Mechanical Memories Magazine

The Day of Reckoning arrived. The doorbell rang and Greg, my main UPS man smiled as
he delivered the oversize box. I tore into it and carefully removed my treasure. I could
hear a ball rolling inside the mechanism so I did what any proud owner would do; I
deposited a coin and held my breath as I activated the ball-lift lever. Boink! Something
dropped inside the case. I opened it up and there, lying on the bottom of the case, was a
small blue marble. These games are made to operate on a steel ball bearing. A glass
marble is too light to trigger the inner workings of the game. I replaced the marble with
the correct size bearing and activated the game with another coin. As I raised the ball-lift
lever again, I heard the same sound only louder this time as the steel bearing fell out of
its holder on the way to the top entry hole.
Now would be a good time to explain how this game works. Photo A is the ball lift
arm at rest at the bottom of the arc. You can see the ball resting in its 'carry' position at
the end of the lift arm. Using the 'T' handle on the right side of the front of the game, the
player is able to lift the arm from its full 'down' position to the full 'up' position where
the ball enters the top of the playfield. After a round of the game played, win or lose, the
ball is retained inside the mechanism at a 'gate.' Putting a coin into the coin slot opens
the gate and releases the ball, which rolls down into the carry position at the end of the
lift arm.
Photo A
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