Coin Slot
Issue: 1978 April 039 - Page 14
Coin Slot Magazine - #039 - 1978 - April[International Arcade Museum]
By the 1950's most of the ornamental flash that once adorned the
castings of most slot machines had all but disappeared. Whatever the
reason, the more modern slots for the most part looked dull and
plain in comparison to the older artistic creations of the past.
About all that was done during the
1950's to further enhance player appeal
was the electrical "lighting up" of the old
mechanical slots. All this amounted to
was stringing a few light bulbs up inside
the slot machines and plugging them into
the nearest wall outlet.
Of course the O.D. Jennings people
did introduce some factory light-up mod
els during this time.
These were in fact
more eye-appealing than Jennings other
models and did attract more players.
Then there were the console type slots
with the beautifully lit glasses, etc.
The
consoles were produced by most of the
manufacturers. Their massiveness, along
with other factors, may have been an
important factor in spelling the doom for
these magnificent machines.
Combining the idea of electrically
lit three-reelers, along with the lighted
back glass and playing fields of the old
consoles, we come to the modern, sophis
ticated machines of today.
With their
highly lit, beautiful back glasses and multi-play capacity, they stand
proudly as a fine example of many years of evolution.
But back to the 1950's . . . Striving for the ultimate player
appeal, the Nevada Novelty Co. came up with the original idea of
.com
m
:
u
embedded in the figures. They
m chose
use the popular Mills High Top
m
d fro de
-
slots of that era to be de
mounted
on
the figures. Although a few other
a
loa .a in rc figures,
machines were
the High Tops were by far the
n mounted
w
o
w
D
w
most common machine
seen
in
them.
w
://
http
creating a series of hand-carved Western figures with slot machines
The information I have is that they employed a woodcarver by
the name of Frank Polk to do these figures — hence the name "Polk
© The International Arcade Museum
12
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
By the 1950's most of the ornamental flash that once adorned the
castings of most slot machines had all but disappeared. Whatever the
reason, the more modern slots for the most part looked dull and
plain in comparison to the older artistic creations of the past.
About all that was done during the
1950's to further enhance player appeal
was the electrical "lighting up" of the old
mechanical slots. All this amounted to
was stringing a few light bulbs up inside
the slot machines and plugging them into
the nearest wall outlet.
Of course the O.D. Jennings people
did introduce some factory light-up mod
els during this time.
These were in fact
more eye-appealing than Jennings other
models and did attract more players.
Then there were the console type slots
with the beautifully lit glasses, etc.
The
consoles were produced by most of the
manufacturers. Their massiveness, along
with other factors, may have been an
important factor in spelling the doom for
these magnificent machines.
Combining the idea of electrically
lit three-reelers, along with the lighted
back glass and playing fields of the old
consoles, we come to the modern, sophis
ticated machines of today.
With their
highly lit, beautiful back glasses and multi-play capacity, they stand
proudly as a fine example of many years of evolution.
But back to the 1950's . . . Striving for the ultimate player
appeal, the Nevada Novelty Co. came up with the original idea of
.com
m
:
u
embedded in the figures. They
m chose
use the popular Mills High Top
m
d fro de
-
slots of that era to be de
mounted
on
the figures. Although a few other
a
loa .a in rc figures,
machines were
the High Tops were by far the
n mounted
w
o
w
D
w
most common machine
seen
in
them.
w
://
http
creating a series of hand-carved Western figures with slot machines
The information I have is that they employed a woodcarver by
the name of Frank Polk to do these figures — hence the name "Polk
© The International Arcade Museum
12
http://www.arcade-museum.com/
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).