strange 3

Strange & Unusual page 3

"Play Ball"

Machines that try to emulate a sport

Lots of slot machine have used sport as a theme but surprisingly few have attempted to actually play a sport. Some sports are well represented others never seem to have been attempted.

Baseball

Being a bat and ball game with relatively fixed fielding positions coupled with its popularity baseball was perhaps one of the easier games to simulate. Even some one arm bandits managed to show a little play in their action. But it was the pinball makers who really got to grips with a good baseball game. Williams hit on a good basic game and went on to make several versions through the 1960's. Midway too made a first class game. These machines took quite a pounding as the speed of the pitch needed to be fast and hard to try and catch out the layer. In the 1970's I had a Williams machine in my care in a London arcade, mechanically it was made to last wear to the playfield, players and targets was the big problem. Very few seem to have survived perhaps because they were simply worn out by the end of their life.

RockOla "1937 World series" Amusement Machine Corp of America "All American Baseball" 1930

This machine, in its original form, is generally recognised as the first ever "pitch and bat" baseball game. It came out in 1929 under the name "All American Baseball" and was made by the Amusement machine Corp of America, a company created by the machine's inventor George Miner. The machine has an interesting history involving a couple of greats in the coin op world. After only a couple of years Miner sold the rights to the game to Harry Williams who would eventually found the Williams Co famous for its pintables. Miner and Williams went to work for the Bally Co and planned to reintroduce the game there but Miner was killed in a plane crash, the plan was dropped and Williams went to work for David RockOla at the RockOla Co, taking the patents for the baseball game with him.This resulted in "1937 World Series" a very similar but advanced version of the original game. The game was a mild success but not a big hit

Williams "Official Baseball"a two player game that tried hard to create a good game and succeeded unlike the Rock-Ola "play Ball" which couldn't help but be a glorified pinball.

These two (by Mills and Atlas) were from an earlier less tech advanced age and could do little more than offer a game on a baseball theme.

In the UK cricket was the natural option over baseball but proved to be hard to manage and impossible to produce an interesting game

Golf

Not a game that lends itself to coin op simulation but this certainly didn't stop the machine makers on both sides of the Atlantic making the attempt.

This Meadowlark "play golf " was good effort despite looking like the golfer is inside a fish tank

This English machine was a very early attempt to capture the joys of golf and was popular in its day and much sort after by collectors today.

Using their experience from the baseball games Williams produced this interesting but not wildly successful golf game

Chicrgo Coin's "Par Golf" lent even harder on the earlier baseball machines

This Chester Pollard "Play Golf" needs some work A nice looking game but the only similarity it has with

in its day did a good job golf is that both are impossible to win at

Basket Ball & American Football

American football and rugby being games that involve carrying the ball did not lend themselves to coin op machines and are few and far between and for the most part rely on the kicking and catching side of the game.

Basketball on the other hand did a little better,after following the American football theme in its early days the electrical slot age gave it new life

Sega found a way to throw the ball from position to position with this machine which was a big success for them and can still be found in use

Boxing

Surprisingly boxing was an early entry in to the field and there have been American,British and Japanese boxing machines although none were more than a one play wonder

Ten Pin Bowling

Coin operated bowling machines come,of course, in many sizes,even in arcades,but,for me at least, the enclosed mini figure style bowling machine is the true arcade version, often beautifully made they are a joy to play

"Ten Strike" was originally made by H.C.Evens Co and remained in constant production from 1939 till 1953 (excluding the war years) and reappeared again in 1957 as a two player game as "Ten Strike & "Ten Pins" after Williams bought the rights from Evans.

The later Williams "Ten Strike" and Sega "Pro bowler" may have played a better game but lack the class of the Evens

This version is an oddity as it carries the "RockOla makers name

Hockey

Hockey, usually ice hockey machine were popular from the start,often quite simple machines but addictive none the less and extreamly popular which led to more interesting and unusual versions

This basic style although still to be found today soon led to this more advanced version

this Jentzsch & Meerz machine took things a little further by adding more hockey players

The most exotic hockey machine must surely be this Chicago Coin "Goalee" complete with overhead mirror view

Horse Racing

Horse racing was a natural for the coin-operated world because of the gambling element and machine makers were quick to see its potential,even today its a popular theme with some makers still using the same name on their modern machines as they did 50 years ago. Makers had to be very inventive in the early days before the use of multi electrical components was possible. This led to some of the most ingenious mechanical coin op machines ever made.

This English R&W machine is as basic as it gets and this American machine complete with Gum dispenser was an early attempt at a gambling horse racing game

header photo Buckley "track Odds" has a horse race theam rather than race game

But one company,Pace, rewrote the book on horse racing machines when they released "Paces Races" this super unusual machine used electricity to power the lights and just one electric motor to run a bellows which in turn produced compressed air which powered every mechanical aspect of the machine,the race,the odds and even the payout. It was a true masterpiece of engineering. Bakers produced an almost identical machine and are thought to have been involved with the machine's development right from the start along with Evens Co and, indeed Evens produced the later electrified version and Baker took over Pace in the end. Bally also produced a version of their own but not to the standard of the Pace machine,the consoles alone are a work of art.