Coin Slot Magazine - #051 - 1979 - May [International Arcade Museum]
A SAFRI IN SEARCH OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT
ROBERT L. FRANKENBERGER, PH.D.
206 MEADOW DRIVE
There it sits. . .in the family room between the
Dewey and the digger.
chest-type freezer.
dirty snow.
it.
As beg and as square as a
It looks like a cubic yard of
My wife hates it. My friends laugh at
each.
macomb, Illinois
A nice profit and an apparent good deal
for collectors of odd-ball machines.
A person in
the southwest is reported to have bought twenty
Elephants at $800 each.
He got nervous about
Even I am beginning to lose affection for it.
his herd of Elephants and began selling them out.
It is developing a malevolent personality of its own.
A friend from St. Louis and I bought two out of
it snarls instead of hums.
It clanks and clatters
like a disposal full of hammers.
What am I going
it was.
to do with this thing?
By
now you
Denver from "Slick Al" for $1000 each. I'd never
seen one but only heard what a mechanical marvel
should
have guessed that the
As I helped my friend in St. Louis unload his
"THING" is the famous 25 cent Roulette, WHITE
machine, the excitement was tangible.
ELEPHANT.
stil! packed in their original crates, secured with
A name that fits it like a glove. It's
Both were
big, it's white, and I'll probably never get rid of
iron straps around them.
it.
marks for a machine as old as the rumors said it
It is an albatross hanging around my neck that
is getting heavier and heavier.
You
was.
name "White
After about six hours and several six-packs of
Most of my friends were
beer, we finally cursed and kicked the machine into
might wonder where the
Elephant" came from.
No dents or damage
"into" three reelers, stimulators, or pinballs, etc.
life.
They looked down on me for owning such a huge
A real detective story for a couple of amateurs.
(No diagrams or instructions were included.)
prsce of noisy junk., I'd never really talked about
Mine was, of course, still on the truck--a virgin
it with any pride of ownership.
waiting for the first screwdriver to touch it since
1950 or so.
One day I called Bill Harris to place an ad to
sell it.
I tried awkwardly to describe it, and he
finally said, "Oh sure!
phant."
and joy.
You've got a White Ele
What a glorious sight when it finally began to
operate.
The entire machine is boxed in white
What a cruel thing to say of one's pride
5/8 inch plywood, covered by a double-thick plate
It was the first time I had ever heard
of glass, showing stacks of dollars and the entire
the term, but it was sure accurate.
playing field and wheel of roulette.
The numbers
and odds were all there, lit up by a million little
I
never placed the ad.
I figured I'd hide it,
light bulbs in lovely accurate colors on a field of
absorb the loss, and stash it away like you would a
soft green.
black sheep member of the family.
one; 1st, 2nd, 3rd row, three for one; red-black,
Double zero-36 pays thirty six for
odd-even, 1-18, 19-36, two for one; 1-12, 13-24,
Most collectors brag about their good deals.
25-36, three for one.
And under the cool glow
They crow about the "rare, less-than-a-hundred-
of a fluorescent light, the roulette wheel spins
made" machines they've obtained.
silently and steadily.
ing about the White Elephant.
Well, I'm cry
The history I have
of this machine is mostly rumor.
(The steady turn was a real
flaw in the design as it later turns out.)
I am certain
that there are a few people out there who know
the facts, but they are remaining wisely silent.
You select the number or color or odds or row
by turning a large selector knob on the front right
of the machine.
It looks similar to the selector
m on the old Bingo-type pinball machines.
.co knob
m
:
u
Rumor has it that a hundred White
Elephants
Once you select red and put in your quarter, you
m
use
m
d fr in o central
were discovered in a warehouse
Indiana.
cannot select black.
The machine won't let
-
e
e
d
d
a
oa the
A clever collector n bought
lot
for $400 each.
l
c
you cover the field except on 00-36.
It would
r
.a
w
That's a bundle
on a pure speculation.
show no profit. The unusual thing for a machine
Dow of // money
w
: w
Who in their right
of its age is the fact that you can put in up to
http minds would want one? I guess
he knew I was out there, and I'll buy anything. As
45 quarters on every selection except 00-36.
the story goes, he sold many, if not all, at $800
the Elephant does indeed have a good memory.
© The International Arcade Museum
So
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