Mills Hi Top.

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sutton
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Mills Hi Top.

Post by sutton »

!PUZZLED! Photographs in articles for sale for hightop not coming out...
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brigham
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by brigham »

Can't see the ad...
I'll be looking for a genuine Mills as soon as the hols are over. (I only have SEGAs so far).
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badpenny
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by badpenny »

Just stick your adverts here for the moment, we're experiencing discourcing of the alignation in tagging pictures with adverts at the moment.

As for Mills v Sega, I'm perfectly happy with either. At least if you buy a Sega you don't have to be paranoid about whether the mech is indeed a Mills and not a Sega one slipped into a Mills' cabinet.

I've had less issues with Sega mechs to be honest.
Unless you're desperate for a BONUS or a particular cabinet of course.

BP
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brigham
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by brigham »

I want numbers, not fruits. Mills came with either, but the SEGA always had fruits.
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badpenny
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by badpenny »

So you're going for the 30s era of bandit. The rumour is that numbers only changed to fruits in order to get around the law by pretending to reward in fruit flavoured gum. Hi-tops appeared later in the 40s after the transition to fruit symbols.

All around 25 years or so before Sega appeared.
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brigham
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by brigham »

I'm going for the South Durham and Yorkshire Coast between Blackhall Rocks and Butlin's Filey from 1960 to 1969.
(Sounds like a specialist round of Mastermind)
British importers and converters of American bandits generally offered a choice of numbers or fruits in the 1950s. Fruits were by no means universal at that time, outside of the US itself.
Likewise with the Gunther Wulff wall types that started to appear from West Germany.
My first encounter with coin-op gaming was at Crimdon Dene, on the Durham Coast just North of Hartlepool.
We had Allwin types both ancient and modern; Electro wall machines by Jamieson's of Bridlington; the usual Clocks, Treasure Chest, Payramid and the like from Bryan's, and various merchandisers, of which the Bran Tub was the most mysterious.
The bandits were mainly played by the 'grown-ups'. Some took the bronze threepenny bit, which to my juvenile eyes was a waste, because that was three 'goes' just for one pull. The machines were (I afterwards discovered) mainly Mills, and of the Hi-Top pattern. They were either all-red or all-blue, and had presumably been refurbished. The ones with jackpots had had the windows painted over. A few had goose-neck coin slots, and seemed smaller. One or two still had buttons from a long-abandoned skill conversion. One solitary machine carried the word 'BUCKLEY', written downwards.
It was a wonderful place to grow up in.
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badpenny
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by badpenny »

Butlin's had some of the most varied arcades anywhere.
Did you know he was apparently the first importer of Dodgem cars into this country?

I expect the most common Hi-top looking machines you remember with numbers would be the Tom Bolland conversions?
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brigham
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by brigham »

Butlin said he operated the first set of Dodgems in Britain, so it may well be the case.
I wasn't old enough or knowledgeable enough to distinguish different makers' machines at the time. I'd love to have just five minutes to look at the place again, as it was.
There may well have been machines by Leeds operator and importer/rebuilder Tom Boland (Not to be confused with Frederick Bolland of Camberwell). There was also an early Aristocrat, with expanded metal front, although that may have been a later arrival. Memories keep flooding back.
On my visits to the West coast, chiefly Morecambe, I once found myself in an arcade which even in the 'sixties appeared to be 'behind the times'. It had a row of Bradley Challengers, some similar machines on bronze 3d bit, and a lot of machines which didn't look like 'bandits' at all.
These latter I much later identified as Bradshaw's 'Little Stockbroker', except that I distinctly remember them being called 'BULLION'. No-one has yet identified a machine of that name, resembling a Little Stockbroker, so my mind may be at fault. Frightening.
I looked at these with curiosity, hoping someone would 'have a go'. I didn't try myself. I must have been self-conscious at that time. Also, you had to put another penny in, if you won, before it paid out. That looked like a swizz.
It was the year of 'Judy in disguise (with glasses)'.
pennymachines
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by pennymachines »

badpenny wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2017 7:10 pm So you're going for the 30s era of bandit. The rumour is that numbers only changed to fruits in order to get around the law by pretending to reward in fruit flavoured gum. Hi-tops appeared later in the 40s after the transition to fruit symbols.
Playing cards were the original symbols employed on early (non-payout) gaming machines and these were replaced by Diamonds, Hearts, Horseshoes, Spades and a cracked Liberty Bell on the first three reeler bandit designed by Charlie Fey at the end of the nineteenth century. Fruit symbols then appeared on the Mills Operator Bell of 1910 and became standard. I believe the numbers were employed years later, particularly on British operated bandits, because the fruit symbol had become so firmly associated with gambling the authorities were specifically hunting down 'fruit machines'.

Little Stockbrokers were often re-dressed with different nameplates etc., although I never saw the Bullion name on any other than the Bryan's machine. There was an arcade on Morecambe promenade in the early '80s still populated entirely with wall machines and mechanical slots. There were two mutoscopes outside. I wish I had a photo of the inside.
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treefrog
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by treefrog »

Never seen a Hi Top with numbers on
sutton
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by sutton »

Photograph still not working in articles for sale what's happening !PUZZLED
pennymachines
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by pennymachines »

Like so many of my slot machines, the Market software needs major restoration. Unfortunately, I've not had time this year to tackle it. Next year I plan to introduce completely new software. In the meantime, as BP suggested, you could post your pictures here.
sutton
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Re: Mills hi Top.

Post by sutton »

can anybody tell me how to upload pictures For a machine for sale from an iPad thanks .
aristomatic
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Re: Mills Hi Top.

Post by aristomatic »

Hopefully someone can get this guy sorted...?
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dutchboy
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Re: Mills Hi Top.

Post by dutchboy »

Evening, when you start your reply and scroll down there you can choose for attachments. Then you choose add files and than you can choose from your library.
Greetings.
Attachments
E0057A52-3C5A-46C6-A62B-888BAD0ECA12.png
88C1B707-1663-4F65-9AFC-2D414ED1DE1F.png
sutton
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Re: Mills Hi Top.

Post by sutton »


IMG_0695a.jpg

Mills hightop £500 phone 07447 515935. No text email please
deano67
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Re: Mills Hi Top.

Post by deano67 »

Hi,is this still for sale ?Thanks.
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JC
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Re: Mills Hi Top.

Post by JC »

Nice Hi-Top, but it's not a Mills. Mayfield Automatics machines were British copies, utilising older Mills mechs. They never had jackpots or escalators (they incorporated a very simple roll-down coin chute). They seem to be pretty rare - with the exception of the one I've owned for over twenty years, I've only ever seen two others.
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coppinpr
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Re: Mills Hi Top.

Post by coppinpr »

I've only ever seen two others.
I also have one,I dont know why they used that nasty star on the front which is too big and cheaply made
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dutchboy
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Re: Mills Hi Top.

Post by dutchboy »

Was it maybe a good trade in that time to give incomplete mechs a second life? When the jackpot or escalator was broken and then put their own name on it? And now I’m here... best wishes for 2018 and a good health.
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