C.O.C.A. Times

Issue: 2008-November - Vol 9 Num 3

It happens to al I of us.
You see something and think
to yourself, "Hey!
That
thing is really under-priced.
I'll buy it and even if I don't
keep it, I'll make a killing on
the other side when I sell it."
Sound familiar? Of course it
does. If you've been collect-
ing coin-op for any length of
time, today's tale will strike a
responsive chord.
As with most of my an-
ticipated Ebay transactions,
I wrote to the sellers and
asked a question or two,
mostly to get a feel for their
honesty and integrity. I was
also curious to know how the
machine operated since the
interior picture of the ma-
chine, Photo "B," although
clear photographically was
vague operationally in my
non-mechanical mind .
I
basically described how I
thought it should work: coin
drops - makes circuit to
light bulb and shakes dice
- drops down into base and
hits/rings bell - and asked if
this was correct. The seller
responded and told me I was
right. The response also an-
swered another intuition of
mine; the seller was French-
I was cruising Ebay
when I came across the item
in Photo "A" in the toy sec-
tion . The verbal description
was fairly straight-forward
if not a little grammatically
challenged. It said: "WOW
LOOK A ANTIQUE TOY
DICE MACHINE 1 CENT.
MAPLE WOOD, HAND
MADE, 1930-1950, THE
MACHINE IS FUNCTION-
NAL. BATTERY D. THE
WOOD HAVE A
VERY BEAUTI-
FUL PATINA,
MEASURE
IS 9
LONG
X 9 INCHES
LARGE X 14
INCHES LARG-
ES.
EXCEL-
LENT TO ADD
TO YOUR COL-
LECTION OR
DECORATION.
POSSIBLE TO
COMBINED
A
SHIPPING
WITH OTHER
ITEMS ADD $2.50. THANK YOU FOR LOOKING
AND BIDDING. HAPPY NEW YEARS ALL £BAY-
ERS."
Canadian with English as a
second language and actu-
ally had no idea how the
machine really worked.
All in all, an ideal
situation. The seller does
not know what they have
which is why they listed it
in "toys" rather than "ar-
cade" or "gambling." They
do not know how it works
and they started the auction
at $39.99, which I considered a steal. These little dicers
are well liked and the fact that it was home-made did
not detract from its attractiveness as far as I was con-
cerned. Even if the little machine did not work proper-
ly as configured, what's the big deal? This is just basic
electrical circuitry, folks. I fly high-tech airplanes for
heaven's sake; how tough could it be?
10
The auction ended and I was the winner. One other
person thought enough of the game to participate but
only enough to offer the opening price. Just as I sus-
pected, all you coin-opers missed this gem because of
the poor description and the improper category listing.
I got the little dicer for $40.99. Fantastic! I must be a
doggone brain surgeon!
Postscript:
As my mother used to say,
"Not so fast there , Buckaroo! "
The above story was written before
I placed the dicer for sale on Ebay.
I figured all I had to do to complete the
article was to insert the final auction price,
which I did. What I did not account for was
the more interesting part of the story that
developed after the auction began .
I eagerly awaited
my latest joy from
Quebec, Canada.
It eventually ar-
rived in nice con-
dition and after
chasing al I the
Styrofoam pea-
nuts away from
the mechanism, I
grabbed a penny
and dropped it
down the slot.
Nothing.
No
light, no shaking
dice, no smile on my face. Several pennies later, I de-
cided that I better open it up and check out what was
or was not going on inside. The interior, Photo "C" is
what I vaguely saw in the photos on Ebay. What they
did not show is that the wiring was only partly connect-
ed. One of the wires from the 3 cells of "D's" taped to-
gether was hanging loose inside the case. Referencing
the above paragraph, I'm a brain surgeon so I must be
able to figure out this circuitry in short order. Right?
That, my friends , is the subject of
"Schlock and Awwwww, Part II. "
Stay tuned .
Two-Bit Restorations
Specializing in the total restoration of
the Bally Relianc:e and Buckley Bones
dke machines of the 1930s
Jeff Frahm
(928) 710-8731
www.rwobitrestoracions.com
SLOT MACHINES
TRADE STIMULA TORS
JUKE BOXES
Coin--Operations
Paul Hindin
3712 W. Scenic Ave.
Mequon. WI 53092
262-242-3131 or 414-559-9681
E-mail: Bcdvibr8or@a ol.com
Wrong! Many hours of experimentation later, the
dam thing still won 't work properly. I can make the
dice shake and the light illuminate by touching the
loose wire to various terminals and places on the metal
plating but I cannot make the circuit work by way of
the arm dropping down with the coin to make and then
break the circuit. So, instead of a cute little one-of-a-
kind fully operational all American original, I have a
homemade clunker that only operates by hand-on-wire,
mine. What's a poor fool to do?
We buy. sell, and trade.
GUM & PEANUT MACHINES
ARCADE MACHINES
CROW RIVER TRADING CO.
YOUR SOURCE FOR A.B.T.
GAMES, PARTS & LITERATURE
BOUGHT & SOLD
GAMES RESTORED
GUNS REPAIRED
TEL: (888) 596-4992
FAX: (952) 931 -7948
Why, I do what all the other fools do. I put it back
on Ebay. And you know what? It sells for $101.99. As
I said before, I am a doggone brain surgeon!
E-MAIL: INFO@CROWRIVER.COM
VISIT OUR WEB SITE: WWW.CROWRIVER.COM
(YOUR GUMBALL & PEANUT MACHINE PARTS SUPERMARKET)
11

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