Arcade Machines, Page 3
 
1950's Shipman Mfg. Co. Stereo Coin-Op Peep Show. Shipman Manufacturing Company produced coin operated peep shows from the 1930's up until the 1960's. A 1930's wooden version of their stereo coin operated peep show is displayed elsewhere on this website. This 1950's version uses a metal cabinet rather than wood. Rather than a timer with a manual picture advance mechanism like in the 1930's model, this model utilizes a motor drive to automatically display five pictures upon the insertion of a nickle. There are twenty R-Rated pictures of woman on the stereo film strip inside. Shipman Manufacturing continued to use the same marquee picture as utilized in the 1930's.
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    • 1950 Gottlieb Bowlette. In 1950, puck or shuffle bowlers were becoming quite popular with the public. The problem with the bowlers was the significant amount of floor space they took up. Even to this day, large puck bowlers have limited appeal to collectors due to their space requirement. Gottlieb decided to market a different type of puck bowler which addressed this problem. Designed by Harry Mabs (Inventor of the pinball flipper) with artwork by Roy Parker, Bowlette is only very slightly larger than a standard woodrail pinball machine. Thus, Bowlette could be placed in any location where there was room for a pinball machine. Bowlette works much like a regular bowling alley. The puck is slid down the alley and both lit pins and a illuminated backglass show which pin's were hit. The puck is then captured in the back and returned to the player via a internal tunnel which also initializes score totaling on the back glass. This method of puck return is much more realistic than the simple rebound of the puck provided by most bowling machines of that era. Bowlette was very popular with both the public and with game operators. Approximately 3000 units were produced and the game remains very popular with collectors today.
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    • 1948 Bally Heavy Hitter. Pitch and Bat type arcade games have always been quite popular. A small steel ball is mechanically pitched and the player swings at it with mechanical bat. The ball then fly's up to a hole in the upper playfield and a single, double, triple, homerun or out is scored. Heavy Hitter also has a animated running man unit in the backglass display. Small 5/8" steel ball's representing players actually move from base to base as the player plays the game. Homeruns and outs are counted and the game is over when the player gets three outs. This amazing little electromechanical game is only 15 inches wide, by 32.5 inches long and fits on a countertop! This particular game also has the rarely found steel floor stand which makes the game sit 55 inches high when used. Bally Heavy Hitter is a fast and fun game to play and was very popular with the public during it's production years of 1948 and 1949.
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    • 1980 Atari Centipede. I was never much for playing video games, but for some reason, I always enjoyed playing Centipede. Thus, I decided to have one sample video arcade machine in my collection and found a nice Centipede. The game is 25 cents per play and has beautiful decal artwork on the sides of the cabinet.
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    • 1952 Binks Zipper Skill. This interesting game was produced by Binks Industries, Inc. Chicago, IL. in 1952. It is a skill game whereby after a nickel is inserted, the ball's are released from the playfield and drop down to a ramp. One by one, they are fed to a shooter which is controlled by a handle on the side. With skill, the five steel ball's can be lined up with one of the colored lines drawn on the playfield. A piece of gum is dispensed with each play whether the patron win's or loses. In reality, this is a gambling game meant for bars, clubs etc. The inserted nickel is displayed on a window in the back so that the operator can verify that a slug was not used. Prizes, either monetary, drinks or cigarettes were awarded for lining the ball's up on a colored line. A tilt mechanism in the upper left corner detects whether the machine was moved after a nickel is inserted. A tilt indication would void any possible payout. The mechanism inside this machine is quite clever and intricate for games of this type. The colorful playfield and blonde wood cabinet make it a favorite for collectors of small arcade games.
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    • 1964 Seeburg LPC1 Jukebox. The LPC1 introduced several new features to that which existed in current jukes. It has a solid state stereo amplifier instead of tubes. (Though the tormat controller and the rest of the Juke uses tubes) It also had the ability to play small 33 RPM records in addition to normal 45 RPM records. A sensing circuit inside determines which type of record has been selected and adjusts speed accordingly. The juke accepts ten cents for a single play, twenty five cents for 3 plays and a half dollar for 6 plays. The 33 RPM 'albums' were also a half dollar. I have several wall box's for this jukebox which also accept money and allow remote selection of what is to be played.
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    • Modern Pachislo Slot Machine. These machines are currently used in the Ginza district of Tokyo Japan. The machine only accepts special size tokens and dispenses payouts as tokens. In addition, 'skill stop' buttons are used to signal the reels to stop spinning thus supposedly adding a level of skill to the machine and preventing it from being used for gambling. Since Gambling is technically illegal in Tokyo, the tokens won are used to purchase trinkets, such as goldfish, beads etc. However, the pachinko parlors where these machines reside will then often 'buy back' the trinkets upon leaving for real money. Since they only use tokens and have skill stops, Pachislo (Pachinko + Slot) is legal in most U.S. states.
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    • 1946 Gottlieb Strength Tester. In 1927, while Dave Gottlieb was operating a vending route in Texas, he decided to enter the coin-op manufacturing business by building and selling coin operated grip/strength testers. Gottlieb considered these devices to be the cornerstone of his company and for almost the entire 60 plus year existance of Gottlieb, they built grip testers in addition to their more famous line of pinball machines. This is a 1946 'Improved Deluxe Grip Scale, Counter Athletic Machine' It operates from a penny and determines strength in three different ways. Squeezing the grip shows grip strength, similarly the two arms can be pushed together or pulled apart to demonstrate arm strength. High 'scores' ring a bell and the results are locked in on the dial until reset by a button on top. Their are different charts for men and woman stating what their grip should optimally be for a given age. These machines were very popular at penny arcades and taverns.
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    • 1960's Japanese Pachinko Machine. These machines are still produced in a more modern form and heavily played in the Ginza district of Tokyo Japan. The player buys a certain number of small ball's from the operator. The ball's are shot up into the playfield via the spring loaded shooter on the lower right. If certain targets are hit, ball's are returned and it is possible, with skill, to earn more ball's than you are playing. The ball's are then traded for trinkets such as goldfish and beads. These can be sold back to the game parlor upon leaving for real money.
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