1968 · Chicago Coin
Stage Coach
Known for Ball Saver, Gun Smoke button, Score reels and Near out lanes. Pale yellow and cream painted sky, purple and mauve rocky mountain range across the upper right, green scrubby bushes along the lower left and lower edge and sandy ochre desert ground.
- Year
- 1968
- Maker
- Chicago Coin
- Type
- Electro-mechanical
- Display
- Score reels
- Players
- 4
Known for
- post
Ball Saver
- button
Gun Smoke button
- backglass toy
Score reels
- Lane
Near out lanes
- Lane
Far out lanes
- Mode
Gun Smoke
On the playfield
Holes 3
- Top saucer saucer
- Left saucer saucer
- Center saucer saucer
Lanes 4
- Near out lanes
- Far out lanes
- Center rollover buttons rollover buttons
- Orbit rollover buttons rollover buttons
Posts and gates 2
- Ball Saver post
- Center peg peg
Control 1
- Gun Smoke button button
Backbox 1
- Score reels backglass toy
On the backglass
Who and what
- man Cowboy in the lower left foreground seen from behind, pale blue wide-brimmed hat, blue shirt, turned away and looking up to the right
- man Second cowboy beside him in the lower left, dark brown hat and mauve-purple shirt, back turned, also looking upward
- man Cowboy on horseback at the right edge, red neckerchief, cream shirt, blue trousers, riding a dark brown horse
- vehicle Red and gold stagecoach with four spoked wheels and a roof luggage rack, angled and moving left to right
- animal Team of white horses in a trace ahead of the stagecoach, plus the dark brown riding horse at the right
- man Small coach driver figure seated at the front of the stagecoach in blue clothing
Setting
- Pale yellow and cream painted sky
- Purple and mauve rocky mountain range across the upper right
- Green scrubby bushes along the lower left and lower edge
- Sandy ochre desert ground
Text on it
- Chicago Express
- STAGE COACH
- A GAME OF SKILL
- PLAYERS
- SUNSHINE RIDGE
- 500
- 300
- 200
- 100
- 50
- 1ST PLAYER
- 2ND PLAYER
- 3RD PLAYER
- 4TH PLAYER
- 5 3 9 6
- 4 1 5 5
- 2 6 1 0
- 6 6 0 5
How it plays
-
Modes 1
- Gun Smoke
Made by
- Design
- Albin Peters
- Design
- Ed Sermonti
- Art
- Christian Marche
Reference
Linked terms
- Ball Saver also called center post
- Score reels also called symbol reels
- Gun Smoke also called Gun Smoke value
Backglass vision analysis
Written by a machine from the photos, so details may be off.
Backglass
- yellow
- red
- blue
- white
Fingerprint: Chicago Express STAGE COACH title, four-player score layout with 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH PLAYER rows, red stagecoach galloping through mountain pass, two cowboys from behind looking upward, one on horseback at right, cowboy in blue hat and shirt, another in purple shirt, SUNSHINE RIDGE signpost, diagonal red pennants with values.
The most memorable feature is the four-player score layout: four separate rows of mechanical score windows labelled 1ST, 2ND, 3RD and 4TH PLAYER, each showing a distinct digit set, stacked across the middle and bottom of the glass. A red stagecoach galloping left to right through a mountain pass dominates the upper right, with 'STAGE COACH' in huge red block letters to its left. A diagonal ribbon of red pennants down the right edge carries the values 500, 300, 200, 100 and 50, with a small yellow 'SUNSHINE RIDGE' signpost tucked above it. Two cowboys seen from behind in the lower left corner gaze up at the coach, a detail that makes the scene read as a lookout rather than a chase.
Setting
- Pale yellow and cream painted sky
- Purple and mauve rocky mountain range across the upper right
- Green scrubby bushes along the lower left and lower edge
- Sandy ochre desert ground
Symbols
- Five-pointed star above the title block
- Playing-card suits in a vertical strip at the left edge
- Spoked wagon wheels
- Yellow signpost
- Red ribbon pennants
- White picket-fence style name panel
- Horseshoe motif
Lettering
- Large red slab-serif capitals with black keyline and white drop shadow for the main title, smaller red brush-script for the subtitle above, tiny black capitals for the tagline, and chunky yellow western-style capitals on black bars for the player labels
Themes
- Stagecoach
- Wild west
- Gold rush
- Cowboys
- Horse-drawn transport
- Mountain pass
- Four player
- Electromechanical score reels
Title on it
- Stage coach
Text on it
- Chicago Express
- STAGE COACH
- A GAME OF SKILL
- PLAYERS
- SUNSHINE RIDGE
- 500
- 300
- 200
- 100
- 50
- 1ST PLAYER
- 2ND PLAYER
- 3RD PLAYER
- 4TH PLAYER
- 5 3 9 6
- 4 1 5 5
- 2 6 1 0
- 6 6 0 5
| Kind | Description |
|---|---|
| Man | Cowboy in the lower left foreground seen from behind, pale blue wide-brimmed hat, blue shirt, turned away and looking up to the right |
| Man | Second cowboy beside him in the lower left, dark brown hat and mauve-purple shirt, back turned, also looking upward |
| Man | Cowboy on horseback at the right edge, red neckerchief, cream shirt, blue trousers, riding a dark brown horse |
| Vehicle | Red and gold stagecoach with four spoked wheels and a roof luggage rack, angled and moving left to right |
| Animal | Team of white horses in a trace ahead of the stagecoach, plus the dark brown riding horse at the right |
| Man | Small coach driver figure seated at the front of the stagecoach in blue clothing |
A rectangular backglass with a cream and pale yellow painted sky background, framed by a dark outer edge and worn, chipped paint along the borders. Upper left is the title: the words 'STAGE COACH' in very large red slab-serif capitals with a black outline and a white drop shadow, stacked on two lines, with the smaller red cursive script 'Chicago Express' arcing above it and the tiny black capitals 'A GAME OF SKILL' centred below. To the right of the title a red and gold stagecoach with yellow wheels and a driver's perch is drawn at an angle, with a team of white horses and a driver in blue pulling it left to right. A small yellow signpost on the right reads 'SUNSHINE RIDGE' in dark capitals. The lower left shows two cowboys from the waist up, backs turned: one in a pale blue wide-brimmed hat and blue shirt, the other in a dark hat and mauve-purple shirt, both looking up towards the stagecoach; a white-gloved hand holding a revolver appears beside them. On the right, a cowboy in a red neckerchief, cream shirt and blue trousers rides a dark brown horse. A diagonal stack of red ribbon banners runs down the right side carrying the values 500, 300, 200, 100 and 50. Four separate score windows labelled 1ST, 2ND, 3RD and 4TH PLAYER in yellow capitals on black bars span the middle and bottom, and a narrow blank white name panel sits at bottom right.