(Topic ID: 178077)

1934 Genco Gridiron (restoration complete)!

By ZNET

7 years ago


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  • 11 posts
  • 8 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 6 years ago by jmsvero
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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    #1 7 years ago

    1934 Genco Gridiron. This cool game licensed PAMCO's subway kicker patent and utilized PAMCO's surplus parts (same units utilized on Pacific Amusement Major League). Football themed games are a nice variation from the omnipresent baseball games. I love the graphics on Gridiron. The advertisement shows Gridiron with a marquee; however, I suspect that some of these marquees were never actually produced. The leg plates are the same leg as utilized on the Rockola prewar games like Army Navy, World's Series and World's Fair Jigsaw's later version. This game is fun! The kickers are meant to simulate kicking inasmuch as the original name of the game was Goal Kick (changed because operator's didn't like that name. . .sort of the Dialed In! of the prewar era, I suppose, in terms of its original name). Genco used some of the nicest woods for their cabinets, in my opinion.

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    #2 7 years ago

    Stunning! I have not seen this one before!

    I have a Peo All American Football from this year.

    Interesting that there were several "Football themed games"
    out within a couple years.

    Your Lineup, is Pure Art to me!!

    #3 7 years ago

    Awesome! Super old pins are really cool, and really fun to play! This reminds me, I need to get my Fleet Jr working! ARGH!

    #4 7 years ago

    Wow! Amazing job!
    faz

    #5 7 years ago
    Quoted from goatdan:

    Awesome! Super old pins are really cool, and really fun to play! This reminds me, I need to get my Fleet Jr working! ARGH!

    One of the things that I like about the gameplay of Genco Gridiron is that a single ball often bounces around in and out of the kickers several times, sometimes 6 or more times. The perimeter kickers feed the ball to the center, where the center kicker frequently activates. This design translates into unusually long ball-in-play times, for a prewar game. Of course, failing to land in any kicker means a short ball time. I plan to post a video soon.

    #6 7 years ago

    Looks great Bruce. Nice job. Was great playing those machines during my visit, a real treat, thanks. Getting closer with the Cont Cafe, but still a bunch to do....

    #7 7 years ago

    Very nice Bruce. I really enjoy seeing pieces where it all began. Beautiful machine.. (T)

    6 months later
    #8 6 years ago

    Well, it's been many months since I posted photos of my 1934 Genco Gridiron restoration project. I finally got around to recording a video of the gameplay. My narration and camera angles are somewhat deficient. Nevertheless, I think that the video clip is a true representation of the gameplay so I have posted it here.

    The main feature of Genco's Gridiron is its 3 solenoid-driven playfield kickers, which propel the balls upward, often in surprising and pleasing directions. This patented, subway kicker technology was licensed from PAMCO (Pacific Amusement Co.). Dry cell batteries were employed to energize the solenoids.

    Genco originally released this game under the name Goal-Kick. This name was likely selected to emphasize the football kicking element and the main feature, i.e. energized kicking of the ball. Evidently, operators disliked the name, which resulted in the change to Gridiron.

    The object of the game is, of course, to land balls in the high-scoring holes. Few prewar games sport such attractive playfield graphics. Coupled with the beautiful, sturdy poplar and other furniture-grade woods utilized by Genco, Gridiron is a stand-out among the games of the era. The red-uniform and green accents are stunning, against the honey-toned playfield. Likewise, the art deco motif of the cabinet and the shooter plate lend an elegance to this game, based upon American football. Indeed, relatively few pinball machines of any era draw from a football theme, which makes Gridiron even more unique. Conventional wisdom estimates are that only about a half-dozen Gridirons/Goal-Kicks have survived.

    Corrections: Genco was founded by Louis, Meyer and David Gensberg. As I stated in the video, the "G" is hard in pronunciation, as was the surname of the founders, even though most pinball enthusiasts use the soft "G" pronunciation. Samuel Gensburg was among the founders of Chicago Coin Machine Manufacturing Co., which predated Genco. In the video, I erroneously stated the Gensburg surname as Genco. Also, the production year is 1934 (not 1935, as I incorrectly stated in the video).

    #9 6 years ago

    Awesome looking machine. I have a 1934 drop kick with a kick feature as well. It is a favorite of mine.
    Great looking collection to go with it.

    3 months later
    #10 6 years ago

    Thanks for taking the time to shoot and post this video, Bruce. Very neat game!

    #11 6 years ago

    Awesome job on the restoration. The pin looks great.

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