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Not seen one of these before, looks like same maker as Busy Bee, but quite attractive.

Not seen one either. Others found it attractive too judging by the £800 hammer price.

The similarity to the Busy Bee struck me also but I cannot find much about the game. I thought we had a post about it in the Forum. I'm curious to know more now. Were these made by Hoopers? There's a Busy Bee for sale at Railway Cottage Antiques. It is Registered Design Number 792240, whereas Empire Cup is 795335.

I remember posting a very similar machine to the Busy Bee four years ago from Mills, almost identical...



Re: Mills Official Pinball

Interesting. Although that ebay vendor described it as Mills, I wonder if that's correct. No Mills badge far as I can see, and like all the examples above, it's in the UK and made for the old penny. The International Arcade Museum lists 671 Mills machines, but no Busy Bee or Empire and no online American examples. 'The Empire Cup' presumably refers to the British Empire?

Also, I believe the Registered Design Numbers suggest British origin. Design numbers from 778830-795103 were registered between 1932-34 (which looks plausible for the style of game). Unfortunately payment, or a trip to the archive in Kew, is required to look these up to discover the maker.

This one from the Elephant House, Sept. 2016, also old penny.

And another...

I love finding these verticle or near-vertical game variants! I have seen at least 2 totally vertical American pin games similar to this. The reset mechanism is also a set of pins (and/or plate) sliding inwards to release the balls to below.

Interesting to think of how these really did not take off in America or the UK, but pachinko did take off in Japan with the vertical orientation post WW2.

Here's a different example with more cups and a coin return. Called the Aerial Cup, it's on display at the SFO Museum, North Terminal, San Francisco International Airport

Another one, this time eBay and the seller indicates only 3 known examples exist and rare......
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rare-Coin-Op ... 0033.m2042

Only 3 known examples? Should read: "I only know of 3 examples. But then, I've not taken the time to research this game. Had I done so, I would have discovered the wonderful pre-eminent web site, "PennyMachines" and therein learned the my earlier comment of "only 3 known" is only admission of my own ignorance." For the rest of us, we know that this type of misstatement is how incorrect information is tied to a particular machine and spread forward.

J Peterson
Busy as a bee in America

Clearly they were made over some time, judging by the design variation in the examples above. This latest one appears to have two ball triggers.



The interior view again suggests British-made.

I still hope to find one of those.

Another Busy Bee turned up at Sworders auctioneers on 3rd March.

Yes saw that, in fact I stood in the auction room as there was another bagatelle machine there... Never bid as sold for a fair bit as it was in poor condition. Funny, while I was there I bumped into the guy who runs the House on the Hill Museum in Stansted Mountfitchet... I've forgotten his name, but chewed the breeze on the world of slots.

That would be rock concert promoter Alan Goldsmith (brother of Harvey Goldsmith), who used to organise annual slot machine auctions at Saffron Walden.

Here's the Uneda bagatelle table from that sale.

That’s him. He’s involved in an antiques shop and regular auction as well now, though not specialising in amusements....

pennymachines wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 1:48 pm Here's the Uneda bagatelle table from that sale.

Brilliant bit of woodwork on that playfield.

Another Empire Cup, currently on German ebay.

And Tom Thumb...