Help with Win a Crunch

[john t peterson]

I can verify Gamseswat's story, at least the part concerning the sale of British games by US stores at bargain prices. The bulk of my collection came from two California dealers in the 90's. They purchased the cache from a collector who made a habit of going to a local department story during the Christmas season and buying their stock of allwins and the like. He then stored the games in a railway car that he had on a siding next to his factory. After his age progressed and his health deteriorated, he elected to sell the whole collection to the two dealers. I became involved when they listed the first game, Multiball by Handan-Ni. They sold me the machine at discount in return for my appraisal service for the remainder of their collection. I flew out to California for the transaction and during dinner, agreed to purchase their complete lot of 60 British games.

I can attest to the fact that many of these machines were retailed through American stores. How they got there? The only reasonable answer is the container trade from England that was rampant during the American lust for British antiques in the 70's. Who filled those containers? That's for you lads to discover. I believe that is not coincidental that the exodus of your coin operated history was around the time that bandits were legalized. Given the opportunity to win vast sums of money from the one-armed bandits, you abandoned your beloved allwins like a jilted lover. You must now win them back at greatly inflated cost.

As the saying goes, we don't know what we have until we lose it.

J Peterson
Lost in British historical gold in America

[coppinpr]

Still needs a lot of work

[brigham]

Looks like there are colour variations, too.

[coppinpr]

Mark 2

[badpenny]

That's good, what's the girl's name?

[brigham]

Pauline, I would guess.

[13rebel]

And lead singer with the Crunchettes

[widget2k4]

ive done one of these before but cannot find it on my hard drive

[widget2k4]

Found it - one of my first ever attempts, so may not be much good, but maybe could add to it to tidy it up a bit.

[dougev]

Gentlemen,
I have a Win a Crunch that I bought about 10 years ago. It is in very nice shape. The door is open but no key. I have attached two pictures. I live in Pennsylvania, US. Can you give me an estimated retail value for this machine and an wholesale value?
Thank you,
Dougev

my email address is dougevans@embarqmail.com if you want to come directly to me.

[treefrog]

Hi there Doug and welcome. A fine looking Oliver Whales machine you have there. In the US these British machines will always be a little tougher to sell than here, but many come up at auctions and eBay etc....looks a nice machine and in the U.K. would sell for around £400 to £550 at a guess, which is around $700...

[dougev]

Treefrog,
Thank you for the quick reply. I have a person who wants to give me $200 for it. Sounds like I need to get an extra $100 to $150 to give that person a decent whole sale price. I am assuming your 400 to 550 pounds would be a retail price. Is that correct?
Thank you again
Dougev

[treefrog]

For that money it would be worth selling to a U.K. buyer

There are US and Canadian members on this site who would jump at that price. Key is the machine is not a wreck, but very tidy. In my opinion you should be getting at least $500+

[dougev]

Treefrog,
Thank you again for the information. I was going to sell it for $200 and the buyer was going to pay shipping to the New England area, but based on your excellent input, I will see if I can get $400 for it with him paying shipping. I would be happy with that.
Pretty late at night for you, isn't it???
Regards,
Dougev

[treefrog]

Waiting for the Blood moon.....don’t ask.......

[dougev]

Treefrog,
The person who was interested in my Win a Crunch for $200 didn't like the idea that I was suggesting that I would like $350 for the game and he decided he didn't want it.
I do not need to sell it but if you know of anyone who might be interested, would you please give me a few leads?
I watched the blue moon also, but at a more reasonable time in the night.
Regards,
dougev

[treefrog]

As mentioned before, if only it were in the U.K. as it would be snapped up for between £350 and £550......

There are a couple of Allwin collectors on your side of the pond, whether they are interested, I don’t know, but are on this site so will see the post. I did ship a machine from the US a few years ago and managed to get it shipped for $100. But it missed customs charges and was slightly smaller.....I am sure if it could be shipped for $500 someone here would probably have a go, so worth checking if you can get a good deal on shipping based of size. If you do, can advertise on this site, I reckon someone would buy, would even consider myself.

It just seems criminal to sell for $200

[arrgee]

very nice looking machine and backflash looks to be extremely good as well, I have no doubt that it would be worth at least £350 - £550 over here.

I see you have a NCR dougev, what model is it?

[yaksplat]

Topic merged - Site Admin.

I just received my first Allwin machine. A Win A Crunch. It's going to need a little bit of work to get performing correctly, but it seems like everything is in order. But I have some questions...
Keep in mind, I'm a complete rookie here

How many balls should be in here? I have 3.
What's the proper size of the balls?
Is it one ball per penny?
And how many balls should trip the prize lever? Looks like it'll take more than one.
What's the best way to get a key for locks like this? The locks are intact , but aren't necessary to open the doors.
Did these originally have glass on them? This one has plexiglass.
I'm sure I could figure something out, but what was the standard size of the chocolate bar?

And here's a picture of the new machine.

[13rebel]

Hi Yaksplat and well done on acquiring your new baby, it looks to be in great condition. This is an Oliver Whales of Redcar machine probably made around 1954. It should only have one ball in the machine and this is enough to sit on the trip for a win. The size is of ball is 9/16 inch. It is one penny per play. You may find that inside the machine, at one end of the ball run, there is a knurled knob held in place by a grub screw so that it can be adjusted to give a free play on a win. I suspect most operators would not have had it on this mode. It should have glass fitted. I don't know the thickness off hand, but can measure if you need. If you can remove the locks a decent locksmith would probably be able to make keys. Size of bars is a tricky one. You may find someone has one of these and can let you know the size. Failing that, it's a case of experimenting with various bars. Any problems post a photo of the inside.