Early History
As its names implies, Chicago Coin Machine Manufacturing Company was located in Chicago, Illinois, the center of the pinball and arcade game industry since the early days of the coin-operated amusement industry. Chicago Coin was formed in 1931 by partners Sam Gensburg, Lou Koren and Sam Wolberg. Incidentally, Sam Gensburg's three brothers Louis, Meyer, and David formed a rival pinball company called Genco. Genco would remain a competitor with Chicago Coin until the companies merged in 1959.
The first Chicago Coin pingame was actually manufactured by Stoner, a manufacturing partner of Chicago Coin. The game was called Blackstone and was made in 1933. The first original Chicago Coin game was a pingame called Leland, produced two months after Blackstone. In 1935, Chicago Coin produced Beam-Lite, which sold an astounding 5,703 units.
Chicago Coin's first pinball table to have flippers was Bermuda, released in November 1947. Unlike the "big three" of the post-flipperless pinball industry, Chicago Coin was often seen as not being as innovative as rivals Gottlieb, Williams, and Bally. Additionally, CC pinball tables were often seen as lower quality than their more popular rivals. Chicago Coin would struggle to shake this reputation throughout its existence.
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