Dotnino and the Devils
by John Peterson
"What in heaven's name is that thing"? I looked up
from my latest love to see Dearly Beloved standing
in the doorway to my workroom, staring at the
British game I had just retrieved from my most
recent trip. I had to admit, when you objectively
looked at "Domino, Model 4," it was a pretty sad
affair. "So," she continued, "how much did you pay
for this one and how much time are you going to
waste on it"? Trying not to show the hurt, I replied,
"I'm making $150.00 per hour on this baby".
"You're kidding" she hooted. "You'd have to sell
this thing for thousands of dollars to make that kind
of money". "Not at all", I replied, "Any shrink
worth his Prozac would be chargin me at least
$150.00 per hour. This way, I can save that money
plus my mother's reputation at the same time, to say
nothing about having loads of fun fixing up this
sweetheart". Snorting with disbelief followed by a
muttered "Why didn't I listen when Mother tried to
warn me"? Dearly Beloved headed upstairs, shaking
her head and I was left again to my dreams of past
splendor and future promise. I was about to begin
another exciting odyssey and I could hardly wait.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself.. ...
the condition of the playfield it concluded with
"very ornate castings and very very intricate com-
plete beautiful mechanism. Much of the mechanism
is brass and completely unmessed with. Easy
restoration on this one so bid to win. Never seen one
like it, sure it is rare!" There were two pictures and
they displayed what looked to be a complete
machine in fair to good condition with the cloth
playfield in need of replacement.
I never had a chance. I would close my eyes and all
I could see was this lonely orphan calling to me. I
looked the machine up in my reference book and
verified that it was made by Handan-Ni in 1913.
Would you tum your back on a gently 90-year old
guest from another country? Of course not! Neither
could I. I had to have it.
I hesitate to tell you the next part of the story for fear
you will think less of me, or even worse, you'll
think more of me and have opportunity to use my
system against me. I don 't do this very often, only
when I find something that I really, really want and
think I cannot afford if the auction goes to it's natu-
ral conclusion. If you play on Ebay, you know the
Recall, if you will, our "Buy it Now" function . For the uninitiated, it is a
last adventure ("This price (normally above the starting price) at which
Comdog Won't Hunt", the seller offers to stop the auction and sell the item
C.O.C.A. July 2002) to the buyer if the buyer agrees to the price stipulat-
and you will recognize ed. Only a fraction of the auctions on Ebay have this
the usual suspects: feature. In this particular case, I approached the sell-
Ebay, rental car, cockpit er with what I like to think of as a "Sell it Now"
transportation and a offer. The enticement to him was an offer substan-
hapless optimism. The tially over his starting price. What he had to weigh
Ebay title this time was was my offer to stop the auction early at my price
another winner: "Rare against letting the auction continue knowing that I
===---' Early Penny Arcade" might be able to get the item at a lower price if no
it shouted. In the body of the description, it one bid up to my offer. In this case, the seller was
explained that this was a British game by the firm agreeable and we made the deal.
Handan-Ni Ltd. of London sporting the jaunty name
"Domino, Model 4". After a breezy description of As with my other successful auctions, I was able to
8