by Bill Howard
Collector/author Tom Gus/willer was on
hand to autograph his new book, "Reel
Amusement," at the Chicago/and Show.
The purpose of this article is to review the development
of coin-op source books from the early pioneers to the latest
effort, REEL AMUSEMENT by Tom Gustwiller.
The importance ofresearch material in books, magazines,
articles and ads has been of great value to me, and I have
stressed this fact in many of the articles I have written, as
well as in my book, Every Picture Tells a Story.
Perhaps the earliest coin-op research book was Dave
Christiansen's Slot Machines - A Pictorial Review, written
in 1972. Then, in the late l 970's, the "founding father" of
these books, Ken Rubin , wrote Drop Coin Here and exposed
many to the best in coin-op machines at that time. While this
important book must be judged in the era in which it was
written, its main value was to expose interesting machines
in a way that kindled the desire to collect and thereby spark
our hobby much like Dr. Smith's Arcade Auction in New
York some years later. It is astounding how foresighted Ken
was in picking machines that have proven over time to still
be some of the most valuable and sought after, almost thirty-
five years later.
In the mid l 980's the late coin-op historian Dick Beuschel
began bringing his wealth of knowledge to collectors in a
way that will never be matched. Early examples of his work
include lllustrated Guide to Collectable Trade Stimulators,
Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, Illustrated Guide to Collectable Slot Ma-
chines, Vol. 1 thru 4, his coin-op book, and his collaboration
with Steve Gronowski in Arcade I. Although one weakness
in these endeavors proved to be Dick's sometime lack of
organization that made his incredible grasp of facts almost
seem overwhelming along with his sometimes over empha-
sis on the creation and development of these machines by
their manufacturers, as opposed to the machines themselves
and their condition and function, things so important to col-
lectors today, the history he afforded us was so important.
Other offering pioneers of the day included Dan Mead,
who collaborated with Robert Geddes in 1980 to write Slot
Machines on Parade, and with David Saul ten years later
to write Slot Machine Buyer's Handbook, and Richard and
Barbara Reddock, who wrote Price Guide to Antique Slot
Machines in 1981.
In 1991 Marshall Fey wrote his first edition of Slot Ma-
chines, A Pictorial History of the First 100 Years, an over-
view of coin-op history, and the most widely sold coin-op
book to date.
In 1995 Tom Gustwiller took a shot at research book
writing with his first effort, For Amusement Only. Although
comprehensive and well catalogued, it lacked aesthetics, be-
ing black and white, and provided only basic details, such
as identity and date of manufacturers and the rarity of the
machine. His inclusion of an all encompassing price guide
raised an unresolved dilemma. Although we are all con-
cerned with value, is a price guide really helpful in the long
run , when value is detennined to a great extent by things
totally in flux and unforeseeable, such as the economy, the
interplay and number of certain collectors at varying points
in time, and the continually evolving trends in the hobby?
Two years later Dick Beuschel returned to write Guide to
Vintage Trade Stimulators & Counter Games, providing his
usual wealth of knowledge in color, but restricting his effort
to trade stimulators and not always organized as to value,
category or information.
Nine more years passed before I took coin-op book writ-
ing in another direction with Every Picture Tells a Story. It
was a limited edition of 500 copies intended to be the most
aesthetic photographic effort to date, limited only to my col-
lection of both coin-op and non coin-op treasures and direct-
ed to a small group of collectors who enjoy the whimsical,
humorous and personalized aspects of our hobby.
This brings us to the latest entry to the coin-op book pa-
rade, Reel Amusement, Tom Gustwiller's second book and
much different from his first. It is more comprehensive with
well over 400 machines pictured, as well as research cites
for over 400 machines not pictured. In stuffing color, the
photographic layout combines aesthetics with easily under-
standable categorizing, description and history.
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