The End of
Prohibition
By Johnny Duckworth
the cash box, and were also noted for paying out 50%
in merchandise. You will notice one of the flyers shown
has the beer barrel priced at $35.00; this would have
been very steep for an aluminum trade stimulator in the
30's.
The machines are very simple to play; simply drop a
nickel in the slot, pull the handle on the beer tap and the
reels will spin. On the beer barrel version the player is
trying to win one, two, three, five, or ten beers and in
the process will also get a pretzel from the vender on
the left side, if desired. Some of the instruction cards
will have the beer payouts changed in favor of the store
owner. This was done simply by pasting different beer
counts over the paper payout card in front. The first reel
on the left shows beer bottles and beer mugs to deter-
mine if the payout will be in the form of a bottle or a
draw. The other two reels on the right show pretzels
with five different colored backgrounds. Simply match
two of the same colors on the reels to win. There are
also diamo nds shown on all three reels which can make
for a large beer payout of five or ten.
Eighty-Six years ago, the A. J. Stephens Company lo-
cated in Kansas City, Missouri created two very unique
trade stimulators for all of us to enjoy in our collections
today. Prohibition ended in December of 1933 and the
Stephens Company introduced the "Magic Beer Barrel"
the following year. This small little countertop machine
practically screams, "prohibition has ended" with the
body of the machine shaped as a beer barrel lying on
its side, a vender filled with pretzels on the left, and a
beer tap hanging out the right end of the barrel. The ma-
chine had so much success that they went on to create
a cigarette version as well called the "Cigarette Keg".
Both
machines
have lots of char-
MONEY! More MONEY! .
acter and have be-
THIS STARTLING INVENTION MAKES •
MONEY FOR EVERYBODY!
•
come quite popu-
lar with collectors
"MAGIC" BEER BARREL
;, over the years.
NICKEL-IN.SLOT WONDER
WHEREVER BEER IS SOLDI
The advertised fly-
~;;~~§{~~;~gf~~f~
ers stated that the
·~"·:·,::i:i..:.:i'.:~.."~.".'..'."~..... . 1 machines
would
ff~}gj:~f1~1?~?1i~@
,
boost sales for both
~o,,'i',.. ,";:'','.:,7,.:;;.,• .. •• ....
wrn~
beer and cigarettes
while only costing
........ _ .. ,.-. $12.50 each; they
could hold $80.00
A. J.
worth of nickels in
The cigarette keg has the same design as the beer barrel
but it's dressed a little different with an orange painted
barrel with black stripes. The player is trying to win
cigarettes instead of beer in this little machine and they
will also get a pretzel or candy on every play, if desired.
Five different cigarette packs are placed on the three
reels as well as a cigarette instruction card on the lower
front. To win you simply need to line up three packs
of Lucky Strike, Twenty Grand, Old Gold, Camel, or
Chesterfield which will pay one, two, or three packs
depending on the brand. Two of a kind can also be lined
up on the left and center reels to win one pack.
: ;-0:~:;~~~ /
,1 • • ~,) JOt18r.•1 •
6