Fairground Heritage Trust Arcade

[Devonslots]

Running a vintage Arcade.
I am a trustee of the Fairground Heritage Trust. We have an arcade at the Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre, near Okehampton in Devon.
It is housed in a former travelling Arcade, 'Percival's Palace of Pleasure'.
We have a Bryans Payramid, Clock and 12 or so allwins.
1970s Streets and Cromptons and one Pintable.
I am keen to put in some more bandits to augment a pair of Aristocrat Arcadians on 1p.
I have donated a Sega Copper Star on 1p.
We have also recently had a donation of a Jennings Governor with perspex sides, on old 5p.
Could be easily converted to the current 10P?
What do you think will be the most reliable bandit to use? Many of our visitors are kids, and not used to such machines.
All suggestions gratefully received.
Photos at https://www.fairground-heritage.org.uk

[treefrog]

Pretty impressive set-up there and some nice historic fairground machines and trailers....

Given the question around modern coinage, I assume this is the preference. The easiest machines available are thing like Jubilee Riviera's and Aristocrats and there are loads around on modern coinage, 1p, 2p and 10p and they are very reliable. Jennings and Mills less common to get this, although people like Henry Powell do convert them, but they are pricey.
The German machines do not often come on modern coinage, although there is one on ebay at the moment on 1p, very unusual, very bright (kids will love it) and cheap £40. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT
What about pushers? Kids love them and multi pushers on modern coinage are very cheap.

[badpenny]

Welcome to the forum Devonslots, interesting place you've got there, looking forward to hearing more from you.

Regards

Badpenny

[arrgee]

Blimey, that's changed quite a bit since we took our kids there years ago, will certainly look you up Devonslots when we visit Devon in September.

[Devonslots]

Thanks for your suggestions.
Yes, our preference is for current coins,we have two change machines.
Aristocrats and Jubilees are front opening, so I suppose, easier to get at.
The Arcadians are reliable, but not the most attractive of bandits (only my opinion).
The Sega is a great looking 60s machine. We had a photo shoot for Republic, the fashion chain, recently and the photographer (in his late 20s, thought it "amazing!")
Hope it does not give too many problems as our season starts this weekend.
We also have a couple of pushers and a Steer a Coin (very popular).
We are seeking more Brenco machines to go with the Wheel of Fortune, as they were made at Weston Super Mare, so fairly local.
The place was expanded 3 years ago with a 25,000 sq ft building that houses a complete working vintage fair, much in demand for fashion shoots and the occasional music video.
Apart from 2 full time staff, it is manned by volunteers.

[arrgee]

I would urge forum members to take a look at the website, there are many old photos and most of the black & white images are fantastically evocative of a never-to-return era of pure amusement. I remember from my own childhood that fairgrounds etc would attract many people and our own town would close off whole streets to accommodate the fair, but some of these photos show enormous crowds, certainly a hey-day for the travelling showman.

[malcymal]

Pretty impressive set-up there and some nice historic fairground machines and trailers....
The German machines do not often come on modern coinage, although there is one on ebay at the moment on 1p, very unusual, very bright (kids will love it) and cheap £40. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

I have two German electro mechanical wall-machines on 10 Pfennig and they will both accept 1 new pence or 20p coin.

[Devonslots]

We have one Beromat, converted from old penny to 2p.
German machines are interesting and colourful, and don't take up much space.
Thanks for the tip on being able to substitute German coins for 20p.

We need the arcade to provide interactive entertainment for all ages, put the fairground rides in context, i.e., being "side" attractions and, of course, provide an income stream.
It is among our most popular attractions with both visitors, photographers and film makers.

[jimmycowman]

Topic copied & moved from Dingles Heritage Centre - Site Admin.

Plenty of fairground artwork for auction. Dingles Heritage Auction... Does anyone know if it's permanently closed?

[ab88]

The Fairground Heritage Trust and Dingles Fairground Museum have not folded, and are in no imminent danger of doing so.

The pandemic has been particularly challenging and has also involved moving from the old buildings to a new one on the end of the Rides Hall. In March this year the Trust also lost the use of all on site storage facilites.

As such the opportunity has been taken to re-establish the defunct annual Vintage Auction (with new auctioneer Ed Buckland) and reduce significantly the stored items on site. Much of what is being sold has never been displayed or catalogued and was never likely to be. All key pieces are being retained and nothing else will be sold (nor can it be if formally part of the collection)

The good news for the slot machine fans is that the arcade is now built up in the new building and at its full length (10ft longer than before) and that in time a slot machine sub committee will be set up to look at improving the selection of machines on display, all of which will be playable. A foursquare, fortune teller and crane were added to the Trust collection over the summer to supplement the existing loan and collection items on display.

The aim is to ultimately have a good cross sections of makes and types, and possibly in time some more 'modern' video games. Time never stops moving forward, so neither can we!

Les Coddington (who is on here somewhere) is our resident tinkerer and fixer of machines, and we welcome other volunteers around the museum going forward.

If anyone would like to know more, just PM me. If you check out the Dingles Facebook page you'll see recent photos of the arcade going up, though it won't be accessible at this weekend's auction. We will reopen in April 2022.

[jimmycowman]

Sounds like a must go place next time I'm in the area next year. Good it's reopening

[ab88]

Topic merged - Site Admin

Hi All

This may be more appropriate in the wanted section but it's not quite a wanted advert.

I together with a few others down at Dingles in Devon are trying to sort our arcade offer out. Intention is the stunning ex-Percival Arcade will house the 'vintage fleet' on 1D and 10p whilst we wish to institute a secondary 2p arcade in the Rides Hall more pusher orientated as a more commercial activity (thus protecting the older machine from crowds of unruly children and us from regular repair bills).

I'd noticed recently on Steve Hunt's evening chats a lot of talk has turned to larger 60s/70s machines that haven't survived or are very thin on the ground. The thought has occurred that if some of these do exist, Dingles might be a decent home for them, where they can be used in the 2p area (which is fairly sizeable). So has anyone got anything they might lend / donate / or sell? We do not have a massive budget and are planning to open for the first time in 2 years shortly but we do have some funds for the right stuff.

We are also looking to buy more recent pushers, Derby Racers and roulettes in the Devonshire area (or receive donations of the same) if anyone knows of anything? Over time if we could source more of the larger older machines we'd phase out the more modern stuff - but even some of that is getting old!

Projects at this point in time cannot be considered (space, budget, and time scales) but in the future we're open to projects if the machine is rare enough and circumstances allow us to take it on.

Over to you chaps, always interested to hear thoughts.

[moonriver]

You could always do what Milestones have done, gone on eBay and bought up a right shed load of old tat and faulty '80s machines that will never take money or work properly..........

[brigham]

...or you could buy the Whitaker's Roulette from Swallow Amusements, which is only unsold because I absolutely can't find anywhere to put it.

[moonriver]

...or you could buy the Whitaker's Roulette from Swallow Amusements, which is only unsold because I absolutely can't find anywhere to put it.

Nil desperandum...............time for another extension (with wider doors!)

[pennymachines]

Last time I rubbed shoulders with Pete Williamson in a cafe in Leamington (notorious hangout of vintage slot addicts) he was extolling the virtues of the retro electro-mechanicals. As earners they were apparently outcompeting the all-mechanicals. Not surprising perhaps, but I suppose you have to weigh the considerably greater cons of keeping those complicated ageing beasties functional and safe.

[moonriver]

Pete Williamson was extolling the virtues of the retro electro-mechanicals. As earners they were apparently outcompeting the all-mechanicals.

I agree entirely, mixing retro electro-mechanicals with vintage and even some relatively modern prize egg vending skill games increases the take by 40%. Some of the more simple Brenco games are well suited, such as Triple Tap, and Heads and Tails, (which both have to be converted to old penny) do well, and the original Cromptons games such as the shooters, and Double Falls. The prize egg venders most suited are those such as Buzzy Bee, Bee Lucky, and Old Mc Donalds, three different ways of catching balls, suited for all ages, and I've made them so either the prize egg rolls down the glass towards them on one game, or flies out of the chute onto the floor. They find that even more entertaining than playing the game sometimes! The all important thing is finding the right mix, much like interior decor, there are no rules of what you can mix and match.
All you have to do is find ONE game they like and commit to play on (instead of walking around looking and back out again), and it all flows on from there.

[ab88]

That is all quite useful and interesting information.

I could do with finding a Wheel Em In for 2ps, and ideally something like a Flippa Winner for a bit of variety.

Anyone know of something in the right part of the world? I can find loads of things in the East of England near me but none near Devon!

[moonriver]

If it were me I wouldn't operate on 2p. The general public will happily pay 5 times that at a minimum of 10p for one old penny, and usually double that if enticed with bonus pennies for changing £1 or better £2 coins, as they drift away into a dream of nostalgia.
The good old penny is a nice large size coin to play with in pushers and as in effect they're tokens and cannot be changed back.
Most electromechanical machines can be converted to old penny with a bit of know how. If it can't, or too labour intensive to do so, get something else that can.

[ab88]

Well we have a captive audience and part of the purpose of the arcade areas is to keep those not on the rides entertained (whilst those that like the rides buy more tokens and carry on whizzing round).

So a 2p area of more modern pushers and novelties, a 10p area mixed with bandits, and a few modern bits plus old cranes with sweets is the plan for this year.

Next year we intend to have a bigger sort out and go to 1D on the older more valuable machines, put them in the vintage arcade with the older 10ps as a premium area where they cannot take a hammering on 2p. And as you say sell the 1D 10 for £1.

We'll retain the more modern area on 2p / 10p as well for the masses as its in the Rides Hall with the Vintage Arcade just through the doorway between the Rides Hall and the Cafe / Shop / Exit.

We don't have a huge selection of the proper old stuff but we've got enough to get started with. Then re-invest the takings for a few years to build the collection of machines and increase revenue.

I want to avoid the old machines, which have historic value getting the stuffing knocked out of them for little return. Pushers will keep granny busy whilst the family are on the rides.

At least that is the plan. It may take longer to get there than I envisage but I think we need a mix. I quite like Peter Williamson's set up at the model village. Old Stuff in one room, the other with more modern machines. That is the sort of idea I'm driving at.

I just need more machines and have a limited budget.