by Dan Applegate
Gum Vender - OR - Draw Poker?
back to the name Draw Poker that was in the front cast-
ing that they had used in 1934. The Draw Poker and
Royal Gum Vender have the same principle functions
of the 1904 Callie Brothers and Mills machines named
Hy-Lo. The mechanism used in these earlier cast iron
card machines, especially the Callie machine, is almost
identical to the mechanism used in the more modern art
deco case design by National. Pictures of these earlier
machines can be found in Tom Gustwiller's book "For
Amusement Only", on page 61, and Richard Bueschel's
book "Guide to Vintage Trade Stimulators and Counter
Games", on page 74.
I contacted the people I acquired this machine from
in hopes of obtaining more background on how they
come about owning it, and they told me that it belonged
to their great-grandfather who had the machine set up
in the back room of hi s butcher shop in Perrysburg,
Ohio, which is only a few miles from the National fac-
tory in Toledo, and it had been in their family since the
1930s. It was in rough condition when l received it. It
had a piece broken off the top marquee and had broken
screws that held the mechanism in place, and the key
for the back door was bent in half. In other words, it
was in dire need ofrestoration. At some point and time,
the butcher changed the original award card to read "ten
cent play" instead of "one cent play"; these machines
wi ll accept and play on both denominations.
I acquired this Royal Gum Vender, made by the Na-
tional Coin Machine Exchange, of Toledo, Ohio, on
eBay, in June. It was listed under Antique Slot Ma-
chines not Trade Stimulators. I was bidding against Bill
Whelan of Slot Dynasty.
After winning the bid, I contacted Bill about acquir-
ing an award card and original-type reel strips that match
the ones that were old and faded that was on the machine
when I received it. He advised me that since there were
very few of these machines produced, both the National
Draw Poker and Royal Gum Vender machines, he did
not have any reel strips to offer that would match. Bill
then told me that he too bid on this same machine and
that he would look through his archives for more in-
formation. He asked me what the serial number was.
I advised him that it had serial number 502. He told
me that the first number was a series number and that
I most likely had serial number 2. In 1934, National
came out with their Draw Poker machine. Mr. Whelan
and I both share in the belief that when National added
the gum vender to their Draw Poker machine in 1935,
that they came up with the name Royal Gum Vender,
but was probably threatened to be sued by A.B.T. Mfg. ,
and others, because A.B.T. had a machine that came out
in 1934 called Royal Reels, and others that followed
the Draw Poker theme had machines called Royal
Flush. So in order to avoid a law suit, National reverted
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