after 1949, with only Stern's WWE featuring similar controls in recent decades
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restoration_signal: Basketball-shaped plastic covers over kicker arms may have high breakage rate, with surviving examples potentially missing original components
medium · Baldridge observes that IPDB photos do not show the basketball-shaped plastics documented on original flyers, hypothesizing many may have broken due to impact forces
?
product_concern: Original Champion scoring rules and replay mechanics are not well documented; no instruction cards or game playbooks appear to survive
high · Baldridge states: 'I do not see score instruction cards and I do not see a write up on how this game is played even the flyer doesn't really say anything about the gameplay'
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design_philosophy: EM-era games like Champion likely used adjustable scoring thresholds for replay credits based on gameplay variables
medium · Baldridge speculates: 'as an operator you could set a variable number of baskets scored to earn a replay or a million points'
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design_innovation: Champion's player-controlled kicker mechanism represents an innovative alternative to passive ball physics and flipper-based gameplay
high · Baldridge emphasizes the novelty: 'it waits for the player to actually kick it' rather than automatic ball response, calling the feature 'incredibly neat'

Topics

Electromechanical (EM) pinball design and mechanicsprimaryHistorical pinball innovation: controlled-kicker vs. traditional flipper mechanismsprimaryChicago Coin manufacturing historysecondaryBasketball-themed pinball gamessecondaryPinball playfield design and artworksecondaryComponent durability and survivorship in vintage machinesmentionedModern pinball callbacks to vintage mechanicsmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Nick Baldridge expresses genuine enthusiasm and appreciation for the Champion machine's innovative design, particularly the kicker mechanism. He views the discovery as solving a long-standing mystery and considers the machine 'pretty special' and 'one heck of a game.' No negative sentiment detected; tone is celebratory and analytical.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.024

What's that sound? It's For Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to For Amusement Only. This is Nicholas Baldridge. Eagle-eared listeners, because eagles are well-known for their sense of hearing, will Remember that I've been trying to remember for some time one of the games that has controlled kickers or slingshots instead of flippers. So there are flipper buttons on the side of the cabinet, but instead of actually actuating flippers, it pushes the kicker arm and moves the ball. So rather than the moment that the ball hits the sling area, it waits for the player to actually kick it. Well, today, I finally found it. The game in question is called Champion, and it was made by Chicago Coin. Now, this game has a basketball theme and was made in 1949. Now, the back glass has a guy about to do a layup or some kind of basket, but he's partially up in the air. The word champion stands out underneath the basketball net on a field of red written in cursive in white on yellow 3d letters now on the right hand side there is something that marked team position and it goes from first to tenth place and along the bottom is a section marked opponent score and there are 10 different windows, which apparently show something different at different points of the game. On the left-hand side, there's a column of numbers, which are your 100,000 point scores, and then you have your millions along the top, 1 through 4. Now likely your 10,000s are in the back glass somewhere and it uses animation to display them. As far as the play field, you have two passive bumpers right in the center, both of which score a basket when they're hit. There are multiple bumpers. There's four along the top, two of which are pops. there's another two about even with the bottom basket and then another two down at the bottom on the left and right side to either side of the bumpers there's a rollover switch which is marked that it lowers the opponent's score and advances your team's position now it looks like there are multiple goals I do not see score instruction cards and I do not see a write up on how this game is played even the flyer doesn't really say anything about the game play it just talks about earning potential so in this case what it looks like you trying to do is advance your position score a bunch of baskets and you can probably also win on score I have no idea of the replay thresholds, and I do note that there is no special marked on the play field. I'm not sure if it's possible to earn a replay. I'm not certain if the millions can be converted into replays or how exactly that worked on this game. But what I can tell you is that those player-controlled kicking rubbers down at the bottom left and bottom right are a really cool idea. I think that that is incredibly neat, and I'm sorry that it was not used more frequently. Now, in its latest incarnation, we've seen them on Stern's WWE, but before that, I'm not certain if it was repeated after this 1949 game champion so this game is pretty special it looks like it's fairly difficult as well which is appealing to me and I'm certain that as an operator you could set a variable number of baskets scored to earn a replay or a million points, depending on how this game did it. If you could earn replays, it was likely through a credit projection unit. The artwork on the playfield, there are a lot of action arrows and kind of explosion call for the pop bumpers And the wood grain of the play field is marked as a nice approximation of a basketball court. It looks pretty cool. There's a field of pink with two guys playing basketball there in the center. And then below that, there's a field of blue that has the number of baskets scored and then your various inserts down at the bottom. Again, pretty machine. Looks like fun. The kicking rubber feature is really cool. And the photos on IPDB do not show the little plastics in the shape of basketballs that kind of covered up the kicking arms as represented on the flyer. So I'm wondering how many of those survived. I have a feeling that a lot of those probably broke. For some reason, who knows. There's only a ball bearing that's smacking into these things with a lot of force. So anything could happen, though. It's anybody's guess. But this looks like one heck of a game, and it's the one that I've been thinking of for almost a year now that I couldn't remember the name to. So another mystery solved here on For Amusement Only. Well, that's all for tonight. Thank you very much for joining me. My name again is Nick Baldrige. You can reach me at foramusementonlypodcast at gmail.com or you can call me on the bingos line. That's 724-BINGOS1, 724-246-4671. you can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts via RSS, on Facebook, on Twitter at Bingo Podcast you can follow me on Instagram also at Bingo Podcast or you can listen to us on our website which is foramusementonly.libsyn.com thank you very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time