Mechanical Memories Magazine

film. On one occasion we were doing this trick on the attendant's dinner hour. We used
to watch him pushbike up the road at midday, then at about 12.50 one of us would stand
at the door and watch for him pushbiking back down the road. But on this occasion, he
secretly returned early (unbeknown to us) and was stood behind us. Caught red handed!
Which resulted in a clip round the ear, and thrown out yet again. A round to them.
One little trick I learned by chance was on the Duchess (one-armed bandit). Insert
penny in slot with handle pressed down, and with an up and down pull you can trap the
penny in a spot just before it drops down. You then pull the handle, get your go plus
any payout (but keep handle down), then you slowly raise the handle until you hear a
click, then the bandit will play again. You still had to pretend to be putting a penny in
each go. If the attendant approached you, then you just let the handle go fully up, and
the jammed coin would drop for normal play. We never got caught on this particular
trick - we emptied a few Duchesses that summer.
Our final revelation is for Cromptons Cover the Spot. There were about four
sections to one unit. Pennies used to drop into various flat tubes, wins were 2,3,4, and
9d - we were only interested in the 9d (jackpot). By looking through the glass along the
side of the tubes, you could see when the 9d was full. This meant that the next penny in
that nine tube would cover the spot. Hopefully you could drop a penny in and land on
that jackpot tube, which would tip all nine coins into the payout tray below. Great days!
I hope you all enjoyed these true memories of incidents that actually happened, all in
the swinging sixties. Let's not forget some of the other very popular penny machines of
that time: Electrodart, Bradley Challenger, penny pushers, Tooty-Frooty, Win and
Place, The Grand National , Tip-em-Off to name a few. The attendants of that time have
now passed on, and sadly are no longer with us. But these great times happened, and the
memories of those days will live on forever!
Robert Rowland
Just a reminder!
The next issue will be out toward the end of July,
and there will be no magazine in August.
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