Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #008 - 1975 - April [International Arcade Museum]
j THE COIN SLOT
APRIL/MAY
1975 |
INTRODUCTION, AND CREDO
This is the first issue of the New, Super, Improved '75 (or any of the
other expletives so often used by the Coin Machine Industry) THE COIN
SLOT. It looks different because it has changed. Not the basic concept,
mind you — but in execution. After a harried year of creating and pro
ducing the first "Fanzine" in a field that had long needed one, Les Druyan
and his strong right hand Edith Druyan, faced the fact that they had to
lfbite the nickel". They had filled an enormous void with the creation of
THE COIN SLOT, but they had also created a monster. Les and Edith
are both very busy people, and soon found that THE COIN SLOT was
creeping into their lives to such a degree that they felt they could not
continue to do justice to a property that had so overwhelmingly been
accepted.
It takes a lot of time and energy — and a lot of your own money — to pub
lish a Fanzine for a field that needs the care and attention of someone who
is really interested in what is published, and wants to be sure that a ser
vice is offered to readers. The Druyan's, rightly, decided that THE COIN
SLOT was a responsibility, and should be dedicated to the coin-operated
machine enthusiast without stint. They knew that they could not continue
to provide this effort, and reluctantly came to the conclusion that they
should transfer the publication to someone who could.
They found me I
My name is John W. Caler, and my business is John W. Caler Publica
tions Corporation, a publisher of technical books and publications, loca
ted in Sun Valley, California. I found Les Druyan the same way most of
you did — by reading one of his advertisements in the antique and trading
publications. I, too, felt as many of the readers of THE COIN SLOT did;
"thank goodness, somebody is at last putting out a publication that exac
tly matches my interests". At that time I had no idea that I might some
day inherit the responsibility of the publication. Now that I have, and am
learning how much effort and dedication the Druyan's brought to the field,
I want to thank them for myself, and"for all coin slot collectors and enthu
siasts, for their pioneering work.
I would like to tell you some of my plans for the new THE COIN SLOT.
Frankly, they're not my plans... • they're yours. The field of coin-opera
ted machines is so broad, and so new (we are just now coming up with the
historians and catalogers needed to identify the disciplines in the field) it
is rash to think that any dictated editorial direction would serve the inter
ests of all the readers of THE COIN SLOT. The areas of coin operated
scales, vending machines, gum ball machines, gaming machines and ar
cade machines are well known to the enthusiast, but we've got to go behind
that shield of classification to get to the meat of the matter. What about
com
.
m
:
seu with the early examples show
scales ? Literally, they almost
first,
u
from came
m
d
-
e
e
ing up in American hotels
places in the 1870's and 1880's, im
d and ca watering
loa There
ported from Europe.
r is a d whole major history to be unearthed here,
n
a
.
w
Do that // scales
up to the time
www throughout the world were virtually all of Ameri
:
can manufacture.
p
htt
What about vending machines ? There are early American patents, and
even working examples, from the 1830's and 1840's in the hands of some
collectors. And when you get up to the cigar, gum, cigarette and dozens
of other things that have been vended over the years you can quickly see
that here too is a fertile field for exploration. Then come the Queens and
© The International Arcade Museum
http://www.arcade-museum.com/