Colorama

The schematic diagram refers to the knocker on this game as a "clapper". It indicates one bell is in the backbox and one bell is in the lower cabinet. We previously showed a date of November 1963 for this game. However, the earliest Billboard ad we found was dated Dec-28-1963 page 34, where the manufacturer placed a small notice, advertising the game as "All New", advising customers to contact them or a distributor. In Cash Box dated Dec-28-1963 page 18, Keeney announced this game as available at distributors. Keeney also announced the game in a large Billboard ad in Jan-4-1964 page 30, shown in this listing. Billboard resale ads dated in 1966 give it a date of 12/63. Keeney was a prolific manufacturer of electronic upright gambling machines for both domestic and export locations. They distributed Colorama to Europe through their distribution network there, and Cash Box magazine reports that by February 1964 this game was selling well in the USA, Europe, and Tokyo, and in that same month Keeney entered the German market with this game. In March, they were rushing "substantial shipments" to distributors in Europe through their new partner, Loewen Automaten, after a "power sales campaign" there. We note that the Eastland Bill had outlawed interstate transportation of gambling devices effective December 1962 and that Keeney initiated production of three flipper pinball machines in 1963, after not having made one since 1959. Keeney kept advertising this game as "All New" in Cash Box up through August 29, 1964, the last ad from Keeney that we could find for Colorama. This long production run, starting December 1963, supports the success they had reported. The game continued to appear on the Cash Box list of "Manufacturers New Equipment Currently in Production" up to the issue dated Oct-3-1964 page 63. Keeney had apparently continued to produce this game even through their August 1 move to a new manufacturing plant in the old O.D. Jennings building at 4309 West Lake Street. We previously indicated that 'Colorama' was the last pin game from this manufacturer. However, that distinction belongs to Keeney's 1964 'Arrowhead' which was first advertised by distributors in both Billboard and Cash Box on the very same day that Keeney ceased advertising Colorama (August 29, 1964) and is the same day that Keeney showed its first and only listing for Arrowhead, and referred to it as "All New". Keeney provided no further advertising support for Arrowhead that we can find and it remains an obscure game. We cannot know how long that production run lasted. With the apparent production longevity of Colorama, perhaps Arrowhead was quietly quashed. We speculate that, while Arrowhead was clearly the last Keeney game to begin production, the long Colorama production run possibly made Colorama be the last pinball games out the door.