Meld your hand — Genco’s Canasta is an electromechanical single-player wrapped in a theme built around the popular card game, from one of the pioneering names of the earliest coin-op amusement industry. With light-based scoring and a confirmed run of 720, it’s a scarce and genuinely unusual antique from the formative decades of the modern game.
The layout has a truly distinctive feature that sets it apart: an extraordinary thirteen kick-out holes, paired with two flippers, two pop bumpers, and a time clock. That remarkable array of thirteen kick-out holes is the machine’s defining character, giving the playfield an enormous field of captured-ball awards to chase — a wildly hole-heavy design unlike almost anything else, rewarding a player who works the whole playfield to find and feed them. The time clock adds an intriguing bit of timing-based play, a hallmark of certain early machines. It’s a genuinely unusual layout that captures the experimental spirit of pinball’s formative years.
Canasta is a fascinating piece of history for the collector who cherishes the earliest chapters of the hobby and the pioneering companies that built it. Genco was one of the industry’s true foundational manufacturers, and that thirteen-hole layout makes this a genuinely distinctive, experimental machine. With only 720 built, it’s a scarce find, and the canasta card-game theme was a timely, popular choice in its day. For anyone who reveres the roots of the game and an unusual design, it’s a worthy pursuit. Work all thirteen kick-out holes, mind the time clock, and meld your winning hand. Some machines stand out for a genuinely unusual layout, and this Genco card classic is one of them. Deal ’em out and drop a coin.