Coin Slot Magazine - #092 - 1982 - October [International Arcade Museum]
The Mill's"
winners may add two, eight or
twelve to the dial's count (Does this
payout schedule sound familiar,
Q.T. fans?) A winning streak can
thus cause a high reding to ac
cumulate on the dial, with this read
ing corresponding exactly to the
Saga of a
Reel Cutie
By David Saul
David Saul continues his descrip
tion of the Mills' Q.T. family of slot
machines, begun in the September
issue of The Coin Slot.
D fIAL-ing
For Nickels
When there was too much heat
for even the SMOKER to operate
safely, the Mills sales representative,
or "road man," as he was then
called, had yet another option in his
bag of tricka The Q.T.'s baby blue
cousin called the DIAL was really
an honest-togoodness trade stimula
tor, at least in the sense that it did
not have an automatic cash payout.
What it did have was a Q.T. mecha
nism minus the payout slides, but
with a novel feature which, in many
ways, made up for not having them.
In spite of appearances, the DIAL
was as much a gambling machine
as any of its relatives.
Even though payout slides were
missing from the DIAL, its mech
anism retained all the parts needed
number of coins that would be on
hand (not counting what the player
started with) if payout slides were
present and operating. As long as
there is "credit" showing on the dial
from previous "wins," the machine
will not accept new coins. Each play
then subtracts one count from the
dial until all "winnings" are ex
hausted. Whenever the dial indi
cates zero (which, during actual
play, turns out to be quite a bit of the
time), a coin must be inserted for
each new play.
With the DIAL'S unique "account
ing" feature, the machine could be
run very much in the manner of a
regular slot with the location paying
off winners according to the count
showing on the dial after a playing
session. Each time a winner had
been paid, the dial's reading was
reset to zero by turning a special
knob on the machine's back side.
When this was done, an internal
counter kept track of exactly how
much "credit" had been "wiped off"
in this manner. There was even an
internally metered "jackpot" that
could be achieved. Every nickel
was accounted for, and the ma
chine's automatic accounting action
made it easy for the location to be
reimbursed for the exact amounts
that were paid out to winners. And
all of this was forty years before
computers invaded the world of
small business!
and snow.
The DIAL'S reel strips contained
a unique set of symbols. These
were adorned with astronomical
objects, ranging from crescent
moons, stars, and comets, to the
ringed planet Saturn.
To complete the DIAL'S entire
"trip" requires a count of 72 to be
accumulated. Computing an aver
age number of plays needed to ad
vance the count this far is an inter
esting (and somewhat difficult) ex
ercise in higher mathematics of
probability. Suffice it to say here
that reaching a full count of 72
during play would be a very infre
quent occurrence.
Although technically classed asa
trade stimulator, the DIAL was ob-
viosly fitted out to function as a full-
fledged gambling machine. It's in
teresting that a somewhat similar
concept was revived in Jennings'
THE JOKER, which operated with
out either receiving or paying out
coins (see page 130, Volume 2 of
An Illustrated Price Guide to the
100 Most Collectible Slot Machines).
If s unfortunate that some hard
core slot buffs are quick to dismiss
the DIAL as a distant and unimpor
tant relative of the "real" Q.T. family
of gambling machines. Perhaps too
few have taken the time and trouble
to find out what the machine is
really all about. True, it doesn't pay
out automatically, but neither do
some of the richest and hottest pro
gressives in the state of Nevada!
Does this make them less important
among gambling machines? Draw
your own conclusions.
K
to "sense" winning combinations
automatically, each in its proper
amount. Instead of rewarding the
In terms of "worldly" appearances,
the DIAL'S game plan was some
what on the gimmicky side, more
than likely having been designed to
steer attention away from anything
winning player with coins, the DIAL
resembling gambling. For an ele
approaching, the designers at Mills
maintained a running account of
what was won or lost. To accomplish
this, an ingenious mechanism was
included to keep track of winnings.
These were displayed on a large
numerical dial, which of course
ment of perilous adventure, the
DIAL featured an imaginary trip
put their talents to work to bring the
Q.T.'s aesthetics into step with the
changing timea When they finally
got around to it, they really pulled
out all the stops, literally creating a
"sweetheart" of a machine. Their
around the world by airplane, a suit
ably hazardous mode of travel for
seeker of high adventure in the
thirties. A twin-engined aircraft was
depicted on the front casting, and
.com
m
:
u
m
e
d fro de-mus
e
d
gave the machine its
name.
a
nlo DIAL
arca Sup
Here's how
the
works.
.
w
a large disk containing a map of the
o
w
D
w a player hits world
w
pose, for example,
that
rotated as the dial accumu
/
/
tp:
on a winning
that pays
lated "points" for winners. This mo
ht combination
"four." The machine's numerical dial
immediately jumps ahead and adds
four to its previous reading. Other
© The International
October
1982 Arcade Museum
Most
Adorable Cutie
With the decade of the forties fast
creation was dubbed the CHROME
Q.T. When this new model was un
the player's airplane against navi
veiled, the earlier art deco geo
metries had vanished completely,
giving way to graceful, well-rounded
curves. Even the wooden case was
gational hazards such as fog, sleet
redesigned to fit the contours of
tion of the dial supposedly pitted
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