Mechanical Memories Magazine

We gradually learned that there were various ways of winning some play coins,
having graduated from lying flat on the concrete floor and scraping about beneath the
machines with a bamboo stick. The arcade management didn't appreciate the
accumulation of fag packets, cigarette ends and lollypop wrappers suddenly appearing
strewn all over a recently swept floor, so more sophisticated methods were developed.
The oldest gag was 35mm film, a short strip of which could be slipped inside the
coin slide of a pintable and pushed in. The presence of the film acting on the coin
detector allowed the slide full entry to start the game, and of course the film came
back out with the slide. With legalised play, the penny would do the same, the
difference being that the detector would flip the penny down into the coin box. Of
course, this activity became familiar with the arcade staff, who were constantly on the
lookout for shifty local school kids, glancing their way before playing a pintable.
A nice arcade shot, c. late 50s or early 60s. Steer-a-Ball being played in the foreground.
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