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Thanks for the reply. I agree with you about the High Top Bonus being a nicer looking machine. Hope I get one one day.
Out of all the early slot machines with these "bonus" features, my favourite would have to be the Pace Kitty. WOW what an awesome machine!!! I think I had better start saving if I want one......

bandito wrote:On ebay at the moment, nice looking machine, but the highest bidder, as I write has a feedback of 4.0% positive, 1 retracted???? etc, etc. Looks a bit fishy not one to pay up if they win my guess

Shill bidding ??? Same person as the seller?

Shill bidding.. tut tut... surely not!!! HaHa!!!!! (I'm with you on that one!)

Easy way to find out... let that bidder win... if it is someone related to the seller (employee or friend) then the machine will be re-listed again in the near future ... or sooner, with the words "relisted due to timewaster" in the description!!!

HaHa.. Not that we don't trust anyone...... lol

Mark.

Yes markymark, or they offer the next highest bidder (very convenient) a second chance offer!!!!!
Anyway, just had a fresh look at the bidding and I see that dodgy bidder is no more......and they bid £1450. So now back to £720 as I write this.
I think ebay should stop people with a low feedback rating of less than 25 wins and say 90% positive feedback from bidding over a certain amount, say £100 until they earn the right to do so. That would iron out some of the idiots like the one we are talking about.

bandito wrote:I think ebay should stop people with a low feedback rating of less than 25 wins

That's no good, it would just stop people like myself who are keen collectors and have only bought a few machines off eBay.

Just because a person has only a few wins doesn't make him dodgy - I prefer to see my machines and have a good look first and that's why I have attended Jerry's auctions for the last 4+ years.

Horses for courses, and with eBay i'ts pay your money and take your chance.

So what happened to the machine... it disappeared from ebay before the bidding ended??????

......................... the horse has bolted

I've just received an E Mail from the seller stating that he has withdrawn it because there were not many bids and he couldn't contact any of the bidders (why he would want to do that, I don't know). He says he has had an offer this morning of £1,500 but then says, even though it's an odd figure, he wants £1,690 for it, because that's the price he paid for it.

rippyspennyarcade wrote: because that's the price he paid for it.

I have spent a fortune on the wife over the years but I can't expect anyone else to pay for my foolishness
Only kidding, she is my little star

Topic merged - site admin.

Hi

Does anyone know what the combination is for the Bonus Slot... It pays out quite a few combinations, 3, 5, 10, 14, 18 and 20
So Im guessing it has 6 slides (seems quite a lot???) which hold from the bottom slide up, 3, 2, 5,4,4,2. This I think would be able to achieve the payouts! Also looking at the award card on these machines on the web it mentions nothing about the front loaded jackpot... What would you need to get to cause this to drop!!!!!

Hope someone can help, or tell me Im correct on the slides!

Thanks

Little confused by the question, perhaps it might help by explaining what the issue you have is.....did you buy the nice horse's head on ebay recently....

Your summation on slides is correct if the award is based on this combination. Not sure these machines had front load jackpots, unless the horse's mouth opens up somehow Front load jackpots were to allow quick refilling of machines to attract punters after being emptied...standard trip on the mechanism to trigger them.

Topic merged - Site admin.

Hello! I found this forum by accident whilst looking for information about antique machines and hope you could give me some advice please.

My husband has wanted a one arm bandit for some time and I have finally given in and decided to buy him one for his birthday.

He has seen one on ebay that he likes which is not too far from us.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0608221190

I am going to have a look at it tomorrow and wanted to ask what should I be looking for in a good machine? I have read that there are a lot of reproductions, is this true? How would I tell? What questions should I ask?

Sorry for so many questions but I know nothing about machines and just do not want to be bidding on a reproduction.

Many thanks in advance!

Carol

Hi Carol, looks like a good honest machine to me, the cash box looks a bit new, but no real problem there. The seller describes the correct operation and has put plenty of good quality pictures online, which is always a good point. Beware of fuzzy poor quality pix, phrases like, 'selling for a friend' 'don't know much about these' 'pays out sometimes' etc. I doubt if you will get a cheap deal here, they are very collectable, however they are a sound investment, so you should be happy with this one.

carol
if you get that machine
for your husband
am sure he will be chuffed

but get ready to dig deep lady

This is the highest watched slot machine on ebay at the moment, so everyone on here is probably keeping an eye, also the price now will at least double if not triple....

If I were to be critical, the paint is a bit gloopy or heavy in my mind as I prefer a flatter finish. Also the vendor plate is not original.... I will certainly be keeping an eye

It is rare for a machine like this not to have be taken off early by some unknown bid.....

A BIG thank you for all your advice and to everyone that has contacted me, I really appreciate it.

Just an update, I went to see the machine on saturday and it is fascinating to watch the insides working, it looks stunning but as was suggested has gone out of my price range.

I told the seller that this was going to be my husbands first machine and he advised me to go for a jennings governor or a hi top and has lent me a couple of books to help me understand more about them.

I can't believe how welcome everyone has made me feel after such a basic question and can't wait to participate on this forum once I know a bit more and we actually own a machine (or two)

Carol

Oh dear! I can see problems on the way. In your first post it was 'a machine for your husband after you finally gave way' NOW its 'when I have one (or two) machines'. It's got you clear some space and check the bank account, once you get hooked on watching a Hi-Top with a full escalator and jackpot unit run with that heavy 'it'll last forever' noise they make, there's no going back. We await your first mechanical question, which, if you buy a Hi-Top, will be 'why does the escalator jam'. Welcome to a very addictive hobby,

Hey TreeFrog, I didn't think the paint was too gloopy or thick, just a little too glossy, it actually looks like thin enough paint but it's the bumps of the unpolished casting showing through. What's interesting to me is if you look you can see the outline where the gold award window would be. They obviously only had one front casting mold and used a blank off plate for models like this without gold award. Or else the restorer filled the hole with car bog! I've always wanted one of these 20 stop machines with the varying 10 stop reels and sadly forgot that this model had them when I passed one up a few years ago!! Luckily my good friend got it but sadly he later told me some of the bonus mech was missing.

Gameswat, the problem is the finish should be smooth. I am not sure what the casting on these are made of, I assume some kind of soft alloy, but original paint jobs are flat and an even finish and your right not gloss.. I have seen a lot of peoples machines completed with a heavy gloss finish that just does not do the machine justice, I have ended up doing the same with a few Hi Tops, but want to strip them and start again, probably with a wrinkle finish which will hide imperfections. I am sure this is down to taste, but is probably just lack of preparation and paint used.... The Machine below was the one removed from the UK ebay last month, I would much prefer with what looks like a original finish, but I guess for some it may not be bling enough.

Hiya, wish I had half of the knowledge some of you guys have on here, you lot know your stuff! ......great for us novices though! Anyway, I posted a month or 2 ago about a Mills Roman Head I got, and looking at my reel strips and the reel strips on this Horse's Head machine, they both say R.W. London. It was suggested at the time that this may be Ruffler and Walker that did the reel strips. Would this mean that the machine was made in the U.S.A and then imported here to the UK?... or would it be that the reel strips were changed at some point in its lifetime!! Beautiful machine I have to say, but too damn expensive for my budget ......keep up the good info guys!!