FEBRUARY,
1935
Thirteen
THE PACIFIC COIN MACHINE REVIEW
What They Think
Of Marble Games
Marble Games
and the
Man on the
Street
Travel in the downtown s e c tor
of Los Angeles with THE RE-
VIEW 'S Inqu iri ng Reporter a n d
d iscover w h at th e Man on th e
St reet th in ks about pi n ball
games.
Listen to some interesting
idea s put fo rth by a cross-sec-
tion of the publ ic- ba n ke rs,
sale s men , m echan ics a nd a ny-
body who happens by-in th is
e xclus ive REVI EW featu re.
Th is ente r pr is ing sur ve y
b ri ngs to lig ht n ew tips for th e
operato r, m an uf a cture r a nd de-
s ig ne r of p in ba ll g a m es. Read
it !
By
REVIEW'S Inquiring Reporter
have a high popuarity rating with this
P ASSERSBY, business men, chauffeurs,
group. They like to duplicate themselves
clerks-what do these folks think of mar-
the favorite athletic contests they see on
ble games? Take a cross-section of the
the diamond, the links and the gridiron.
public, shoot some questions, and you'll
Now to get back to that preference for
find whether the Man on the Street likes
nickel games, it may be a situation pe-
to play these games, why he likes to play,
culiar to the West, or to Los Angeles, in
and where you're most likely to find him
contrast to the East's preference for pen-
trying to drop the red pill in the 5000
ny games. Nevertheless, the Inquiring Re-
hole!
porter's interviews impressed him with the
You've already got the tip-off: the Man
fact that the Man on the Street in Los
on the Street does like the thrill of arch-
Angeles would rather take his fun via the
ing the marbles toward the big count. But
nickel route than on pennies. However,
why?
several penny arcades are drawing ~ con-
THE REVIEW sent its Inquiring Reporter
tinuous play on standard nickel galll
through the business district of Los An-
geles to get the low-down from the Man . fitted with penny slots. Pay-offs are madt
in slugs only, good for another play un
on the Street himself. Several days were
the machine, but apparently the slugs
spent to make this survey as accurate as
aren't good for merchandise.
possible, and here are some of the inter-
esting things he discovered:
Worth Nickel t o Play
~ Sixty per cent of the people enjoy mar-
Many
of
those contacted readily stated
ble games. Another 30 per cent is open-
their belief that a good marble game is
minded toward them.
worth a nickel to play. They get their
Sixty-two per cent prefer games testing
money's worth in amusement. Others ad-
th eir skill.
mitted that they overlooked the nickel
Twenty per cent are content to let 'em
charge because they usually competed for
ride for luck.
something on the side against their friends,
Seventy-five per cent prefer nickel games
and the nickel was inconsequential.
over pennies.
There were, however, several who con-
Sixty per cent try for prizes; the rest
tended they could make their fun go far-
play for amusement, but they all call it
ther on penny games "because nickels are
fun!
so scarce these days."
Fifty-five per cent prefer to play in the
Skill! The marble game designer or the
company of others; half as many would
manufacturer who recognizes the public's
rather concentrate by going it alone, and
demand for games meeting this require-
the rest don't mind whether they play
ment and plans his equipment accordingly
alone or in a crowd.
is going to have a product that goes over.
P ublic Sold on Games
Lots of the players pass it off as I uck when
Eighty per cent agree that the marble
a marble hits the wrong peg, but the vast
game has made an acceptable place for
majority try to master the touch of the
itself in the amusement world, and the rest
plunger and control the ball toward the big
qualify their approval by restricting it def-
counts and the advancer holes.
initely to the better kinds of games-those
well constructed and accurate.
Where do they most enjoy playing?
Well, their answers to this question didn't
shed new light on the matter of preferred
locations, but the operators already know
where their games pull the biggest play.
Suffice it to say that 40 per cent mentioned
cigar stands as their favorite playing
haunts, and other replies ranged from eat-
ing places, clubs and hotels to amusement
zones and resorts.
So much for the highlights. Suppose we
turn to the fascinating suggestions given
in reply to the question, "What kinds of
games do you prefer?" These answers var-
ied in proportion to the variety of games
now offered the public, but some provide
interesting tips for the manufacturer job-
ber and operator_
Q ,
But Not Too Tough !
But don't make 'em too tough, if you
want to attract player appeal. One game
the Man on the Street referred to has a
well laid out field and well situated ad-
vancer gun, but this hole is. so heavily
guarded by poorly placed pegs that the
skillful player is discouraged by the iIn-
possibility of putting the ball in thc.re f"X·
cept through a lucky bounce.
And here are some suggestions the Man
on the Street offers to operators. He pre-
fers to play on machines that are well
serviced. He doesn't like bent pins that
bounce the balls off their normal course.
He suspects that the pins have been pur-
posely bent to prevent the balls from enter-
ing a nearby high-score hole. This sus-
picion is a negative factor in the popular-
ity of the game and is certain to reflect on
the play.
The Man on the Street says to try to
keep the tension uniform in plunger
springs. He declares he loses interest in a
game when it has a 'heavy trigger" on one
location and a "light trigger" some other
place. When he has developed consistency
in scoring on a game of a certain type, he
is thrown off the track completely when
he has to change his touch on the .ame
brand of game in another locatIOn.
A T ip on Sco re Change s
Mr. Player adds this hint to Mr. Op-
erator: If you must raise the prize scores
on a game after it has been put into play,
move it to some other location. The play-
ers naturally do not object to prize scores
being lowered, but they suspect a conspir-
acy against them when 14,500 is a winner
one day and yet isn't good the next. Again
tbis suspicion redounds unfavorably toward
the game. Operators migbt study this re-
action and see . if they will benefit by
switching a table to a new spot when it is
necessary to boost the prize scores.
Don't think the Man on the Street isn't
interested in winning prizes! He is inter-
ested to the tune of 60 per cent. He likes
to win his smokes if he can, but he charges
it up to amusement if he can't. To some
rylayers the prizes may be incidental to the
winnings he may collect off his friends on
the side. Yet the average opinion of the
Man on the Street seems to be tbat he'd
like to win if he can yet he wants enough
thrills and suspense and action to repal
him in amusement if be can't win.
As for tbis matter of scores, about half
of the players seem to be satisfied that they
are low enough to be interesting. Twenty
per cent believe the scores are too high
and need to be adjusted. A few suggest
that the prize scores could readily be low-
ered because they put their winning nick-
els right back into the machine again, any-
way, and they'd get more kick out of at
least having "beat the game" once.
Players P r efe r Company
Of course space is at a premium on good
locations, but operators would do well to
bear in mind that the majority of players
prefer company while they are playing.
This requires more elbow room than for
the solitaire addict who goes it solo, but it
might prove to be a suggestion worth con-
sidering, inasmuch as it comes straight
from the players themselves.
Spectators, the Inquiring Reporter dis-
covered, are usually a boon to the game
and to tbe location owner. There's more
exc itement where a crowd collects, and
the most popular games in Los Angeles in-
variably are surrounded by "lookers-on"
who ' readily .become fascinated with the
play and are converted into customers-in·
waiting.
Mo r e Rough Edges
The Inquiring Reporter's rambles on this
survey were purposely confined to the field
of marble games. However, he ran into
several players who go for the smaller
counter games, cbiefly those of the dice
and poker type. Others favored the digger
machines; several declared they had en-
joyed good luck in fishing for prizes with
tbe electric crane, while one of these play-
ers laughingly suggested: "I wish they'd
put more rough edges on the prizes I an-
gIe for in the electric diggers!"
The Man on the Street has given you
some good ideas about this reaction to pin
ball games. Some of them may be worth
your attention. At least they do represelll
the efforts of THE REVIEW to give you some
up-to-the-minute information from a brand-
new source.
•
San Diego Ban s Shift
of Slots Over Border
SAN DIEGO, CaliL-This city is feeling
the effects of the recent ban on gambling
macbines in Baja California resorts as or-
dered by President Cardenas of Mexico.
Since the ban went into effect in Ti-
juana there has been a general movement
of the machines across the border to San
Diego, with the result that this city has
started a three-fronted drive in which the
police vice squad, sberiff's deputies and
district attorney's officers are co-operating.
They confiscated 137 slot machines in raids
upon 62 asserted gambling establishments
here.
•• Exhibit Supply Co. Day Shift Provides 170 Jobs •
Pl enty of Acti on De s ired
The Man on the Street wants action!
He likes the marble game that has "those
electric jiggers to kick the ball around;"
"the kind where the guns shoot two or
three times;" "the game with the action
hole;" "double and triple count balls and
electric advancer;" "games that return
lost balls;" "any kind with lots of mar-
bles."
Players who prefer competitive compan-
ionship usually string along with sports
games. Baseball, golf and football tables
H e re's j ust one sh ift of Ex hi b it Supp ly Co .'s force a t its
No.1 p lant in C h icago , e x clusive of offi ce employees o r
exe c utive s . Seeing a group like th is earn ing a good li v e-
li hoo d ma n uf a ctu r ing p in ba ll g a me s shou ld impre s s
po li t icia ns with th e n ecess ity of c ons idering the w e lfare
of t h ese em p loy ees w h en they a r e approache d by m in-
orities wi th plans dest ined to st ifl e the forwa r d progress
of the indust ry . For the past seven months a group of
m e n a s lar ge a s this has been turn ing o ut Exhibit w in-
ne rs such as Lightn ing , Elect r o, Golden Ga te , Drop K ick,
Rebound and othe r s.