THE FEY PISTOL RANGE MACHINE
by BILL HO WARD
In 1920, Chas. Fey & Co. la-
beled themselves as "Vending
Machine Specialists" and intro-
duced "The Pistol Range Ma-
chine". See .. Slot Machines, a
Pictoral History of the First 100
Years by Marsha]] Fey. I believe
this to be the finest looking and
operating of the counter top pis-
tol trade stimulators of its day.
Many such counter top pistol
machines were introduced after
the Pistol Range. Some of the
more desirable of this group in-
cluded the various Masters mod-
els, the cast iron International
Mutoscope "Shootascope," and
the many wooden varieties from
which the World War II Con-
version "Shoot Hitler, the World 's Most Hated Man"
evolved. Hitting the target and seeing Adolph's tongue
waggle uncontrollably still triggers a sick spark of the
humor in my head. But none of these table model pistol
games come close to the Pistol Range.
First, it featured a beautiful quarter-sawed oak case,
second, it combined the ski11 game feature with vend-
ing a mint with every penny shot. Hitting the end holes
allowed the player to pull the release on either side of
the copper finished metal columns that hold the confec-
tion. Third, Fey used this machine to con law enforce-
ment by offering a gambling feature. The ad pictured
on page 81 of Marsha]] Fey's book claims that "there
is no element of change involved in its operation."
Horse hockey! The marquee of
the machine offered a "special
chocolate prize" if you hit the
center hole. Since there is a ver-
ification window, I find it hard
to accept that the special prize
involved "chocolate" when giv-
en to the verified winner. And if
there was any doubt, as to this
devious appeal to gambling, it is
answered by the outright gam-
bling version of the Fey pistol
Range offered as a variation in
1920 that vended tokens that
were then redeemable for "priz-
es" when the circles were hit.
The marquee and front plate of
the machine were slightly dif-
ferent and the overall look was
a little less ornate (see Fey book on page 171.)
In any event, the vending version of the Fey Pistol
Range combines beauty and a11 the skill and gambling
features of the trade stimulator era to be what I believe
one of the finest and most desirable machines of its
day.
Unfortunately, this version is very rare, I know of no
straight gambling versions in existence. As a result of
the "history bank" of Marshall Fey and the relentless
headhunting of Tom Gustwiller and the restoration ef-
forts of the incomparable Smiley Dubena, three exam-
ples of Fey Pistol Range Machine are known to exist.
Pictured here is my machine.
Email: jbgum @msn .com
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