Classic Mode

C.O.C.A. Times

Issue: 2005-November - Vol 6 Num 3

KHYBER PASS
by John Peterson
Why do you collect coin-operated machines? I'm
willing to bet that the answers will be as varied as the
number of collectors reading this. Even so, I think there
are several common factors highly visible or lurking just
beneath the surface. The first would be an attraction to
things mechanical. You cannot be a serious collector of
coin-op without an innate appreciation for the genius
behind the mechanics. Second would be the almost
child-like pleasure you derive from playing with your
game. Third is what I call the "collector personality."
For those who do not collect (e.g. most of our wives),
it is hard, if not impossible to explain this motivation.
To truly understand the attraction, you need look no
further than into the eyes of a collector as he or she
watches a favorite piece in action. It is akin to the eyes
of a parent viewing a beloved child at play. For those
of us lucky enough to have this collector personality,
the correct question is not will we collect, but what will
we collect? Finally, for many collectors, there comes
a true appreciation for the historical benchmark these
items serve when looking back into our past. Many of
these games serve as a Rorschach test on society and
the times of their creation. Is it truly just a game or
something much more? Let's
take a look at a period game
named "Khyber Pass" (Photo
"A") and you tell me what you
see.
As I have stated in earlier
articles, I believe in fate . My
talents are modest Uust ask
my ex-wife), but I believe that
things happen for a reason
and I try to be open to see and
understand what takes place in
my life. When I purchased the
GLENN COLLECTION of 50
plus British wall machines back in 2002, I felt that I had
been offered a small window into the past of British life
by way of their games. Looking through that window
has been a fascinating treat. I have glimpsed a nation
at rest and a nation at war. I have seen the innocence
of children at play as well as the struggle of citizens
fighting to preserve their freedom. Games of frolic tug
at our pocketbook; games of war pull at our soul.
The year was 1943 and Great Britain had long been
at war. It is somewhat difficult for Americans to fully
appreciate the stress of a nation at war and under
homeland attack. After all, our last experience was
the Civil War, a self-inflicted wound of horrendous
proportion over 140 years ago. (Author's note: Before
any pick up pens and keyboards to take me to task for
lack of patriotism or trivializing September 11 th , 2001,
please take note. I served as a Navy pilot for 10 years
starting in 1969. I am currently an airline pilot. I flew
out of New York City early the morning of September
11, 2001 and was airborne when the ATC system was
shut down. I am not seeking to diminish our tragedy. My
point is that we have been fortunate as a nation, if such
can be called fortune, to fight our wars on foreign soils.
It is another matter altogether to have your land under
attack on a daily basis as did the English during periods
of World War II.) In Great Britain, wartime rationing
was in effect and the amusement trade was reduced to
piecing together games from outstanding stock. Many
of the major manufacturers of coin-operated games did
not survive the war, British Manufacturing Company
being a prime example. As Great Britain fought for her
life, producers of entertainment rallied to the cause with
games of openly patriotic themes, games that featured
airplanes, flags and military men. I will introduce you
to several of these in a later article, "Band of Brothers."
Today, I wish to show you a game whose call to arms
is more subtle but still as clear as any of the military
themed games. This game is an allwin named "Khyber
Pass" by Oliver Whales of Redcar, England.
As you know, most English games have no
manufacturer's marking. A consistent exception to this
rule was Oliver Whales. Most of the games produced
by him carried his name and the moniker, "Fun City,
Redcar." He began making games in the late 1930's
in Redcar, York and went out of business in the
1960's. The vast majority of his games were allwins
with a smattering of fortune tellers and stereo viewers
thrown in for good measure. During the late 1940's the
London firm of Ruffler and Walker acted as an agent
for Whales. As a result, it is not uncommon to find
an Oliver Whales allwin with the Ruffer and Walker
nameplate prominently attached. Even so, if you look
closely enough, you can usually find the name "Whales"
somewhere on the machine. Oliver Whales' allwins
were very reliable mechanically and proved themselves
6
Blitz of 1940 from the months of September through
December, over 13,000 Londoners were killed and
another 18,000 seriously wounded by these aerial
bombardments. The citizens of London responded
with unparalleled courage. The Royal family refused
to abandon Buckingham Palace and the country fought
back with everything it had. The Royal Air Force
defended London with such heroism that Winston
Churchill uttered those famous words, "Never has so
much been owed by so many to so few." Denied an
outright victory, Germany then attacked Britain with the
V-1 "buzz bombs" and later, the V-2's. The Americans
entered the war in December, 1941 but it was not until
1944 and the "D" Day invasion that America and her
allies began the final crushing of the Axis machine in
Europe. Things in the United Kingdom were still very
grim in July of 1943.
I see "Khyber Pass" as a rallying cry to the British.
It says, "Remember the past and remain true to your
nature. Courage and fidelity will win out and victory
will be ours!" Oh, really? Do you see this in the game?
Take another look. With "Khyber Pass," the physical
layout of the game is an important clue to the message
offered. The playfield is unusual and unique for a
Whales game. Whales was a prolific manufacturer of
allwins, producing thousands
of machines. Almost all his ..--....
games had a standardized
playfield. In the vast majority
of his games, the gallery where
the ball would be "won" or
"lost" was a single horizontal
shelf with the traditional
five "win" holes flanked by
the two outer "lose" holes.
(See Photo "B" for a typical
example.) Occasionally, he
would diverge from this and
instead place single "win" cups randomly around the
playfield. That was about as original as Oliver Whales
got.
Now take another look at
the playfield of "Khyber Pass"
(Photo "C".) You see an elegant
"V" gallery with the name
showcased in the center. Center
stage is a picture of a valley with
a stream running through it. What
you cannot see is the interior
mechanism of the game, now
as the workhorses of the arcades. For the most part,
the backflash artwork tended toward utilitarian and
somewhat unimaginative. There were exceptions as
you shall see today.
Equal to the difficulty of determining the manufacturer
of a game is the challenge of determining the date a
British game was made. Most help here comes from the
small publication by Paul Braithwaite entitled Acrades
and Slot Machines with A - Z of British Manfacturers
1870 - 1970. While not claiming to be exhaustive,
author Braithwaite provides the only real in-depth
information about the British game industry, listing
the manufacturers plus the names and dates of the
games they produced. The section on Oliver Whales,
catalogues 76 games. "Khyber Pass" is not one of
them. Fate has smiled upon me here. Stamped on both
the inside door of the machine as well as the interior
case is an inked box that says this game was made by
Oliver Whales and tested July 14, 1943 by workman
"H Smith." I have over two dozen Whales games
and I have never seen this stamp. Was it a wartime
requirement? I have no idea. Whatever the reason,
this dating spotlights a game that otherwise might have
missed critical identification. Cast as a wartime soldier,
"Khyber Pass" takes on completely new meaning at
multiple levels.
Khyber Pass has special significance to the British.
During the British Colonial Period of the 19 th Century,
Afghanistan acted as a buffer state between the Russian
Empire and British India. Shifting alliances by the
Emir of Afghanistan between Russia and England
led to three separate wars between the British and the
Afghans. In each of these wars, Khyber Pass was a
strategic target of critical importance. The Pass is a
narrow passageway through the Hindu Kush mountains
connecting the cities of Peshawar, Pakistan and Kabul,
Afghanistan. In all three of these conflicts, the British
entered Khyber Pass in order to attack Afghanistan. The
party dominating Khyber Pass effectively controlled
access to the battlefields of consequence. On more
than one occasion, the British suffered grievous losses
either traversing Khyber Pass or trying to maintain their
control of it. From Khyber Pass arose British stories
of bravery and heroism. Dandy, you say, but how does
any of this relate to a game made by Oliver Whales in
the summer of 1943?
World War II took a horrible toll upon the British
people. The early years of the war saw nightly raids
by the Luftwaffe that rained bombs down on London in
an ungodly marriage of terror and carnage. During the
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