The Little Stockbroker
By Stuart Searle
Although not the most exciting amusement machine to play, they certainly cannot be
knocked for their Art Deco styling. The Little Stockbroker was patented in 1927 by
George Bradshaw and made/distributed by Coin-Operated Machines Ltd, Charring
Cross, London.
This machine has a pre-determined payout; a strange idea, and in Bradshaw's
own words, "I avoid all elements of chance whatsoever by causing every result to be
pre-determined, but I still retain the necessary attraction produced by one person
pitting himself against another as in such games as bridge, whist and the like." One
wonders what arguments ensued when by reading the wheel the machine would only
payout by inserting the next penny.
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