Slot Machines on location

[cheeky]

yes

Oh daveslot. Break it to me slowly. What happened and what did we miss?

[treefrog]

thats not true cheeky
there all sitting in a bonded warehouse on the edge of liverpool
and there not going on a ship either

i bleedin hope not anyway
i aint been there for a few months

Jingles, does this men you have acquired them..... ......

[jingle]

yep got that lot yonks ago,
and the 2 gunslinger's
they were never threw in a skip
as mentioned somewere on this site
they will all appear again one day
dont worry chaps

[cheeky]

Will we be seeing them operating in an arcade?

[treefrog]

JC recently sent me these interior and exterior images of Jack Beals' Amusement Arcade in Bay Road, somewhere in the UK, sometime shortly before the war. I can make out various mid thirties pintables, Buckley? diggers, rotary merchandiser and a Smash Hitler shooter. (Click images to enlarge). The large darts game is unfamiliar.

There's also a nice British arcade interior of a similar, possibly earlier period on Stig Hollegaard's tivoliautomater site.

Don't ask why I dug up this old thread, but I love a challenge to find where old arcades were located and what they look like now based on picture posted by PM. Jack Beale's Amusements is actually very local to me and I spent a lot of my childhood there (not the arcade) as I had family living in Harwich Essex. This is where Jack's Arcade was on the High Street and Bay Road....See a Picture from the late 50's and google earth today probably apt the arcade died and became a funeral parlour ....I reckon that street sign "Bay Road" is still the same

[moonriver]

The review of the Pennies By The Sea book states that it is sad that so few photographs inside arcades exist, saying that they were rarely considered worthy of photographing.

I agree, but I think the real reason is because the owners didn't like people taking photographs inside their arcades. This is the reason why this aspect of social history has gone largely unrecorded and historic research is so difficult.

Unfortunately, this attitude still persists today. On three separate occasions I have been walking through modern arcades in Blackpool with a camera hanging around my neck (not an unusual thing to do in a town like Blackpool) and I have been accosted by some jumped-up member of staff shouting "Hey you can't bring that camera in here". In all cases, the lens cap was still on, and I had shown no intention of taking any photographs.

I don't know what they've got to hide. Perhaps they think that, by taking photographs of the machines, I will somehow be able to work out how to cheat and win a fortune off them.

As long as this blinkered attitude persists, the amusement arcades and machines will continue to go unrecorded for future generations.

What do you think?

On the subject of taking random photographs in amusement arcades , casinos, bookmakers or other gambling establishments most operators do not want their punters discouraged by others, ( usually not gambling), capturing images of them at play, even if by accident.
Whereas most punters playing old pennies on vintage penny machines may not be too fussed to be photographed , modern arcades also have high stakes machines and punters can play significant amounts. The last thing an operator wants is for a valued customer to be disturbed. This is the primary reason blanket 'no photos' rules exist.

[ilovemyjukebox]

A nice YZ Gum machine on show too..

[pennymachines]

There are many images of British arcades (mostly traveling, mostly exteriors) at the National Fairground Archive. Here are some of the more interesting ones:



Ex Anderton and Rowland Switchback used as an arcade, circa 1930



Joe Fletcher's Burrell engine with arcade loads circa 1930



Postcard of Tom Boland Single Reelers on stands
"Supplied by Tom Boland, The Automatic Agency, 56a, Elland Road, Leeds 11, Yorkshire. Tel. Leeds 77326"



Keywoman Audrey Fletcher in arcade, 1948



Henry Thurston's Slot Machines, March 1955



Albert Holland's slot machines stall, 16 August 1958



W. Chadwick's arcade, 8 September 1958



Jones Brothers' arcade, 27 September 1958



Alf Payne's arcade circa 1960



Alf Payne's arcade circa 1960



Alf Payne's Casino arcade circa 1960



J. Mulhearn's arcade, 10 June 1960



T. Barker's Las Vegas Casino slot machines, Hearsall Common, 2 August 1960



John Hobson's arcade, 21 March 1961



C. Farrell's slot machine arcade, Bridge Meadow, 24 March 1962



R. Wilson's Automatic arcade, 28 April 1962



W. Abbott's Automatic arcade, 30 June 1962



Walter Scott's Autorama arcade, 17 August 1962



Walter Chadwick's arcade, Christmas 1963



J. Collins' arcade, 29 August 1964



C. Thurston and J. Farrar's Golden Nuggett arcade, Great Yarmouth, 4 September 1967



Pat Collins' Las Vegas Casino, Birmingham Onion Fair, 30 September 1967



Wilson's arcade, 1970s



B. Hill's arcade, 1971



Arcade at Stratford Rugby and Cricket Club Gala, Whit 1972



Watson-Hirst's round stall arcade, 1973



Percival's arcade, 1974



Penny Lane side stall arcade, August 1974



As above



Arcade, 1976



E.T. Studt's arcade, May 1978



Taylor's arcade, April 1979



Bell's arcade circa 1980



Walter Chadwick's arcade, 1981



Walter Chadwick's arcade, 1981



Walter Chadwick's arcade, 1981



Lace Brothers' Atkinson artic with arcade, 1981



E. Danter's arcade, March 1983



Ling's arcade, August 1983



Roger Tuby's arcade, September 1984



Arcade, September 1984



As above



Girls play Wheel 'Em In, 1986



Arcade, 23 August 1986



Arcade, June 1987



Joe Mulhearn's arcade, 9 September 1987
What are these lads up to?



Black Country Museum penny arcade, August 1990



Irvin's arcade, 9 September 1999

[arrgee]

There are some great nostalgic pics there Mr PM, it is striking to see in the photos how the arcades rapidly changed during the 70s/80s
What I find interesting is the great artwork above the entrances, and that, in many cases, has not changed in decades.

[john t peterson]

I love the picture of the key woman, Ms. Fletcher, 1948. You just can't find women like that any more.

J Peterson
Keyed up in America

[arrgee]

You just can't find women like that any more

They must all be locked up John unless BP you know better...................

[coppinpr]

In the third "Alf Payne" photo the two boys can be clearly seen carrying the gold fish they had won on some stall. I remember that so well - it started me keeping gold fish, then tropical fish and now Marine fish.
Funny how the arcades become less "fun" as the dates increase; the machines look so boring in the later photos.

[aristomatic]

Here's another.

I wonder where all these are now.....

[pennymachines]

the machines look so boring in the later photos.

Yes, as Arrgee said, post 1970 most of the interesting stuff quickly disappeared (thanks to decimalization and electrification).
The photos allow you to travel back in time and pick out the games you'd have made a bee-line for. There are some rarities to be seen. Can you put a name and maker to all of these?

[badpenny]

They must all be locked up John unless BP you know better...................

Strewth ... don't involve me "Arrgee" I'm in enough trouble as it is.

I wonder where all these are now.....

........... well the bloke in the trilby finally saved up enough and is now working on the perfume counter at Debenhams, and the Army Captain with the girl is now a postman and still wears the same hat.

[coppinpr]

Just guessing really, 3,4,5 are Bolland machines, all single reel, 5 is a "film star" for sure, 4 could be as well 3 might be "Brooklands". 12 could be a R&W conversion using a German mech, the Satellite racer - we had at one of the recent Coventry auctions, don't remember who made 14 "Snap" guessing Streets or Jameson. 13 is a "Penny Falls". There is a nice Streets shooting range in one photo exactly like one I used to have.

[treefrog]

Lovely to see so many machines we collect in operation and as you say some rarer ones....No idea what the first two in your pictures are PM, but of the 13 I seem to have 5 of them and lovely to see a Satellite on operation as so few were made. In fact that stall seems to have most of the rarer machines you have highlighted.

1 - ?
2 - ?
3 - Bolands - ?
4 - Bolands - Screen Snapshots
5 - Bolands - Stars of the Silver Screen
6 - Whitaker Bros - Beat the Bandit
7 - Mutoscope
8 - Bolands - ?
9 - Oliver Whales - Kiss-O-Meter
10 - Brenner - Ball Past the Arrow
11 - Bryans Satellite
12 - Vale Manhattan
13 - Crompton - Penny Falls

[coppinpr]

video of a posh london arcade in 1969

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/amuse ... ade-colour

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/amusement-arcade

[pennymachines]

I've posted all of the British Pathé slot material I could find in this See it Operate thread.

[pennymachines]

Almost all of these machines have been discussed and shown on the Forum at some time, so kudos to Treefrog for being such an attentive student.
Only one wrong - No. 3, the little known, Hooper's Screen Stars single-reeler with the front mounted turning handle. I think you're correct that the equally minimalist bandit No. 8 is another Tom Boland revamp. No marks for 'Beat The Bandit' though - because I know you have one.
No. 2 is a wall machine called Sun (possibly Brenner) which is quite similar to a Payramid.
No. 1 appears to be a dropcase game of some kind and is one of a pair in the photo. Any ideas?
Good effort coppinpr, for a bandit man, but I must ask you to write out 100 times, "I should not say Bolland when I mean Boland..."