The format of the Saxony allwin is simple, and one that survived for half a century. On
insertion of a coin a ball is released ready for play. The player uses a trigger to propel the
ball around the spiral track toward the gallery at the top of the playfield. As stated earlier,
the gallery consists of seven tubes, the two outermost being lose and the five between
them win. If the ball lands in one of the lose tubes, the result is fairly self-evident.
However, if the player gets a winning shot, the payout mechanism is released allowing
the player to turn the payout knob, which will return the player's coin and release the ball
ready for another game.
Now, the above game-play applies to many, indeed most, of the Saxony allwins that
have survived (and they have survived in large numbers - they are certainly not rare), but
it's not necessarily the way they were built. First, they would not have returned the
player's coin, or certainly not the earlier machines at least. As was common with
machines of that era, a check or token would have been paid-out, rather than a coin. It
would also have been common for allwins to be fitted with dual coin entries, to enable
the player to either use coins or replay tokens he had won from the machine.
However, the most significant difference between what became known as 'Allwin
de-luxe' machines, and the way they were actually built, is the reserve ball feature. These
were multi-ball machines, in which balls could be held in 'reserve'. Due to space
limitations, (plus the fact that I do not at present have any pictures), I shall discuss
reserve ball machines at a later date. Suffice to say, due to their longer cycle time, the
majority of these machines were converted to the simpler allwin format at some time
during their working lives.
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