Coin Slot

Issue: 1976 June 017

Coin Slot Magazine - #017 - 1976 - June [International Arcade Museum]
MILS BONUS BEU
by Les Druyan
Having been a collector of antique mechanicals for several years, I have
had the opportunity to examine a number of interesting items, including
a few oddball slot machines with interesting features. The Mills Bonus
Bell is such a machine.
THE MACHINE
There were a number of different styles of Bonus Bells, the first intro
duced around 1937. The model I was able to look at is cased in the
classic high top design that was so common at the start of the '40's.
During this era the beautiful and ornate decorations of the previous dec
ades were abandoned. The case is steel with wood sides, painted a dull
combination of maroon and gold. The award card is aluminum with the
symbols and amounts painted on. It is riveted to the front of the ma
chine in the standard position, above the Jackpot window.
THE PLAY
The awards are the usual ones, one cherry paying 2, two cherries paying
5, and so forth. What makes this machine interesting, however, is the first
reel, which has the letters B-O-N-U-S printed over five of the standard
symbols. Thus, there is a "B" printed over an orange, and an "0" over a
lemon, etc. On the front of the machine, in the top righthand corner, is a
window. As the letters BONUS show up on first reel payline (in
succession) a corresponding letter pops into view in the window. When
the word BONUS is spelled out, all the letters pop out of view and an
award of 18 coins is paid.
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The BONUS unit
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assembled it, and know that it shouldn't work. But it does. Every-time. It
was obviously designed to be added on to machines that were already
assembled, and thus to be appended to older units that were returned to
the company in trade. (The updating of older machines apparently was a
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
Coin Slot Magazine - #017 - 1976 - June [International Arcade Museum]
common practice; Rockola used to buy up the old pre-jackpot Mills ma
chines, add jackpots to them and re-do the cases.)
I have seen few items that look more like a Rube Goldberg creation than
the Bonus Unit. I suppose it has to be that way because it is an "add-on",
and the machine was not originally built for it. The heart of the unit is a
cam that is attached to the first reel disc, and parallel to it. The cam is
flat on one side and has a verticle finger that rides on it. If no letters are
showing in the Bonus window and a "B" shows up on the payline, the
finger falls against the flat, and through a system of springs, levers, and
cams, allows a "B" to show up in the window. Now the position of the
flat on the cam is moved back four symbols to correspond with the "0"
on the first reel, and so on. Eventually, when BONUS is spelled out all the
letters disappear and a payout of eighteen coins is achieved.
Since the word BONUS has five letters, and each time a letter comes up
the flat on the cam is pushed back four spaces, it is now back twenty
spaces (stops) and again on the "B". There is no doubt about it, it is a
brilliant idea, and certainly will attract players, especially when BON, or
BONU is showing in the window.
There is an anti-cheating device on this machine that is rather interesting,
and very simple. Should someone try to wedge open the jackpot door
with a wire or tool a lever pops up and stops the fan blades, thereby
"freezing" the machine and stopping all play. The self-loading jackpot is
the basic dumb system used on all Mills machines. It is very impractical
since it "dumps" whenever the unit is removed from the case, and takes
about fifteen or twenty minutes to reload. It is in sharp contrast to the
ingenuity of the rest of the machine.
WURLITZER JUKEBOX PARTS
No. 1
1015 Bubbler Tubes (set of 8) Hand Blown Pyrex (not soft glass) filled
with fluid.
$175.00 per set, ppd.
No. 2 1015 Repair Manuals (reprint. 8Y2 by 11" soft cover, $10.95 ppd.)
A must for every collector.
No. 3 Cal-O-Scope (2) Countertop. $300.00 ea. Needs refinish, etc.
No. 4 Mills Quartoscope. Countertop. Needs refinishing $500.00.
No. 5 Electro Stero Viewer Mills. Floor model. Needs minor repairs. $600.00
.com
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Contact: Jukebox Johnny, o
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10-12, 1976 10 a.m. till lots sold
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Don Britt, Auctioneer—More items, fewer lots. Preview June 7—9.
Will feature many coin operated Up-rights, Singles and Doubles.
Catalogs will be available, $7.50 will admit two adults to Auction.
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/

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