Episode 104 - 1947 Exhibit Treasure Chest

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·7m 51s·analyzed·Jun 23, 2015

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.018

TL;DR

1947 Exhibit Treasure Chest: First known pinball with player-controlled magnet.

Summary

Nick Baldridge presents an in-depth analysis of Treasure Chest, a 1947 flipperless pinball game by Exhibit Supply Company, highlighting its historical significance as the first known game to feature a player-controlled magnet mechanism. The machine used a magnet near the bottom center of the playfield that players could activate via button press to grab and fling the ball, predating modern magnet games by decades. Featuring a deep-sea diver theme with elaborate mermaid and underwater artwork, the game could award up to 30 replays from a single play and represents a notable example of early pinball innovation.

Key Claims

Treasure Chest is the first game (as far as the speaker has seen) with a player-controlled magnet
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge, host of For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast, speaking from personal research and machine knowledge
1947 was the year flippers were invented by Gottlieb
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, well-established historical fact in pinball history
The game can score up to 30 replays from a single game
high confidence · Nick Baldridge, describing the game mechanics and replay system
The blue base coat on the cabinet is pretty darn unusual on a game from 1947
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge, commenting on the aesthetic rarity of the color scheme for that era
The magnet core exposed on top of the playfield prevents some of the wear that you typically see on Black Knight or Jungle Lord
medium confidence · Nick Baldridge, comparing mechanical durability across magnet-equipped games

Notable Quotes

“This game is the first game, as far as I've seen, with a player-controlled magnet.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~0:45 — Core claim establishing the historical importance of Treasure Chest
“This magnet operates like the MagnaSave or like the magnets in Jungle Lord or similar, in that you depress a button and the magnet turns on. It will draw the ball towards it and then will fling it in a semi-random direction, depending on how long you depress the button.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~1:00 — Detailed mechanical explanation of how the magnet functions and its relevance to modern magnet games
“This is a flipperless game, but it does have a flipper-style control mechanism in that magnet, which is located near the bottom center of the playfield.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~2:30 — Key distinction between the lack of traditional flippers and the innovative magnet as a control mechanism
“The artwork is pretty awesome, actually. It has some mermaids on the back glass hanging out by a treasure chest with some fish and stingray and so forth.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~4:15 — Description of the game's thematic art design and visual appeal
“This would be a really, really fascinating example to have in your collection just because it's the first use of this controlled magnet that I've certainly come across.”
Nick Baldridge @ ~6:00 — Assessment of the game's collector value and historical significance

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonExhibit Supply CompanycompanyTreasure ChestgameGottliebcompanyRyan ClaytorpersonBlack Knightgame Jungle LordgameMagnaSaveproductFor Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball PodcastorganizationIPDB

Signals

?
historical_signal: Treasure Chest (1947) identified as the first known pinball machine with a player-controlled magnet mechanism, predating modern magnet games by decades
high · Nick Baldridge's claim: 'This game is the first game, as far as I've seen, with a player-controlled magnet.' This is a significant historical discovery in early pinball design.
?
design_innovation: Treasure Chest uses an exposed magnet core design that prevents wear compared to later games like Black Knight or Jungle Lord, representing an early technical approach to magnet-based player control
medium · Nick Baldridge explains the magnet operates via button press to draw and fling the ball, with the exposed core preventing typical wear patterns seen in later magnet games.
?
collector_signal: Treasure Chest is positioned as a highly desirable collector's item due to its historical significance as the first known player-controlled magnet game
high · Nick Baldridge states: 'This would be a really, really fascinating example to have in your collection just because it's the first use of this controlled magnet that I've certainly come across.'
?
design_philosophy: 1947 design philosophy shows creative problem-solving in replacing flippers (which were invented that year by Gottlieb) with a magnet-based control mechanism
high · Nick Baldridge notes: 'This is a flipperless game, but it does have a flipper-style control mechanism in that magnet.' The timing (1947, flipper invention year) highlights intentional design choice.
?
content_signal: For Amusement Only Episode 104 dedicates deep focus to obscure early pinball machine, following mention in Episode 100 guest interview with Ryan Claytor

Topics

Early pinball machine innovationprimaryMagnet mechanisms in pinballprimaryElectromechanical pinball game designprimary1940s-era pinball machinesprimaryFlipperless pinball gameplaysecondaryPinball machine artwork and themingsecondaryReplay mechanisms in vintage pinballsecondaryPinball machine collecting and raritysecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.85)— Nick Baldridge speaks enthusiastically and admiringly about Treasure Chest, using language like 'beautiful game,' 'gorgeous,' 'fascinating,' and 'exceptional.' His tone conveys genuine appreciation for the historical significance and aesthetic qualities of the machine. No criticism or negative sentiment is expressed.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.024

What's that sound? It's 4 Amusement Only, the EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast. Welcome back to 4 Amusement Only, this is Nicholas Baldridge. I'm trying a recording setup in a different room today, so we'll see if this yields any favorable result, or if I prefer the ambient echo of the arcade. For today's topic, I wanted to discuss a long-forgotten game, which I had mentioned in passing during the Ryan Claytor interview on episode 100, and that is Treasure Chest, which was made by Exhibit. This game is the first game, as far as I've seen, with a player-controlled magnet. This magnet operates like the MagnaSave or like the magnets in Jungle Lord or similar, in that you depress a button and the magnet turns on. It will draw the ball towards it and then will fling it in a semi-random direction, depending on how long you depress the button. The idea of this game Treasure Chest is that you are a deep sea diver and you need to dive down ten fathoms in order to, well you need to dive down five fathoms in order to get your treasure and then surface with another five fathoms. After you have surfaced it doesn't matter how many of the bumpers at the top of the play field that you hit, numbered one through five they just score some points but they don actually change the amount that you dived displayed on the back glass because you already made it down and back up So you all good What's interesting about this game, it's a wood rail. It's made by Exhibit, or ESCO, as they call themselves, Exhibit Supply Company. It has the characteristic red shooter lane cover that Exhibit Games had at this time. It was made in 1947, which, if you'll recall, was the year that flippers were invented by Gottlieb. So this is a flipperless game, but it does have a flipper-style control mechanism in that magnet, which is located near the bottom center of the playfield. Below the magnet is a single post with a rubber, and if you were to hold the ball on the magnet and then drop it straight down, it would bounce off of that post. Now ideally you would nudge it at the same time so that it bounced off of the angled rubbers on either side and hopefully back up the play field. This game has a lot going on. There are five different rollovers, two kick-out pockets, and 14 different passive bumpers and then two diamond-shaped bumpers in the bottom left and bottom right. As the ball is coming down, if you were to tap the magnet so that it just briefly grabs the ball, you could probably fling it straight into one of those diamond bumpers, which also scores special in some cases. Now this being an older Wood Rail game there were usually ways to score multiple replays off of a single game And this game is no exception You can score up to 30 replays from a single game The artwork is pretty awesome, actually. It has some mermaids on the back glass hanging out by a treasure chest with some fish and stingray and so forth. And there is a stingray that's blowing air bubbles for whatever reason. And one of the air bubbles has the credit window in it that allows you to see the number of replays that you've won. the artwork on the play field is some more fish which are looking fairly clueless as they swim around and I believe another mermaid this is a beautiful game really gorgeous wood rail the cabinet has a blue base coat with fish and treasure chest and a diving man as the stencil. And this blue base coat is pretty darn unusual on a game from 1947. So this would be a really, really fascinating example to have in your collection just because it's the first use of this controlled magnet that I've certainly come across. and it looks like an exceptional game as well. Being from the 40s there not a whole lot in the way of mechanics to take care of There are several trip relays that are reset by the coin slide and then a few other relays on the playfield but nothing too major A single coil that controls both the kickouts using some wire, and in the backbox, there's the typical exhibit setup of a couple of score steppers, one with the bell attached, a replay counter, and then a stepper that counts the number of fathoms that you've descended and ascended. This game looks really great. 1947, exhibit treasure chest. Check it out on IPDB. you'll see the magnet and it's very very similar to any other magnet game in that the magnet core is actually poking through the playfield it's a little dissimilar to say Black Knight or Jungle Lord but having the magnet core exposed like that on top of the playfield prevents some of the wear that you typically see on say a Black Knight or Jungle Lord so that's all for today thank you again for joining me my name again is Nicholas Baldridge you can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast at gmail.com you can listen to us on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocket Casts via RSS on Facebook, on Twitter at bingopodcast and you can find me on Instagram at nbaldridge you can also listen to us on our website which is for amusement only dot libsyn dot com at which you can currently buy t-shirts thank you very much for listening and i'll talk to you next time