As Friday prog resses, at 10.00 a.m. th e hall s are opened to all ow dealers to set up in the
ma in ha ll and th e annex . With the $50 prev iew ticket, yo u are abl e to enter too and thi s
is w here. may be, j ust maybe, yo u find a treas ure or bargain being unpacked . S lowly,
trad e in th e ca r park ta il s off and focu s moves into the hall s. After looking a round a
littl e, and as empty stands tum into impressive di spl ays, the w hole character of thi s
yea rs show sta1is to beco me c lear. Well , th e first thing to say is that althoug h the sho w
has no t return ed to anythin g quite lik e its heyday, it is still a res pectabl e and very
interestin g show and co in-op mac hines of va ryi ng types and co nditi on are present in
fa ir num be rs. However. the re were noti cea bl e changes, in my v iew, since 200 I .
Now. stri ctl y o ur interest here is a mu sement mac hines, but the show is al so heavil y
re li ant upo n j uk eboxes. genera l antique ad ve 1ii sing and retro Ameri cana dinner/petrol
pu mp/cas h reg ister type dea lers, reco rd dea le rs, plu s dea lers in cas ino c hips, neon sig ns,
tra ffi c li g hts. ju kebox re pa ir. w ind-up g ramo ph ones, chro me plating serv ices, modern
e lectro ni c slo t mac hines (diffe rent sty ling to o ur A WP 's) and pachinko ga mes . So, I' ll
b ri e fl y say a I ittl e abo ut so me of these.
T he ra nge. qu ality and number o f jukeboxes seemed we ll down on previous yea rs.
Perh aps six yea rs o n. thi s is not surp,i sing; there was a huge interest in jukeboxes back
in the la te 90 ' s and dea le rs scoured fa r a nd w ide be fore the shows to a mass stoc ks. So,
may be they j ust cannot now be turned up in the same quantiti es and quality. A lso, w ith
th e adve nt of inte rnet, no doubt many E uropean dea lers have pre-boug ht stoc ks and
me re ly take de li ve ,y at the show . I think it is a lso maybe the case that interest in
j ukeboxes has coo led a littl e. Ce1iainl y the go lden age mac hines no lo nger seem quite
as in vogue. It was a lso nota bl e that V icto 1y G lass (l arge manufac ture r o f repro jukebox
pa11s) d idn "t make an appeara nce thi s time, althoug h there we re o ther jukebox spare
pa11s manu fac turers w ho we re set up . Sadl y, go ne it see ms, are the days w hen a w ho le
array of go ld en age W urlitze r's and ra re mac hines such as AMI doubl e sing ing Towers,
Seeburg Co nce1i and Rock-o la Commandos made regular (i sh) appearances. In fa ct,
so me o f the ju keboxes w hi ch made there way ins ide th e main hall at thi s show wouldn ' t
have fou nd th e ir way pas t the parking lot a few yea rs ago.
Th ere seemed a fa ir range of c lassic Mill s and other 'one aimed bandit' slot
mac hin es , inc luding several tum of the centu,y fl oor standing ' Mill s Ow l' type
mac hin es. Unfo 1iunate ly, these fl oo r mac hines we re generall y aro und the £10,000 plus
b rac ket and so out of my league. There are both o ri g inal and repro 30's 40 ' s sty le s lots
mac hines at th e show, so yo u have to loo k c losely at w hat is before yo u. Vending
mac hines a nd T ra de stimul ato rs still seemed to be well represented and there are so me
stunn ing exa mpl es o f th ese mac hines to be seen. The probl em he re is th at they do not
appea r to have tra nscend ed c ultures in the sa me way as jukeboxes ha ve and it seems to
me that A me rica ns apprec iate th e m fa r mo re than we do. So, muc h as A me ri cans
genera ll y _ju st ca nno t fa th o m o ur love of all wins (John Peterson being a notabl e
ex cepti on here) . A me ri ca n ve nd o rs and trade stimulators just don' t ha ve a grea t
fo ll owing m ·e r here. Thi s is a rea l shame as th ere are so me ve1y interestin g A mei·ica n
ve nd ing mac hines s uch as the Mansfi e ld , M as te rs and the yell ow ename l Zeno w hi ch
are abso lute c lass ics. It seemed to me that, in the case of the main stream trade
stimul ato rs such as pe nn y packs, Imp s etc, even th o ug h they had mo ved up a littl e in
Page 16