O. D. Jennings and Company

O. D. Jennings and Company was a venerable Chicago manufacturer of coin-operated machines whose roots in the amusement industry reach back to the early twentieth century. Founded by Oliver D. Jennings, the company established itself as a major producer of slot machines and trade stimulators before expanding into pinball during the early 1930s boom. Jennings produced forty pin games between 1932 and 1938 — a modest catalog by Chicago standards, but one that drew on decades of coin-op manufacturing expertise.

The company’s pinball output was predominantly Electromechanical, with a handful of early Pure Mechanical games. Designers Cliff Dumble and Sidney E. Van Tuyl contributed to a catalog that included titles from Jay-Ball (1932) through later entries like Pheasant and Super-Charger (both 1938). Like its Chicago neighbor Mills Novelty Company, Jennings came to pinball as an established coin-op powerhouse rather than a startup — and like Mills, the company ultimately found its lasting legacy elsewhere in the amusement business.

Jennings withdrew from pinball by the late 1930s but continued manufacturing slot machines for decades afterward, remaining a significant name in that industry well into the postwar era. The company’s pinball chapter, while brief, illustrates the gravitational pull that the early pin game craze exerted on Chicago’s entire coin-operated machine industry — even firms with established product lines and no particular need for diversification felt compelled to try their hand.