And they get paid for it •••
.,,
By JOHN AVERILL
Maybe you're one of those rare individuals who
"The professor shrugs his shoulders as he releases
has never read a story and thrown the magazine the plunger. 'One might better was.te one's money
down and said: "Well, that's certainly lousy. I here than on some unutterably bad movie,' he
could write a better story than that if I had the rationalizes easily. 'It requires much less time' . . .
time."
•
They watch the ball in silence as it finally drops
If that's the case, you ARE rare, for observers say into a hole labeled 50, and the machine dutifully
that about four out of five Americans have, at some clinks out ten nickels.
time or other, yearned to write a yarn, perhaps have
"'There, now, I've won fifty cents after having
written one, or at least have written a few lines of it. put in sixty' . . . and so it goes.
Of course getting the story published after one has
"Every week," Burrell declares, "sees thousands
written it is another matter. It isn't nearly as easy of dollars dropped into the innumerable marble
as it looks. The best writers frequently accumulate tables that have innundated the country . . . As
stacks of rejection slips before they make their first long as the player has the veil of rationalization to
sale, and even after that there may be long stretches protect him, he purchases the pot of gold without
when their stories are returned to them.
stigma on his conscience. It matters not to the player
The point is, though, that any story you see pub- that he knows the cards are stacked against him.
lished in a national magazine has been purchased Do you wonder at the oft repeated statement, 'The
and paid for, whether you like it or not. And the Americans are the most gullible people .in the
editor bought it because (a) he thought it was a good world'."
story; (b) he thought it was in line with his publica-
That probably is true, and the reason why coin
tion's policy; (c) he thought it was timely, and what operated amusement devices exist. But then Burrell
blasts: "Man's insatiable appetite_ for gambling has
if it did tell only one side of the picture?
Evidently the editors of the magazine " Stag," pub- given rise to a racket of unbelievable proportions.
lished in New York, thought the q uestion of slot ma- There have always been those who have taken ad-
chines was timely, for they bought a story by a vantage of his love of taking a chance . . . "
From there Burrell goes on to tell how slot ma-
W esley Burrell called "A Pocket-Full of N ickels-
the inside story of the coin machine business, its chines first flourished in the open, tl1en in the "back
vicissitudes and victories," and printed it in their room." How some ingenious fellow came along and
October issue.
invented the marble game. How cash payouts (he
There is no doubt but what Mr. Burrell's story, as called them "pay-offs") were made across the coun-
a story, was a good one. Neither is there any doubt ter, then through the ·machine, and finally by ticket.
He tells his readers ' that "the · operator usually
but what Mr. Burrell was a bit one-sided in his treat-
ment of the business. And where he got his "inside" figures the campus drug store is the place for a
information will probably remain forever unknown. machine of the 'skill' type. The skill is involved in
It is apparent that he didn't get very far inside. O r rolling it past the OUT hole in the . center of the
if he did, he turned sour, somehow.
board so that it can end up in the OUT slot · at the
Starting his tale, Burrell draws a picture of "one of bottom." He says the more automatic type machine
the nation's proverbial campus drug stores," with is best for the roadside beer garden, and race horse
a laborer, a student, a college professor, a doctor, a machines are fine for the local golf club. He de-
monument dealer, and a factory worker watching clares that prices range from $20 to $500. He ex,
a pin game intently as the little silver ball bounces plains that "the operator buys the machines from a
from spring to spring and finally lands in the slot wholesaler and pays each merchant a percentage
labelled OUT.
• of the prbfit of the machine on the floor for the use
" 'Didia ever see such damned luck?' the laborer of the space. The business is generally managed
bursts out disgustedly .
on a fifty-fifty basis- the operator giving the store
" 'Your philosophy is all wrong, friend,' assures owner half of the profits and pocketing the remain-
the professor. 'Never put money in a machine with der." He indicates that "a good place under good
any expectation other than that of losing it. You conditions will yield as high as $75 weekly apiece
can't win, y' know, it isn't intended that you should.' in the average town of 20,000 population. Under
He puts a nickel in the slot. 'Anyone,' he adds very poor conditions the figures may drop to $25, or
precisely, 'is a damned fool for playing these con- even less."
trivances . . . ' "
Credit must be given Burrell for his statement that
So far so good- or is it? True, it p hrases the idea a number of things are apt to cause the operator
of pin games in the way they should be playe<;l, but sleepless nights. As one operator told him: "Don't
the way they should be played,
•
ge;t the idea t0-at we cheat the
the way a player ought to react, Last month we ran a story titled "So You poor public; we have to watch
is only an ideal. There's to0 much Think It's a Racket" in order to demon -
negative psychology right<'. at the strate what might be done for the industry damn close that they don't cheat
And then he tells the meth-
start. And Burrell's story con- through favorable publ icity . . This month , to
show how great a need for such favorable
ods by which the public defrauds
tinues:
publicity exists, we point to the other side.
the owners of equipment, and the
" 'W hat d'ya play them for, if
ya know ya can't win? '
, methods which are used to pre-
♦
~s."
13