Kings

Kings was part of Genco’s early domination of lighted backglass features, as well as an early example of screenprinted backglass art. Typical of the mid-1930’s backglasses, the artwork is straightforward and instructional, with more emphasis on title and scoring than decoration or ornament. Lighted backglasses were still quite new to pinball in 1935, so that feature alone probably helped Kings stand out from the crowd.

As with many pingames of this period, Kings is themed around a game that customers would already be familiar with. While bagatelle games were widespread prior to this, the identity and concept of pinball as a game unto itself was still in formation, so referencing popular sports or games could have been another way to attract customers to this new form of entertainment.