Roto-Pool, Roto-Fruit, Rotolite, Electrodart, Bingola, etc.

[badpenny]

He was probably in a hurry to get home and smash up all those chrome plated bandits and jukeboxes that his wife was nagging were stopping her from getting near her compost heap ........................ you know what they're like?

[malcymal]

I don't believe any of this, whoever heard of a Yorkshire man throwing anything away?

My dad was a Yorkshireman - he said that copper wire was invented by two Yorkshireman fighting over a Penny. Is this true??

[arrgee]

Not true at all, it was a Farthing !

[slotalot]

Thanks for that lads , One thing I do know is... I can make my money stretch further than my wife can

[malcymal]

Me being dim and not up on GPO selectors etc. - if I see any, shall I bag them then if you want them? What is their purpose? Wall mount German electronic stuff like Electrodart etc?? U never know, I might come across some. I shall print that photo off and keep it in my wallet for the boot sales.

[slotalot]

Hi malcymal, A lot of 1950s-60s British machines were made up from ex-GPO relays and uniselectors, machines like Electrodart Bingola Find The Lady..& lots more... at that time they were plentiful as the telephone exchanges were being upgraded and the old equipment was being sold for scrap... this is why you can get two identical machines and the workings may not be the same in each as the supply of parts was not a steady one.... the attached photo shows the insides of a typical machine.. They are also a sod to work on as you only have to have one dirty contact and you could be all day trying to sort it out it's lucky that I love a challenge and have lots of time to work on them... if you get some I would keep them for the day you find a sick machine in need of some tlc.

[operator bell]

Seeing the video of the Electrodart posted by rippyspennyarcade reminded me that there were a number of people looking for information about these games, going back a couple of years now. Mainly what was needed was a circuit diagram. I don't own one of these machines myself, otherwise I'd trace it out and post it just to satisfy my own curiosity, because there's some subtlety going on inside. For example, I'm curious to know how it maps a 25 position uniselector to 20 stop positions (22 in the case of the Rotofruit) with no apparent jumps or discontinuities. I want to know what function the left uniselector performs - it advances one step at the beginning of each game. Does it select alternative sets of stops?

Can anyone help with more information?

Slotalot's Roto Pool Wiring Diagram now in Resources - Site Admin.

[malcymal]

I too am getting more fascinated by these vintage electric machines. Since I bought my Günter Wulff Rialto and opening the back door I was just absolutely amazed by the circuitry in the back; so so clever. I like the small footprint of these machines and I too would be interested in buying an Electrodart/Rotofruit. Malc

[treefrog]

Seen what I think is that same machine, but with a Football pools theme, the Roto Pool at Mullocks Auctions on the 3rd December.

ROTOPOOL

1940s Amusement Arcade 1d football game: Roto-Pool electric 1 old penny slot machine - glass hinged front panel decorated with football figures to each corner of the pitch - c/w oak wooden casing key and money draw - in working order and comes with a quantity of old 1p pieces. Overall 29.5 x 21.5 x 6.5
Apologies I know this should be under the auction section.

[stoxman22]

I am on the lookout for a transformer for a Rotolite, I guess they were the same in all of these machines. I have a nice machine with a melted Tx. I know I could rewind it myself but I don't have the patience. Anyone know of a rewinder for small Tx's?

[slotalot]

Hi, I am looking for a little help in getting my newly acquired Roto-Pool wall machine working. I know from past experience it is near impossible to get a wiring diagram for this machine (unless of course you know different), so what I would like to do if possible is to borrow a complete Roto-Pool machine and copy the layout and maybe do a wiring diagram. The machine that I have has had all its internal working parts robbed out , I think this must have been done when someone fitted a new back to the cabinet prior to me acquiring it. The workings on the back of the door are all original and look OK, so you see my problem and can anybody help??? and yes your machine will be returned as soon as I have finished with it :thumbs: Regards, Stuart.
PS. my location is Halifax West Yorkshire, just thought I should mention it.

[slotalot]

Roto-Pool Update...
Hi , I thought it was time for an update on the rewiring my Roto-Pool machine, I had hoped to be giving a big thank you to some fellow slottie for giving me some help with this project, but it would appear that information I need is not out there as I have had no offers of help to date so over the past few weeks I have been working out for myself how best to tackle the job, and thanks to having 12 inches of snow outside my front door I spent 2 days sat by the fire with a note book working out a possible circuit for the machine, it may not be "as original" when finished but it will work once again, and to be fair it stopped being original when someone ripped the working out of it many years ago. So far I have rewired the number selection relay and fitted it to the lamps on the back of the door, this part of the machine is now work a treat and I am now putting together the payout circuit, I know this part of the circuit will not be anything like the original but it will be in keeping with the age and style of the machine, I will post more photos as I go.

[operator bell]

Well done so far, and good luck. I haven't offered any assistance because I believe if a person has nothing to say, the least he can do is to shut up. I will observe, though, that there are 22 lights in the ring, and 25 steps on the uniselector, so I'm curious how you'll account for the extra three steps. Every time I look at one of these roto*** I wonder about that and how they wired it. I also noticed (in the "see it work" section) that as every game starts, the second uniselector makes one step, and I wonder if that does something like change the selector bank on the first one.

[operator bell]

Continuing, now I've started, I see that if it was a straight game, in every 22 plays, there are three ways to hit 111 for 3, 2 ways to hit 12X for 6 and 3 ways to hit XXX for 12. That means for 22 coins in, it pays out 9+12+36=57 coins. It's therefore definitely not as simple as it looks! My guess is the second selector prevents the first selector from stopping on some winners some of the time.

[fourfive]

Hi, I've just seen your post - if you still want to borrow a Roto-Pool, I have one in working order for you.

[slotalot]

Hi fourfive That's good news... thank you, I will PM you tonight. Regards Stuart.

[operator bell]

slotalot and fourfive, if you can come up with a wiring diagram between you, that will be a great benefit to the community. There have been several other inquiries from owners of broken roto-things that we haven't been able to answer. I'm keenly interested myself, and I don't own one.

[rbrewerton]

Hi Slotalot,
I've just caught up with this thread after having computer problems this last week. I bought a Rotolite at Coventry in November and am just about getting it finished having had to work out a new circuit diagram. I'm also in the middle of writing an article about "my latest restoration" which will go to Jerry soon. I guess my machine is basically the same as yours. A uniselector steps round flashing the lights and if a matching pair are obtained then it pays out 2d, 4d or 6d. The circuit originally had five relays but didn't work and I couldn't fathom out how it ever did. So I had to design a new circuit but needed eight relays (got some off ebay) and now it works fine. I'm just doing the final restoration work to the case and then it should be finished. If you would like any more info about what I've done I'll be pleased to tell you more.
Richard.

[slotalot]

Hi Richard, thanks for the offer any info would be useful. Did you do the customary "fag packet" sketch of your wiring?.. I hope that the more info I can get will help the little grey cells to drop in to place. I have tried to work the circuit out on paper but as you know it's not an easy task. If you have any drawings/sketches, I can always send you my email address so you can send me a copy... Regards Stuart.

[rbrewerton]

Hi Stuart, be pleased to send you what I can. I'll try and convert my scribblings this evening into an understandable circuit together with some explanatory notes and get them off to you tomorrow with a bit of luck. Richard