1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

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ddstoys
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1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by ddstoys »

Added a new toy to my collection - it's a Groetchen IMP trade simulator.
It's similar to a slot machine with the three reels but to hide the gambling side it's designed to look like a speaker or radio and vend a gumball.
If you got three of a kind you would be awarded a pack of smokes or a cigar. The thing that won me over was the guy telling me these are where the term "close, but no cigar" came from. ;)
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coppinpr
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Re: 1940s groetchin IMP trade simulator

Post by coppinpr »

Always like trade stims, (it's a stimulator, not a simulator as you put in your post). Does yours have the fag packet reels? If it does, it's almost certainly 1940 pre ww2 (1941), although the instruction plate hints it perhaps had fruit reels (with or without a black cat symbol) which were a little later.

I particularly like the Deco style lady on the front of this one in my collection.
Some paid a token you could redeem for goods. The one pictured below pays a token and it has one attached to the top so the bar tender could check it was one of his tokens when a player redeemed one.
tradesimfin2.jpg

Last edited by coppinpr on Tue May 20, 2014 10:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ddstoys
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Re: 1940s groetchin IMP trade simulator

Post by ddstoys »

Wow - I like yours - how nice is that. Yes, mine has the cigarette reels. I tried adding other photos - wasn't even sure if the post worked. I'll add another one now.
This one only vends gum but have been offered another that vends a token which I'm so tempted to buy but not until I get my silver king duck shooter
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ddstoys
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by ddstoys »

I've been informed by the guy who put me onto this machine that it's more likely late 1920s to early 1930s, which makes it the second oldest piece in my collection.
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coppinpr
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by coppinpr »

no its 1940's . Bueschel's book on trade stims dates it quite certainly, only a few 1940 pre war (1941) most after the war.
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gameswat
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by gameswat »

No excuse for incorrect information anymore with the internet at our fingertips. Only took about 20 seconds to look it up online. http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=2997
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by badpenny »

Knowing where to look and who to believe helps I guess, especially with the internet.

cake.jpg

I know nowt about Canadian wildlife but researched it on the web. Quite frankly I doubt very much what was being suggested about the origins of Beavers. :o

BP
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ddstoys
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by ddstoys »

Yes the one in the link I found aswell but the guy who put me onto the machine sent me this link. http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=2996

Not sure which is right and I don't really care I like it either way
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coppinpr
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by coppinpr »

No excuse for incorrect information anymore with the internet at our fingertips. Only took about 20 seconds to look it up online
True Gameswat , in this case, but interesting that had your search taken you just a little differently ON THE SAME WEB SITE you would have got quite the wrong info, there is a lot of wrong info on that site and this is a good example. Engle did make an Imp in 1927 but the photos on the museum site are all of Grotchen 1940's machines. A machine with that design in 1927 would have been VERY futuristic, the photo below is an Engle 1927 Imp and has a typical 1920's design.

imp.jpg

Below is one of my favourite trade stims in my collection
front 21.jpg

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coppinpr
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by coppinpr »

I can beat BP's mercury cakes, this is real scary, a mask containing radium to cure face and neck cancer ,used in 1913, it contained enough radium to burn off the cancer but also the face, either that or it was meant to scare the cancer away

radium mask.jpg

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gameswat
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by gameswat »

The link was just one example of many that turned up on the first google page with nearly all displaying a 1940 date. I couldn't be bothered going three feet away to my library to look it up. Obviously you can't believe the first thing you see online, or in print, or from the users here, but doesn't take a genius to check a few sites and compare the results.
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by ddstoys »

Yep totally understand ;)
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yaksplat
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by yaksplat »

Just picked up a cheap Imp off of ebay. Needs a little work, but everything is there.
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coppinpr
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by coppinpr »

Great machine. You got a good buy there I think. Just about the very last throw of the dice for the Groetchen Tool Co, issued in 1947 and re vamped into the "Atom" (the "in" word at the time) both advertised as the smallest slot machine ever, but the trade stim days were over.
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coppinpr
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by coppinpr »

while on the subject of the Groetchen Tool Co, Ive been trying for years to find a photo of their very last machine for my www.penny-arcade.info web site. does anyone happen to have a photo of their "Corona Blue Bell" slot machine I could use?
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yaksplat
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by yaksplat »

I've got the mechanism working well, but I'm just soaking the seal in the cylinder in oil. There was no resistance when I bought it, so it's well on its way to being operational again.
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by pennymachines »

I find increasing resistance when I buy these things. :-(
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gameswat
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by gameswat »

Not quite sure what you mean here PM? The US collectors have complained for a while about how cheap trade stims have become these days so I assume you don't mean lots of competition in the UK trying to buy them? I've owned a small amount but worked on quite a few for customers and usually found them quite boring, especially when compared with the complexity of multiple payout machines and many arcade games. So is your resistance your own lack of interest then? :!?!:
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treefrog
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by treefrog »

I can see the appeal in some of these machines as their are some great designs, but I have never owned one myself and may never will as I either like gambling machines or interesting skill games. Also machines that have operated here in U.K.

The great thing in terms of collectibility of these is space and variety. You could build some shelves and fill them with sims... Never seen any on UK coinage... anyone...?
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Re: 1940s Groechen IMP trade simulator

Post by pennymachines »

gameswat wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 6:29 pm Not quite sure what you mean here PM?
Sorry - Yaksplat said there was no resistance when he bought it. It's a different story at my house when I buy such things...
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