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Coin Slot

Issue: 1978 April 039

Coin Slot Magazine - #039 - 1978 - April[International Arcade Museum]
Editor'® note
In all of the many years I have been involved in collection coin-
operated machines, I've never run across any written material on
certain subjects.
One of these uncovered subjects deals with slot ma
chines mounted in carved statues.
The only knowledge I have about
them is from word of mouth. Because I recently became involved in
manufacturing reproduction figures, I traveled Nevada extensively to
learn all I could about them.
During my travels, I took many pictures
and talked to many different people.
Even so, I am sure some of the
Coin Slot readers out there have a great deal of historical knowledge
about these statues that I am unaware of.
If that's true, we would
welcome any additional information on this subject in the form of
an article or whatever you have. The following article contains most
of the information I have so far been able to gather about these
figures.
I hope you find it interesting.
Machines - ' Dk. uium*i. p(a^ -APPeJ-
Slots mounted in statues?
Ever since the invention of the slot machine in the late 1800's-
there has been an immense array of mechanical three-reel slot ma
chines manufactured; all striving towards the ever-elusive goal of
attracting ". . . the ultimate player appeal"!
During the early days of coin-operated gambling machine history,
most would agree that the upright one-reel slot machines were the
"king of the hill" in terms of player appeal. They almost completely
overshadowed the early three-reel slots.
deny their magnificent beauty.
Nobody to this day can
They were manufactured by numer
ous companies in many different models.
Their massiveness, increas
ing production costs and the rising popularity of the smaller three-
com
.
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downfall.
from -muse
d
e
e
d
loa and
rcad the various manufacturers tried to outdo
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Between
1930
1950,
Do /www the cosmetics of their three-reel slot machines.
each other by :/ varying
http many striking machines were produced. The Watling
As a result,
reel slot machines, along with other factors, eventually spelled their
Rol-a-Top and the Mills War Eagle are just two examples of very eye-
appealing machines produced during this period.
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
11
Coin Slot Magazine - #039 - 1978 - April[International Arcade Museum]
By the 1950's most of the ornamental flash that once adorned the
castings of most slot machines had all but disappeared. Whatever the
reason, the more modern slots for the most part looked dull and
plain in comparison to the older artistic creations of the past.
About all that was done during the
1950's to further enhance player appeal
was the electrical "lighting up" of the old
mechanical slots. All this amounted to
was stringing a few light bulbs up inside
the slot machines and plugging them into
the nearest wall outlet.
Of course the O.D. Jennings people
did introduce some factory light-up mod
els during this time.
These were in fact
more eye-appealing than Jennings other
models and did attract more players.
Then there were the console type slots
with the beautifully lit glasses, etc.
The
consoles were produced by most of the
manufacturers. Their massiveness, along
with other factors, may have been an
important factor in spelling the doom for
these magnificent machines.
Combining the idea of electrically
lit three-reelers, along with the lighted
back glass and playing fields of the old
consoles, we come to the modern, sophis
ticated machines of today.
With their
highly lit, beautiful back glasses and multi-play capacity, they stand
proudly as a fine example of many years of evolution.
But back to the 1950's . . . Striving for the ultimate player
appeal, the Nevada Novelty Co. came up with the original idea of
.com
m
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embedded in the figures. They
m chose
use the popular Mills High Top
m
d fro de
-
slots of that era to be de
mounted
on
the figures. Although a few other
a
loa .a in rc figures,
machines were
the High Tops were by far the
n mounted
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o
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most common machine
seen
in
them.
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creating a series of hand-carved Western figures with slot machines
The information I have is that they employed a woodcarver by
the name of Frank Polk to do these figures — hence the name "Polk
© The International Arcade Museum
12
http://www.arcade-museum.com/

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