Wonders Hit-N-Run restore

[gameswat]

In fact while the diameter is the same the Aussie Pennies have a slightly thicker rim edge, about .20 mm thicker on average, which will cause jamming issues with higher payouts than a single coin. Not an issue with most single coin return Allwins of course, but usually I have to shim the slide bodies on any British import machines giving two returns. And on the bigger payouts it means making a new set of thicker slides as well. Funnily enough nearly all the Allwins I've purchased the last 20 years in the USA were missing payouts anyway so has usually worked to my advantage. The mechs were very often wholesale removed due to the strict US gaming laws when they were imported on mass in the 1970s. Recently on the prototype Essex Horse Racer I restored the payout slides couldn't be converted without re-engineering a huge amount of the mechanism, which would have cost a small fortune for the owner and ruined the machine. So I had to leave it be and the machine can only ever run on British Pennies, otherwise the machine will quickly jam and bend components.

Any Aussie Pennies that have been dropped will have an even thicker burr so when I buy them bulk for copper scrap values I need to check them all. There are still millions out there as people hung on to them when we changed in Feb 1966.

[brigham]

If I ever get an Aussie bandit still on pennies, I'll have to import some.
Your 'tanners' are insanely expensive over here. I gather you kept a high silver content right to the end.

[bob]

Australian "Tanners" might be expensive as they did have a silver content right to the end but the sixpenny coin was replaced by the 5 cent coin which is still in use to this day. It is regularly minted and is exactly the same size and thickness as the sixpenny coin but does not contain any silver.
Both the Australian sixpence and five cent coin are the same size as the American one cent coin. Thus both an Australian 5 cent coin and six pence would work an American poker/slot machine designed to work on an US one cent coin and a US one cent coin would work an Australian poker machine designed to work on a sixpenny coin.
So instead of expensive silver content Australian tanners perhaps Brigham could use Australian 5 cent coins or the even cheaper American one cent coins.

[ddstoys]

New Zealand 1d coins are the same sizes as the Aussie 1d coins. I picked up a stack when I visited NZ last year.

[ralph]

Are pennies hard to find in Australia?

No I just ordered a 3kg bulk lot of them. I had a few dozen already, but not enough really seeing it might take more than that to hit the jackpot.
I will convert it all back to use pennies now, after reading all the replies, plus I was wrong about the thickness of our $1 coins. They are thicker and my mad plan wouldn't work.

Thicknesses old pennies vs new $1 coins

New and Old

I would need both a payout slide and coin tube plus housing to suit.
All I need to make to convert it back to pennies will be new coin tube and tube housing.

Packers/ Spacers

These are the packers that were put in the Aluminium cast coin entry. Game was converted to take the New 1Pence coins.
Anyhow game coming along nice, new acetate cut and installed, the old piece was cracked/torn off near the nail holes and it was warped. I gently cleaned the art too, didn't go too far.

Old Acetate

New Acetate

I did find an English half penny, the tiny ones from 1970 on, after I'd taken the cover and artwork off. Not sure where it fell out from though. I wonder if it's what had made the machine not work?
As far as I know the game never worked correctly, but it only had one ball in it. It needs 4 at least, I was told, so I bought 10 new ones.

Shiny new Balls + ball that was in the game

I had a bit of a test run with the game using the new balls - it looks like it should all work, touch wood. Very clever the way it all works, still getting my head around it.
All the metal has been polished up; waiting for new payout cards and decals, so the machine is not fully back together. The Cabinet ply still needs to be re-glued in a few more places. More pics will follow as I get her back to life again ...

[ralph]

If I ever get an Aussie bandit still on pennies, I'll have to import some.
Your 'tanners' are insanely expensive over here. I gather you kept a high silver content right to the end.

92.5% silver from 1910 till 1945 then 50% silver through till 1965. We went decimal in 1966.
I bought a 100 early ones not long ago, 3d's for a machine I have, and they were about twice the cost as the 50% silver later made coins.
I heard during the 1960s silver boom our silver coins were being smuggled out of the country because of the high value, worth more in silver than the price of the coin.

[ralph]

Hey Ralph, I'm in Perth but sold the last Wonders allwin over a decade ago so can't help you with looking at another original sadly, which of course is the best way to go with jobs like this. I have a few other allwins awaiting restoration and various parts though again nothing Wonders. What is actually missing?

Hi gameswat ,
The really only part that I can't find or manufacture is the nice cast 1D coin entry plate Wonders used on some Wonders games, by the looks of it.

Wonders 1D Coin entry plate/slot

wonder-pools-525x700.jpg (30.56 KiB) Viewed 2134 times

Wondering if you know where or if one can be sourced? It would look the part with the correct one fitted.

The other parts it needs are a payout tube and housing, to suit old pennies, but I could get these made if need be. You can see it's had another tube and housing fitted in the past to suit new 1p coins.

New 1P coin tube and plastics housing

Cheers

[brigham]

The existing penny badge could be 'de-decimalized' quite easily, until the right one could be found.

[ralph]

The existing penny badge could be 'de-decimalized' quite easily, until the right one could be found.

Was thinking of doing away with it altogether if I can get the cast one, but good idea about changing it back.
I could get a decal made for the time being.

Wonders coin slot / entry plate

wonder-pools-525x700.jpg (30.56 KiB) Viewed 2121 times

added 1p badge and coin plate , at some stage

In the meantime I will file out the existing coin insert to take the large old pennies.
The 1p plate looks likes its been trimmed up to suit the cabinet width , so it would be nice to just have the cast coin entrance part.

[alan57]

I made a few Wonders coin slots a few years ago out of Prince August metal, I think I may still some somewhere.