What bandit to buy?

[shiny penny]

Suggestions please based on the following:
More chance of being able to indulge my Allwin interest if I bought the wife a bandit/slot machine to play.
A very basic no frills bells or whistles machine which generally tends to be reliable and possibly serviceable by a keen amateur if necessary. Hopefully this set of criteria might make such a machine fairly reasonably priced and likely to appear at auction.
Thanks

[badpenny]

Your needs will most certainly be met at Coventry in March, I have just the one in mind.
BP

[shiny penny]

Thank you BP for taking the time to reply. Given the dearth of any other suggestions I may try to hang on until March but I will be at the EH in February and may well just get carried away and buy anything with a handle!

[coppinpr]

Couple of things to consider:
Bandits are pretty much always repairable and if used regularly don't often breakdown. If you're sticking to your criteria, don't buy a German machine. Aristocrats are bomb proof (i.e. "built like a brick S*** house" ) so they go on forever. Don't buy a Sega Constellation and carry it out yourself unless you want to talk with a high pitched voice for the rest of your life and disappoint your wife in other ways but most of all, wait for Coventry - better value and a hundred people happy to advise you.

[shiny penny]

Thanks coppinpr.
I assume the German made options would contradict my price criteria.
I can now at least browse more selectively and try to resist temptation until Coventry.

[shiny penny]

With the auction fast approaching I thought I would make a last plea for guidance on which of the available bandits to consider for my one and only purchase of this type of machine.
Criteria: likely to be reliable, simple and not overly expensive and working on sixpence. Approximately ten runners in the frame. Not easy to tap into the assembled auction experience when one doesn`t know anyone or even what their real names are. The reason for the purchase will be accompanying me, so in the absence of any logical/sensible pointers the choice may come down to which one fits in with the wallpaper!

[treefrog]

As probably previously mentioned I have dug out about 15 Beromat type machines from the shed looking in a sorry state, been working through getting into clean operational state.....they are a bit of a bigger and lucky to have large amount of spares as big I needed them. Good machines when sorted though...

I guess you answered one key point, which is looks.... Most important thing is do you like any specific machine, then price and lastly ease of ownership. Many 6D machines to choose, Jubilee fits low price and reliability......a War Eagle may fit look.....

What do you fancy......

Oh happy to advise on day. Fat bloke bloke, loads of hair near bar.

[brigham]

I started off on SEGA types.
Reliable MILLS-type mech, at half the price of a high-top.
Come in all kinds of colours, and not rare enough to be kept 'original'. Often come with a nice-looking non-working electric 'gimmick' instead of the jackpot.
The Aussie machines are great value, too. Usually on tanners, sometimes still with the pretty 'poker' reels.

[coppinpr]

Well, only a week to go and no doubt there will be a machine to suit you at this auction. It looks to be a good one. I do like the way you say your "one and only machine". Yeah right, like that's going to happen.

It's clear you're keen to get this right. Definitely make contact with some of us on the day. If nothing else, we can take a look at any machine you have taken a liking to and check it's in good order. By the way, I'll be the fat guy with no hair near the bar, possibly talking to the fat guy with lots of hair.

Why not look at it this way? First thing is, you have to like the look of it. No good buying a reliable machine and can't stand the sight of it. It has to play a reasonable game. It's your only machine (as yet), so you want to enjoy playing it. Understandably, you need a reliable machine, although you will soon be digging inside to see what makes it tick. You have budget. Of course you don't want to tell us lot what that is, BUT you could look at the online catalogue and we could give you a private idea of what that machine might go for so you can adjust your plan of attack. No good waiting all auction only to find the machine you had your eye on started higher than your bank roll.

Here are four machines, all or these are or were in my collection and not in the auction, but there are examples of each in the auction. Which style grabs you?

[shiny penny]

Many thanks for the replies.
Coppinpr , I was pleasantly surprised that from your four examples my wife had two strong favourites, top right and bottom left.
I have not worked out how to send private messages but when the lot numbers are finalized if I post a short-list on this thread I would be grateful for a rough guide as to the ballpark values.
Thanks again