Coin-operated version of the popular fairground striker game. "Tap lever with palm to lift striker. Land on any metal - you strike lucky." Gold pays the jackpot.

Several coin-operated versions of this simple skill game (familiar from garden fêtes etc.) were made by a number of manufacturers. Move the metal hoop over the wiggly wire, from right to left, being careful to avoid making contact between the two. Touching the wire sounds a buzzer and the coin is released to the machine's cash box. If you get to the end of the wire without incident, the coin is returned and a bell rings.

Ten balls for a penny, the object is to direct them into the central column by skilful manipulation of the metal 'fingers'. Prizes for high scores (if offered) were paid manually by the venue.

This metal cased game is a late example of the simple steer-a-coin type, brought up to date with a '60s driving theme and lamps to indicate the outcome. There is also a floor-standing version. It is believed that these were sometimes sited at motorway service stations.

Guide your inserted coin from top to bottom by carefully tilting the horizontal tracks with the two levers. If the coin overshoots the end of a track you lose; if you reach the end, the coin is returned. Judging by the name casting, with 1p denomination, this Formica-clad vertical steer-a-coin game was made just after decimalization, although it resembles games of an earlier period.

Rolling Road has a different layout to the more commonly seen Steer-A-Ball (a version of which Hawtins also made). Relief molding creates the "mountainous course" around which you must negotiate a large ball by tilting the track with the steering wheel. Your coin is returned if you complete the course without error. Also unusual on this model is the tubular ball lift.

Positively naive metal-cased wall machine. Drop a penny in the top right slot and watch it roll down the road. You have to press the button on the left, retracting the bottom track just as the penny passes over the 'coin return' column.

Popular ball steering game. This is the more common version with painted wooden backboard. After insertion of a penny, a large cast carousel inside raises the ball into play when the steering wheel is rotated. Your penny is returned for completing the course.

When drink driving was considered unwise but legal, this simple mechanical device, sited in pubs and clubs, allowed you to gauge your inebriation.

Insert a coin, which is held by a gate at the top, and press the spring-loaded green button, which is then held in place by a rubber sucker. At this point a battery contact is made to illuminate a bulb, the previous coin played drops to the cash box and your coin drops below the gate to rest on a pin connected to the button mechanism. You then wait until the sucker loses its grip, puts out the lamp, rings a bell and releases the coin. The coin falls vertically and you have to press the red button as fast as you can. The coin is stopped dead as one side of the channel closes against it. Your reaction time is measured by how far the coin drops against a scale, indicating your stopping distance when travelling at 30 mph, with comments about your fitness to drive. If you are fast enough (within 21 feet) you get your coin back. Patent GB786414

Insert a penny to release the two balls. The object is to shoot the balls up the barber's pole landing them upon matching coloured arrows for a payout. Unusually, the mechanism is electro-mechanical, the positions of the balls being registered with electrical contacts and the payout energized by a solenoid.

The forerunner of BMCo's Gretna Green Smithy game. Insert a penny which falls to the anvil, strike the anvil with the hammer to catapult the coin towards the hearth. If it lands in the furnace, it is returned. Patent GB189923815