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Games of Skill became the stock in trade of the British amusement machine industry thanks to the Betting and Gaming Acts of 1853 and 1854 which legislated against gaming machines even before they were invented. Most common were the allwin, ball catching, dropcase and shooting games, but this section of the museum will represent the ingenious diversity of other designs which emerged over the years. Many were genuine tests of skill, and offered no reward, a free game or a returned coin at most. Others, which paid prizes of higher value than the original stake, employed the legend "a game of skill" somewhat liberally. Usually the skill was outweighed by a larger element of chance. It had to be really, otherwise players would quickly have honed their technique and emptied the machines.

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Over The Falls

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Added to Other Skills by pennymachines on 12/11/21

Over The Falls



An alternative version of Climbing The Alps. Very few of these simple games seem to have survived.

 
 
 


BMCo   1920s
Added to Other Skills on 12/11/21

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Prospector

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Added to Other Skills by mr merrivale on 08/06/20

Prospector



This is one of several designs of the Prospector produced over many years by Pugh Automatics. The object is to roll pennies between the gaps in the continuous moving conveyor so that they halt and are carried by the belt to the payout points, whereupon the indicated prizes are received in the payout cup below.



Pugh Automatics   1960s
Added to Other Skills by mr merrivale on 08/06/20

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Rippler

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Added to Other Skills by pennymachines on 28/05/17

Rippler



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.



Bryans   1934
Added to Other Skills by pennymachines on 28/05/17

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Road Safety

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Added to Other Skills by widget2k4 on 24/05/17

Road Safety



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.



Bollands   1960s
Added to Other Skills by widget2k4 on 24/05/17

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Rock Roll

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Added to Other Skills by widget2k4 on 25/05/17

Rock Roll



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.



Unknown maker   1970s
Added to Other Skills by widget2k4 on 25/05/17

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Rockets

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Added to Other Skills by pennymachines on 05/06/17

Rockets



Three balls are released for a penny; each ball is fed into play be turning the handle on the left. Shoot the balls skywards by sharply tapping the end of the pivoted lever. The object is to drop one ball into each of the three columns. Any that miss the columns are returned to play. A win is rewarded with a boxed gift or cash (according to operator setup) by turning the handle again. Apparently this game was withdrawn from production because skilled players were able to win too easily. Certainly it is one of the rarer Bryans games.



Bryans   1930s
Added to Other Skills on 05/06/17

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Rolling Home

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Added to Other Skills by pennymachines on 01/08/17

Rolling Home



Simple but entertaining penny rolling game.



Unknown maker   1950s
Added to Other Skills on 01/08/17

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Rolling Road

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Added to Other Skills by sweetmeats on 02/06/17

Rolling Road



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.


Bollands   1930s
Added to Other Skills by sweetmeats on 02/06/17

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Rolling Road

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Added to Other Skills by coin-op on 19/05/17

Rolling Road



Rolling Road has a different layout to the more commonly seen Steer-A-Ball (a version of which Hawtins also made). Relief moulding 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.



Hawtins   1930s
Added to Other Skills by coin-op on 19/05/17

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Silver Arrow

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Added to Other Skills by sweetmeats on 29/12/17

Silver Arrow



The silver arrow swings back and forth, driven by an electric motor, and when a player inserts a penny in the slot a ball enters the arrow, coming to rest just above the arrow head. The player then presses the button below the coin slot to release the ball over one of the five cups. The centre cup pays 6D plus jackpot, those adjacent to it pay 4D and the outer cups pay 2D.



OK Novelty Co.   1934
Added to Other Skills on 29/12/17

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    • Many Happy Returns
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    • Master Golf Game
    • Medicine vendor
    • Miniature Cricket
    • Monument Cigarette Box
    • Mother Shipton
    • Moving Stars
    • Music Maker
    • Nameplate printer
    • Nestle’s Milk Chocolate
    • New Get Tee Zee
    • Nine Holes
    • Number Parade
    • Octopus
    • One Fruit
    • One Penny fortune teller
    • Over The Falls
    • Pascal Ambrosia Devonshire Milk Chocolate
    • Pascal Pearl Drops
    • Payramid
    • Peerless Pictures
    • Penny Points
    • Penny-Go-Round
    • Personality Love Meter
    • Pilwin ’56
    • Pin Royal
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    • Platform Tickets
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    • Retreeva
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    • Rolling Road
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    • Rowntree’s Fruit Gums
    • Rowntrees Fruit gum
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    • Safari
    • Safechek Gold Sovereign Changer
    • Salectric
    • Salter’s Automatic Weighing Machine
    • Satellite
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    • Screen Stars
    • Screen Stars
    • See The Guv’Nor
    • Shares
    • Shoot!
    • Silver Arrow
    • Sirdar Polyphon
    • Skill Score
    • Slick
    • Snakes & Ladders
    • Speedway
    • Spitfire
    • Steeple Chase
    • Steer-a-Ball
    • Step Up To Mike
    • Super Challenger
    • Super Steer-a-Ball
    • Sweetmeats
    • Swinging Swinger
    • Tele-Test
    • Ten Cup
    • Territorial Shooting Range
    • Testo Reaction Meter
    • The Cricket Match
    • The Major
    • The Very Latest
    • Three Alike
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    • Time Limit
    • Tip-It-In
    • Torpedo
    • Trapper
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    • Trickler
    • Try Your Grip
    • Try Your Grip
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    • Try Your Weight
    • Tuck Shop
    • Uncle Sam’s Philosophy
    • Uneda Bagatelle Table
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    • Up The Pole
    • VAL vendors
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    • Village Blacksmith
    • Vocal Radialyst
    • Walk The Plank
    • Waltonophone
    • When Were You Born?
    • Whirlwin Spinball
    • Whom Shall I Marry?
    • Wills’s Woodbine Cigarettes
    • Wills’s Woodbine Cigarettes
    • Win A Packet of Aero
    • Win A Peppermint
    • Win a Spangles
    • Win And Place
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    • Ell
    • Firmans
    • Haworth
    • Hawtins
    • Humphris and Forster
    • Jay Pee
    • Mastermatics
    • North Autos
    • OK Novelty Co.
    • Price and Castell
    • Pugh Automatics
    • Stevenson and Lovett
  • Skill games
    • Miniature Cricket
    • Testo Reaction Meter
    • Bomb Aimer
    • Climbing The Alps
    • Over The Falls
    • Lifeline
    • Diabolo?
    • Road Safety
    • Rolling Road
    • Beat The Goalie
    • Swinging Swinger
    • Up The Pole
    • Rippler
    • Bumper
    • Rockets
    • Automatic Billiard Player
    • Winasmoke
    • Winaway Pool
    • Steer-a-Ball
    • Rolling Road
    • Village Blacksmith
    • Super Steer-a-Ball
    • Master Golf Game
    • Master Football Game
    • Slick
    • Silver Arrow
    • Get Tee Zee
    • New Get Tee Zee
    • Game of Skill
    • Looping the Loop
    • Prospector
    • Irish Sweepstakes
  • Generic selectors
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