C.O.C.A. Times

by turning a revolving door to
The Meteor is a mystery - per-
deliver
the coins. This door was
haps one of our members can help
an anti-cheat device to prevent
in the identification of the maker
by Bill Petrochuk
spoonmg.
of this unique coin op item.
The graphics on the glass, lead
The machine can best be de-
scribed as a payout rotary eight jacks machine. It em- one to believe it was made between 1938 and 1949.
ploys some new technology into a very old and well One clue to "who done it" is the denominator symbol
produced coin op machine. Three, four, and five Jacks located on the glass. Though hard to see in the pho-
are very popular machines and some collectors have to, it reads "5c per play." The ¢ symbol is not crossed
multiple examples of the myriad that were produced. with a vertical line. It just appears as the letter "c".
The Fortuna was a revolving Jacks machine first built Mills was the only manufacturer that dropped this fea-
by Charles T. Maley in 1894. Jacks machines have ture during that era. The last slot machines they made
been reproduced many times and are still being repli- with a crossed cent symbol were in the late 30's. Jen-
cated today.
nings, Buckley, Bally, and Watling continued using the
The Meteor is played by inserting a nickel into the crossed ¢ symbol during this period.
coin slide. The energy created by pushing in on the
The mechanism on this machine is quite sophisticat-
slide shoots the previous nickel played into one of eight ed and very well made. The tooling required to produce
pie-shaped chambers or into the cash box via the over- it would have been quite expensive and thus beyond the
flow chute. Inserting the nickel also causes a rotary resources of most of the manufacturers at that time. My
drum to spin. As the drum comes to a stop, eight small guess is that Mills, Jennings or Buckley were the three
gold arrows have a chance of being aligned with a large shops most likely to produce the machine. There are no
red arrow silk screened on the glass top. This arrow identifying marks on the castings or case. The original
states "Player takes Jack when arrows meet." There are lock was missing when the machine was obtained in
62 total stopping points on the rotary drum. Of these, November at the Chicago show. A Mill's or standard
17 result in the coin being diverted to the cash box, with Yale cabinet lock fit perfectly. I first saw this machine
the remaining 45 stopping points pushing the money ( or one identical to it) approximately 15 years ago in
into one of the jackpots. This results in a 27% profit to Chicago. There must be more of these machines out
the operator and a 12% chance for the player to win on there but I don't know anyone who either owns or has
each play. A trap door opens if the arrows align dump- seen one. If you have any more information about The
ing the cash inside down a chute towards a payout cup. Meteor, please send an email to Bill@mebtel.net and
Each of the pie-shaped chambers is capable of holding we will publish it in the COCA Times.
up to 30 nickels. The player would receive his reward
THE METEOR