Coin Slot Magazine - #070 - 1980 - December [International Arcade Museum]
Original List of 100 Coin Slot Guides
Increased To 200
Coin Slot Guide Project Doubled
When Vestal
Press publisher Harvey Roehl of
Binghampton, New York, was first informed of the Coin
Slot Guide series in thesummerof 1979, and was provided
with copies of the first six guides, he called the effort an
"ambitious project". Dan Mead, the publisher of LOOSE
CHANGE, has a similar comment in his marvelous and
exceedingly thorough reviews of the first two dozen
guides in his August 1980 issue. He called the project an
"enormous undertaking". Indeed it is!
The Coin Slot Guide series was the brainstorm of Coin
Slot publisher Bill Harris and has been made possible by
the diligent effort and enormous "slot machine paper"
collection of collector/historian/author Dick Bueschel,
backed up by the unstinting support of a multitude of coin
machine collectors across the country and in Europe. Dick
as durable as the machines themselves, and only a few
have survived the years. This makes maintenance,
restoration and historical enjoyment a difficult task.
"The Coin Slot Guides have been created to fill this
gap. Each guide includes a history of the machine or line
of machines featured that has been researched and
verified by author Dick Bueschel, plus an invaluable
maintenance and repair manual. The latter is either a
reprint of the actual machine manual, or the recreation
of a model machine manual based on original material
such as manufacturers' literature, advertising, patents,
instruction sheets or whatever else may be available
from the personal slot machine paper collection of
author Dick Bueschel. Each guide is also liberally
illustrated with photographs, original artwork and other
had originally created a small booklet entitled "Classic
Slot Machines: The Mills BLACK CHERRYand JEWEL" as
a combination history and maintenance manual for these
important Mills Bells. The idea was to produce a dozen or
so such booklets for the enjoyment of collectors, coin
machine historians and restorers with the list covering the
machines in most collections. When the booklet was
offered to publisher Bill Harris the comeback was "Can
you do a hundred different ones' of these?" Bueschel
replied, "Sure, why not?"
The Coin Slot Guide series was born in that instant. But
it didn't come off anywhere near as rapidly. Fast answers
have a way of leading to long, hard work. That's what came
next, with author Bueschel later telling your editor, "If I'd
had any idea what this whole thing would lead to I'd have
running trim, or seek information in both areas, you'll
find what you want in the Coin Slot Guides."
It is in meeting this concept that the Coin Slot Guides
are unique among the literature offerings in the field of
working mechanical antiques. Manuals and parts lists had
been reprinted in the past, but they lacked the historical
perspective. Books about coin machine collectibles and
price guides have been and are being published, but they
lack the mechanical and maintenance data that is both
interesting and often necessary to the coin machine
collector, dealer, historian and restorer. The Coin Slot
Guides, in a modest-cost, mini-size format, provide this
kept my damn mouth shut." But it was too late by that
point, and the guide series was off and running with the
publication of "Coin Slot Guide No. 1: Guide to the Mills
BLACK CHERRY, GOLDEN FALLS and JEWEL" in May,
1979. By October 1979 the first six guides had been
published and were put on sale at the LOOSE CHANGE
FUN FAIR in Los Angeles with the ink still wet on Guide
No. 9 for the Watling ROL-A-TOP and TREASURY.
The start was slow at the beginning of that three-day
show with initial buyers thinking they were buying manual
reprints. But once the buyers caught on, and copies of the
guides were shown around the exhibit floor, the sales took
off. There is a very simple reason for this. The guides are
not merely manual reprints and, in fact, there are a
considerable number of guides for which original machine
manuals were never produced. The content of a Coin Slot
Guide goes well beyond the nuts-and-bolts of a coin
machine maintenance and repair manual. Author
Bueschel has literally poured his entire paper collection
into this project, as well as his historical knowledge of
each machine covered. That brings the readerof any Coin
Slot Guide right up to Bueschel's knowledge level for that
machine and literally makes all of us experts in the origin,
development, models and mechanisms of each machine
covered in the series.
The concept is clearly stated in the inside front cover of
com
.
m
eu
m: us
o
r
f
m
d
ade rcade-
each Coin Slot lo
Guide:
n
.a
"Collectors
of antique slot machines
w restorers
Dow //w and
w
face problems
unique
to
their
interest. While most
:
antique
http collectors solely enjoy the history and
appearance of their collectibles, slot machine collectors
also want their machines to work. Unfortunately, the
printed histories and manuals for the machines were not
© The International Arcade Museum
DECEMBER, 1980
mechanical and historical material to help you enjoy
your machine to the fullest. Whether you are interested
in slot machine history, want to keep your machine in
data by coin machine classes and by individual models or
lines.
The format, once established, has been singularly
successful and helpful to the collectors. Three-and four-
reel Bell machines, ancient and fairly modern, are includ
ed in the "Blue Series", with 39 titles in the initial series of
100 guides. Consoles, both all-electrical and Bell-Console
or Console-Bell types, are carried in the "Green Series",
with 13 titles in the original list. Other unique forms of
automatic payout slot machines, generally classified as
"Specialty Slot Machines" are in the "Purple Series" with
12 original titles. The final classification for payout slot
machines is that of the tum-of-the-Century floor
machines, with 10 titles listed in the original "Brown
Series". Trade stimulators, those clever and generally (but
not always) smaller coin machines that do not have
automatic payout systems but often feature intriguing
working display and unique playing principles, have 24
titles in the original "Red Series". The final classification in
the first go-around is that of the Arcade "Gray Series"
machines, with two on the original-list, making an even
hundred.
While that first guide No. 1 for the Mills BLACK CHERRY
carries a printing date of May 1979, its actual selling date
was later with the first copies not available until July 1979.
By the October LOOSE CHANGE FUN FAIR guides
numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9 were being offered with some
concern expressed as to the printing schedule which was
immediately recognized as dependent upon the reception
to the guides. Those first guide volumes only carried a list
of 50 proposed guides with mention of 50 more to come.
Within days of the initial sales offering, requests came in
Continued on page 42
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
THE COIN SLOT - 39