C.O.C.A. Times

denominator moved from the answers to the questions.
You were offered a set group of questions, usually
selected by into which slot you deposited your coin.
The possible answers were limited only by the size of
the cardholder and the imagination of the author. The
case theme of the early card machines tended toward
gypsy predictions or astrology. With astrology, you
deposited your coin into the slot of your astrological
sign and received your "star sign" fortune. From the
operator's standpoint, the critical obligation was to see
that the different columns of cards did not run out.
Most of these early vendors had reverse painted glass
that, if broken, would render the machine basically
worthless. I imagine the demeanor of these early
patrons was superior to the average arcade player of
today. None the less, you would not willingly wish to
challenge the temperament of your customers by tak-
ing their money and leaving them empty-handed.
the paint scheme on the case. More than likely, the
game was originally manufactured with a natural oak
wood stained case. Along the way, someone added
this paint scheme known as "Showman's paint." This
is quite typical of British games that have been on the
arcade circuit and is actually quite desirable. The ten-
dency among American collectors is to strip off this
paint to return the machine to its natural wood state. If
the Showman's paint is presentable, I would strongly
recommend that you not do this. The paint is an alter-
ation to be sure but it is evolutionary evidence that
provides valuable information as to the history of your
game.
Card vendors come in many different styles. The most
popular in terms of production numbers were the
countertop-sized machines normally referred to under
the generic phrase "wall games." This refers to the
practice the operators had of screwing these machines
into the wall behind the game. They did this whenev-
er possible for almost all countertop games, whether
they were all wins, fortune tellers or whatever. This
made theft more difficult and most importantly, elimi-
nated the potential for upset of the game when the
front door was opened. Most games had the heavy
mechanism attached to the front door that made them
extremely prone to tip over when the door was opened.
It is easy to tell whether or not your game was once
operated as a wall machine. Open the case; if there are
one or more holes in the back wall of your case, your
game was one!
I have a card teller in my collec-
tion called "Your Horoscope
Delineated" (Photo). In the
style of this genre, you first
select the day of the month you
were born with the slide lever
and then deposit your coin into
the dedicated slot of the month
of your birth. The machine
promises to tell you "How to
love, Who to love, What to
Avoid." Well darn, if I had just
had this machine 30 years earlier, I might well have
avoided my first "practice" marriage and the subse-
quent dispersal of my assets! The premise here is that
your fortune will be specifically tailored to your indi-
vidual birthday. This is strictly nonsense, of course.
All coins fall into a central activating mechanism that
dispenses a card from a single,
central cardholder. Regardless of
which slot you deposit your coin,
you receive the next card in the
stack.
A special area of British coin-
op is the field of automatons,
what the British call "working
models." A sub-set of the
working model is the console
size fortune teller. These are
similar to our "Grandma's
Predictions" or "Princess
Doraldina."
My personal
favorite (and unfortunately not
in my collection) is a teller
made in 1948 by Sidney
Levin, the founder of Modern
Enterprises, Ltd of Fulham,
The cards are "spoof' fortunes so
the joke became evident. Another
feature I would like to point out is
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