Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #081 - 1981 - November [International Arcade Museum]
S(oi Machines
Letters to the Editor continued
Dear Editor
I have recently acquired my first slot machine — a Mills 5C
Blue Front (Castle Front), two jackpot, serial number 376,588.
The (any) machine is something of a novelty in this area and
receives a lot of attention from friends and neighbors. Here is my
problem. A question frequently asked of me when I am " showing
off' the machine is —"how is the pay-out set?" I have
purchased Richard Bueschel's Coin Slot Guide for the machine
and have tinkered some with the mechanism, but it is not
apparent to me that the pay-out odds can be adjusted or
regulated. Unless I am overlooking something, it appears to me
that the pay-out odds are fixed by the quantity of the various
characters on the reels. Can you comment?
Sincerely,
James L. Cherpes
Dear James,
Good question, and it's justfunny that no one ever asked it
before. You 've stumbled on one ofthe biggest secrets ofthe slot
machine business in the thirties andforties, and later, although
later it was more commonly known.
A fantasy 9n Qames (By
FALLETICH ENT.
9571 GARDEN GROVE BLVD., GARDEN GROVE, CA 92644
(714) 537-7568
You're absolutely right There's no way you can mechanically
alter the payout ofyour Mills MYSTER Y "Blue Front" serial
376,588. The way it pays is the way it was made at thefactory,
and that's it Sure, the old operators bugged their machines and
putplugs on the discs, orjumpers, and then changed the symbol
on the reel — but you could easily spot that unless a goodpatch
or decal was used Or ifthe symbol always jumped to the next
non-payout one. Incidentally, that's where the word "bugging"
PLAY IT
(for doing something illegal) came from.
What really happened was that Mills and Jennings and
AGAIN
Watling and Pace and all the slot makers had standard
SAM'S
SPECIALIZING
IN
SALES AND SERVICE
OF
ANTIQUE
CASH REGISTERS
"payout plans" ranging anywhere from 60% to 85% play.
Various operators told the factory what they wanted, and the
discs and symbol strips were made accordingly. No historian or
collector has yet come up with exactly how many "Loose" (up to
85%) or "Tight" (50% to 65% or so) variations were made by
each producer— maybe some of the restorers and machine
rebuilders know, and ifyou do, share it with our readers — but
usually there were anywhere from 3 to a dozen payout plans
availablefor each model. So what you've got is whatyou've got,
and you can't reset or change the payout rate without bugging.
They're fixed
In later years, after World War 2 and the greaterpopularity
of electrical consoles, the vriations were called "Liberal" (for
high payouts) or "Conservative" (for "tight"payouts) and the
electrical machines had banks ofplug strips that could alter the
payout rates. But not so for the pre-war mechanicals. This
factor ofslot machine marketing was never in the ads or even on
Please send SASE
for parts list:
m: us
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ed
5343 W. Devon
oad .arcade
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Chicago,
60646
Dow / IL
www
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(312) 763-1771
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8-THE COIN SLOT
© The International Arcade Museum
the pre-war order blanks. Later post-war Jennings CLUB
CHIEF and SUN CHIEF models show them on the inside
paper, but they are just about the only mechanical Bells that
ever did.
We'd welcome readers' comments on this too. What can you
tell us? Send some letters in.
Sincerely,
The Editor.
November 1981
http://www.arcade-museum.com/