How NOT to restore your machine

[slotalot]

Hi , I just found this Bryans Rippler on the Kirkleatham Museum (Redcar) website .. I think it should have been restored back to original... Am I right or should it be left as it is ......

This is the text from the Museum webpage
This arcade machine is called Beat the Last Score it dates about the 1950s. This type of amusement machine is known as a wall machine and would have been mounted on a wall of an amusement arcade.
For one penny the player would have had ten attempts to move a fallen ball into the centre column, using the movable paddles worked by the handles.
If the player was successful to win every time the last ball would trigger a replay mechanism.
This machine has been restored in a conservation laboratory. The glass on the front was broken, metal workings and paintwork was dirty and rusty. image B shows how it used to look before restoration, image A shows the working mechanism and instruction label inside before restoration.

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I have also added this photo of what the machine should look like.

[willborl]

You're right there, it looks horrible. Should've been restored to original just like all other machines should be.

[treefrog]

This is the age old argument that exists with all collectors, whether classic cars or slots. The trouble is, if all variations and modifications through history are removed, do we not lose history itself. Remember that in your youth or people at that time would have experienced all forms of modified machines, so all you end up with some kind of purified world that doesn't relate to slot history.

I agree it's not pretty, but it's a museum and captures the real aspect of life of the time.

[pennymachines]

I second that tree-frog. Often the things that have been done to a machine are as interesting as the machine itself. Certainly they're part of its history and sometimes give valuable insight into the period. What the museum has done is honest, valid preservation of the past which is what museums should be about. If a collector got hold of it (and I include myself in this category) it would be off with the showman's handiwork and on with some original Bryan's paperwork or failing that some photocopied paperwork. This would make it more marketable - because most collectors would prefer something that pretended to be factory-original. A conscientious collector would keep the showman's paper - which might be damaged during removal or later mislaid. It's hard to argue this isn't a kind of vandalism.

The collector's dilemma - a judgement between preserving history and an aesthetic notion of what the machine should look like.
I find the museum's lavender-painted example with its hand-made instructions much more interesting than the bland "restored" version above it. It shows evidence of its use in an arcade and the operator's effort to glam it up a bit. The "restored" one, on the other hand, shows evidence of a less than honest attempt to pass off a modern reproduction as an antique. I may be wrong, but it looks like one of the Rippler copies. Even if it isn't, the green baize (originally leatherette) and apparently new brass knobs and coin slot, make it look so. I believe the cast frames around the instructions were made of wood on the repro Ripplers (difficult to see in a picture).

[willborl]

I do agree with what you both say Pennymachines and Tree-frog.
It adds to the character of a machine and history of it.
But in this case it is such a blatent change and pretty ugly. If this was my machine I would restore it.
Why did showmen change them? To Update them?
Cheers

[pennymachines]

I think the operator was trying to make it clear what the machine was about. The only large letters on the original paperwork spell "Rippler" which doesn't tell the player anything. Most players don't read instructions - especially in small print, so they're liable to walk past.
He's made it clear you're going to get 10 Balls for 1D; the object is to best other players' scores (by getting more balls in the higher scoring centre column); and it's "For Your Amusement" (hint, hint: no prizes - no gambling).
I see the ball delivery knob has also been extended making it easier for small fingers to crank.

slotalot - did you give the museum the benefit of your expertise on the original name, manufacturer and date?

[slotalot]

Hi Mr Pennymachines , I think that some of what you say about showing its history is right, some machines should be left as found or just tidied up, but I just think that this machine is in a very sad state and is hiding its real identity .. I have emailed the museum and told them the correct name etc.... maybe I would feel better about this machine as it is if it was listed as a Bryans Rippler that had been revamped at sometime by the arcade operator....

[willborl]

Very interesting info Pennymachines.
Thanks

[badpenny]

I'm glad to see they use the compost bin method for restoration as well, I was beginning to feel lonely.

On more than one occasion I have left a machine with its showman's additions: -
Post decimal hand written award card
Chunks of hard wood pressed into the slots in the disks
Blocks in the star wheels
Coin return rerouted to cash box

However as Mr. Pennymachines says it becomes less marketable, and I have passed these onto others only to see the same machine a year later looking "fresh as a daisy" and sporting a price tag a lot bigger than what I got for it.

By the way Mr Pennymachines ....... am I confuddled or are you admitting to being the one that painted the above machine?

[slotalot]

By the way Mr Pennymachines ....... am I confuddled or are you admitting to being the one that painted the above machine?

Hi Badpenny , I wondered about that too .... If so I think I will ask him if he does wallpapering as well... the back bedroom could do with a makeover.. lol..

[pennymachines]

am I confuddled or are you admitting to being the one that painted the above machine?

Nah - I finish all my machines with a thick coat of silver Hammerite.