Coin Machine Review (& Pacific ...)
Issue: 1948 May - Page 15
New Locations · For
Amusement Machines
by A·RTHURE. YOHALEM
Marketing methods in the amusement ma-
chine field have tended to follow fixed pat-
terns. Back in the 1890's, when penny-in-
the-slot devices were beginning to capture
the fancy and coins of the American pub-
lic, the machines gravitated towards an
arcade group-type of location. Here a
number of penny games could be centrally
serviced and supervised by an attendant,
who also made change. Under this set-up,
coin games were owned by the location,
and few machines were spotted "solo" on
a commission basis at other sites. The
penny arcade, which reached its peak
around 1905, was eclipsed by the rise of
the moving picture but continued to serve
as the major sales ou tlet for game makers.
In the early 1930's, when pin ball ar-
rived from out of nowhere to take the coun-
try by storm, this location-owning pat-
tern was reversed. Operating on nickel
play, individual machines were able to
gross enough to stand alone in such loca-
tions as cigar stores, candy stores, taverns,
etc. But as the novelty of a particular
model soon faded, it was neces,sllry to
regularly substitute new versions of the
machin es which could stimulate renewed
patronage. Location owners were unwill-
ing to purchase games which might lose
their pulling-power before their cost could
be amortized, and this si tuation led to the
rise of modern operators who serviced a
string of sites.
The operator, who owned a number of
games, could shift machines from one spot
to another, rotating his attractions be-
fore their drawing abilities had disappeared.
Because the first pin balls were relatively
cheap affairs, and because the machines
were big money-makers in these early days,
operators often paid locations 50 per cent
of a machine's gross earnings as a com-
mission. But as the games were made
more and more intricate to keep pace with
the public demand for "something new" ,
and as their costs rose with their increased
complexity, the operator found his net in-
come declining. Today, rising costs of
operation and licensing regulations have
limited the number of public locations
where coin games can operate profitably.
With both the operator and the manufac-
turer seeking new outlets for the auto-
matic game, coinmen have been eyeing a
new marketing trend which has bee:l tak-
ing shape in the East. This centerS around
the plan of renting machines to sites which
would not ordinarily utilize the games as
an operator location. This development
has been an offshoot of the music machine
business, which found itself unable to util-
ize outmoded phonographs in commercial
locations. Many an operator has built up
a lucrative trade in renting these machines,
(in which the coin control has been re-
placed by push-button operation) to pri-
vate homes as an entertainment device for
a party.
A fair-sized trade has also been con-
ducted in selling obsolete coin phonos,
(stripped of their coin mechanisms) which
would ordinarily be marketed in export
channels, to home owners. Recently the
Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. ran an ad in th e
New Yorker magazine offering used pho-
nographs for sale, through its distributors,
for "rumpus room" use. Aimed at this new
outlet, the advertising copy read: "Pep
up your parties. Brighten up your recre-
ation room. Step up your fun. Surprise
your friends by having a famous Wurlitzer
Juke Box in your Rumpus Room" .
This promotion in behalf of phonographs
has produced requests for additional me-
chanical amusement equipment, and a lim-
ited trade is currently in progress in the
East in the rental of automatic games,
with and without coin chutes, to home lo-
cations. In most instances, the games are
supplied for an evenin g's use as a party
entertainment feature, and, in other cases,
operators have experim ented with a fi xed
monthly fee plan, whereby games are rent-
ed for rumpus room utilization and replaced
periodically with new versions, so that the
home owner and his guests will not grow
tired of a particular model.
With th e growing popularity of oil burn-
ers and the consequent disappearance of
the cellar coal pile, many a homeowner has
been reconditioning his basemen t. Known
as rumpus rooms, recreation rooms, or just
plain "converted cellars", the prosaic base-
ment has become a playroom, fe aturing
ping-pong, backgammon, and card tables,
and th e automatic amusement machine has
heen added to introdu ce just the right
note of modern novelty. FreqUl!ntly utilized
for informal entertaining, th e rumpus roolD1
locations are being reached by games op-
erators through such mediums as advertis-
ing in neighborhood and suburban news-
papers, and by direct mail solicitations to'
homes in upper-income brackets. Opera.-
tors . experimenting with this type of ren· ·
tal business have been securing substantiaTI
deposits on their equipment, but report.
that the wear-and-tear on the machines'
has been considerably less than the "beat-
ing" given games on public locations.
One firm currently interested in tappin g
new location markets for a coin-actuated:
game is the Telecoin Corp., New ork, dis-·
tributors of Red Ball, a miniature billiard--
type skill device. Played on a table 34 in •.
high, 70 in. long, and 27 in. wide, the'
game is equipped with two cues and seven.
balls. As in pool, the object of the game
is to hit one ball with another, and then '
into a pocket. The corner and side pockets.
are represented by a series of arches, just
large enough to admit the ball into a::
scoring zone, and when the ball is "sunk'"
in an appropriate hole, a score is tallied
electrically in series of 25, 50, and lOOt
points.
Telecoin became interested in the "plus"
or non-standard type of game location for
coin-operated machines when it recently
sold 250 of th e Red Ball machines to th e
Veterans Administration, for use in vets"
hospitals throughout the country. Produc-
ing the game with and without a coin·
chute, this concern has been testing the-
machine in various tryout locations which
included home si tes, fraternal lodges,
union halls, church fairs, garden fetes, and'
events staged to raise funds for pet charity-
projects.
Just how far this rental phase f:Jr the-
amusement machine will extend rcmains to
be seen, but operators would do well to look..
into its possibilitielr in their areas. As one
coinman summed it up: "It's a great mar--
ket for used and rebuilt equipm ent. You
don't need a 'New Look' on games spotted
in these new locations." Many an oper-
ator, bemoaning the lack of locations, may '
yet find a financial bonanza hiding in,
somebody's cellar site.
Vendalls Shipped
to Saudi Arabia
CHICAGO-The Yendall Co. has com-
pleted the shipping of a number of eight
column Vendalls, bases and auxiliary equip-
ment, to Saudi Arabia. Machines were
equipped with National coin selectors for
the 1/2 Rujal which is about the size of
our quarter.
Yendall anticipates additional orders
from Arabia where apparently automatic'
vending is finding a ready acceptance.
DEIIDI.INE EXTENDED 1o .111' IS
FOR THE
1948·49 SOURCE BOOK OF THE COIN MACHINE INDUSTRY
DIRECT,ORY ADVERTISING WORKS FOR YOU THE WHOLE YEAR THROUGHII In the SOURCE
BOOI[ you not only get blanlcet coverage of the entire Coin Machine Induatry but hundreda
of brand new prospects as the result of our national advertising in leading pul>lic:ations. Men
and women W1th money to buy and establish biq routes 01 equipment. 20.000 c:opies will be
printed and circulated during the life 01 this edinon. Advertising rate. are low ,gnd ada may
be spotted adjacent to your. Iree listing for maximum effectiveness. Time is running short ior
the positive deadline is May 15th.
CONTACT NEAREST OmCE TODAYl
DISPLAY RATES
Page (S .. xS .. ) .......... $300.00
112 Page (Zlf2"xS"
or 4 .. xS .. L ...... , .... 160.00
1/4 Page (2 I f2"x4") SS.OO
1/8 Page (2 I f2"x2") 50.00
, COIN MACHINE RE'lIEW
35 East Wacker Drive
illS Venice Boulevard
441 Lexington AveRue
NEW YORK CITY
MAY, 1948
LOS ANGELES
CHICAGO
15
Amusement Machines
by A·RTHURE. YOHALEM
Marketing methods in the amusement ma-
chine field have tended to follow fixed pat-
terns. Back in the 1890's, when penny-in-
the-slot devices were beginning to capture
the fancy and coins of the American pub-
lic, the machines gravitated towards an
arcade group-type of location. Here a
number of penny games could be centrally
serviced and supervised by an attendant,
who also made change. Under this set-up,
coin games were owned by the location,
and few machines were spotted "solo" on
a commission basis at other sites. The
penny arcade, which reached its peak
around 1905, was eclipsed by the rise of
the moving picture but continued to serve
as the major sales ou tlet for game makers.
In the early 1930's, when pin ball ar-
rived from out of nowhere to take the coun-
try by storm, this location-owning pat-
tern was reversed. Operating on nickel
play, individual machines were able to
gross enough to stand alone in such loca-
tions as cigar stores, candy stores, taverns,
etc. But as the novelty of a particular
model soon faded, it was neces,sllry to
regularly substitute new versions of the
machin es which could stimulate renewed
patronage. Location owners were unwill-
ing to purchase games which might lose
their pulling-power before their cost could
be amortized, and this si tuation led to the
rise of modern operators who serviced a
string of sites.
The operator, who owned a number of
games, could shift machines from one spot
to another, rotating his attractions be-
fore their drawing abilities had disappeared.
Because the first pin balls were relatively
cheap affairs, and because the machines
were big money-makers in these early days,
operators often paid locations 50 per cent
of a machine's gross earnings as a com-
mission. But as the games were made
more and more intricate to keep pace with
the public demand for "something new" ,
and as their costs rose with their increased
complexity, the operator found his net in-
come declining. Today, rising costs of
operation and licensing regulations have
limited the number of public locations
where coin games can operate profitably.
With both the operator and the manufac-
turer seeking new outlets for the auto-
matic game, coinmen have been eyeing a
new marketing trend which has bee:l tak-
ing shape in the East. This centerS around
the plan of renting machines to sites which
would not ordinarily utilize the games as
an operator location. This development
has been an offshoot of the music machine
business, which found itself unable to util-
ize outmoded phonographs in commercial
locations. Many an operator has built up
a lucrative trade in renting these machines,
(in which the coin control has been re-
placed by push-button operation) to pri-
vate homes as an entertainment device for
a party.
A fair-sized trade has also been con-
ducted in selling obsolete coin phonos,
(stripped of their coin mechanisms) which
would ordinarily be marketed in export
channels, to home owners. Recently the
Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. ran an ad in th e
New Yorker magazine offering used pho-
nographs for sale, through its distributors,
for "rumpus room" use. Aimed at this new
outlet, the advertising copy read: "Pep
up your parties. Brighten up your recre-
ation room. Step up your fun. Surprise
your friends by having a famous Wurlitzer
Juke Box in your Rumpus Room" .
This promotion in behalf of phonographs
has produced requests for additional me-
chanical amusement equipment, and a lim-
ited trade is currently in progress in the
East in the rental of automatic games,
with and without coin chutes, to home lo-
cations. In most instances, the games are
supplied for an evenin g's use as a party
entertainment feature, and, in other cases,
operators have experim ented with a fi xed
monthly fee plan, whereby games are rent-
ed for rumpus room utilization and replaced
periodically with new versions, so that the
home owner and his guests will not grow
tired of a particular model.
With th e growing popularity of oil burn-
ers and the consequent disappearance of
the cellar coal pile, many a homeowner has
been reconditioning his basemen t. Known
as rumpus rooms, recreation rooms, or just
plain "converted cellars", the prosaic base-
ment has become a playroom, fe aturing
ping-pong, backgammon, and card tables,
and th e automatic amusement machine has
heen added to introdu ce just the right
note of modern novelty. FreqUl!ntly utilized
for informal entertaining, th e rumpus roolD1
locations are being reached by games op-
erators through such mediums as advertis-
ing in neighborhood and suburban news-
papers, and by direct mail solicitations to'
homes in upper-income brackets. Opera.-
tors . experimenting with this type of ren· ·
tal business have been securing substantiaTI
deposits on their equipment, but report.
that the wear-and-tear on the machines'
has been considerably less than the "beat-
ing" given games on public locations.
One firm currently interested in tappin g
new location markets for a coin-actuated:
game is the Telecoin Corp., New ork, dis-·
tributors of Red Ball, a miniature billiard--
type skill device. Played on a table 34 in •.
high, 70 in. long, and 27 in. wide, the'
game is equipped with two cues and seven.
balls. As in pool, the object of the game
is to hit one ball with another, and then '
into a pocket. The corner and side pockets.
are represented by a series of arches, just
large enough to admit the ball into a::
scoring zone, and when the ball is "sunk'"
in an appropriate hole, a score is tallied
electrically in series of 25, 50, and lOOt
points.
Telecoin became interested in the "plus"
or non-standard type of game location for
coin-operated machines when it recently
sold 250 of th e Red Ball machines to th e
Veterans Administration, for use in vets"
hospitals throughout the country. Produc-
ing the game with and without a coin·
chute, this concern has been testing the-
machine in various tryout locations which
included home si tes, fraternal lodges,
union halls, church fairs, garden fetes, and'
events staged to raise funds for pet charity-
projects.
Just how far this rental phase f:Jr the-
amusement machine will extend rcmains to
be seen, but operators would do well to look..
into its possibilitielr in their areas. As one
coinman summed it up: "It's a great mar--
ket for used and rebuilt equipm ent. You
don't need a 'New Look' on games spotted
in these new locations." Many an oper-
ator, bemoaning the lack of locations, may '
yet find a financial bonanza hiding in,
somebody's cellar site.
Vendalls Shipped
to Saudi Arabia
CHICAGO-The Yendall Co. has com-
pleted the shipping of a number of eight
column Vendalls, bases and auxiliary equip-
ment, to Saudi Arabia. Machines were
equipped with National coin selectors for
the 1/2 Rujal which is about the size of
our quarter.
Yendall anticipates additional orders
from Arabia where apparently automatic'
vending is finding a ready acceptance.
DEIIDI.INE EXTENDED 1o .111' IS
FOR THE
1948·49 SOURCE BOOK OF THE COIN MACHINE INDUSTRY
DIRECT,ORY ADVERTISING WORKS FOR YOU THE WHOLE YEAR THROUGHII In the SOURCE
BOOI[ you not only get blanlcet coverage of the entire Coin Machine Induatry but hundreda
of brand new prospects as the result of our national advertising in leading pul>lic:ations. Men
and women W1th money to buy and establish biq routes 01 equipment. 20.000 c:opies will be
printed and circulated during the life 01 this edinon. Advertising rate. are low ,gnd ada may
be spotted adjacent to your. Iree listing for maximum effectiveness. Time is running short ior
the positive deadline is May 15th.
CONTACT NEAREST OmCE TODAYl
DISPLAY RATES
Page (S .. xS .. ) .......... $300.00
112 Page (Zlf2"xS"
or 4 .. xS .. L ...... , .... 160.00
1/4 Page (2 I f2"x4") SS.OO
1/8 Page (2 I f2"x2") 50.00
, COIN MACHINE RE'lIEW
35 East Wacker Drive
illS Venice Boulevard
441 Lexington AveRue
NEW YORK CITY
MAY, 1948
LOS ANGELES
CHICAGO
15
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).