This little counter-top machine with cast aluminium front is a relatively late version of a fortune telling theme introduced by BMCo. in the early 1900s to exploit the public fascination with X-Rays. A penny inserted releases a drawer to deliver a cartoon image of a skeletal male or female, replete with hat, bonnet, pipe, etc.  See also Whom Shall I Marry? and Your Fortune By Cards.

 
 
 
 
 


Woodward   1930s
Added to Fortune Tellers by on 14/04/21

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Unusual and attractive counter-top or wall-mounted machine with pine case and cast aluminium light-up front and glass topflash. See also Your Photo By X Ray and Whom Shall I Marry?
 


Woodward   1930s
Added to Fortune Tellers by on 14/04/21

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Rare counter-top machine by little-known maker.  The original glass 'Whom Shall I Marry?' topflash has been replaced on this example. See also Your Photo By X Ray and Your Fortune By Cards.

 


Woodward   1930s
Added to Fortune Tellers by on 14/04/21

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These ornate weighing scales were once common on railway stations and other public places.

 


George Salter and Co.   1890s
Added to Service Machines by on 28/03/21

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One of only a handful of surviving examples. The mirror makes the play area appear twice its actual size. The tentacles rotate and push the coins up a ramped track which prevents the player from knocking the machine to dislodge the coins prematurely.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Jamieson   1960s
Added to Pushers by on 27/10/20

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Produced in the 1960s by CAM as a low cost table top penny pusher.

 
 
 


CAM Auto   1960s
Added to Pushers by on 27/10/20

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My Brenco Swinging Swinger machine. I used to play this actual machine back in the mid 1970s in Barrys Amusements, Bangor N.I. and got the chance recently to purchase it along with a Ring a Bell machine. I restored the cabinet to original colour scheme.


Brenco   December 1967
Added to Other Skills by on 02/08/20

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This machine deserves a description...

Oliver Whales   1950s
Added to Allwins by on 23/07/20

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British-made example of the very popular Clown game. Handan-Ni appear to have made several variants from around 1915, employing a rather different mechanism to the original German machines. This one operates on the old ha'penny coin. 


Handan-Ni   1915
Added to Catchers by on 08/07/20

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Around 1905, newly founded German company Jentzsch & Meerz introduced the Clown game, based upon, and licensed under the patents of British pioneer JG Pessers' ball catching games. It was such a terrific success, British manufacturers returned the compliment by copying it, which they felt free to do after the outbreak of WWI. So did the French. This early British example by Handan Ni is distinguished by, amongst other things, the absence of a rolling ball beneath the clown, a different ball lifting mechanism, and the use of composite (in place of steel) balls.


Handan-Ni   1915
Added to Catchers by on 05/07/20

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