Mechanical Memories Magazine

Out of the Closet
By Martin Larcombe
At last! After many years of denial, side-stepping questions such as "what arrives
every month in that little brown envelope?" I can finally come out in the open and
admit, "I am a slottie!" It seems appropriate just before another MMM auction that I
put to paper my thoughts and experience from last years gathering.
I am afraid I do not seem to have a defining moment from my past where (as
some of you seem to) I became fascinated by mechanical slot machines; I wish I did.
All I can say is for our holidays as children we always went to the seaside: Margate,
Weston-Super-Mare, Bournemouth etc .. and once a year a travelling Fair used to pitch
up on a playing field in our village, directly opposite where we lived.
On entering the penny arcades I would always head straight to the allwins. There
is something about the connection of putting money into a slot and pulling a trigger,
knowing that the pressure you place on the release of that handle determines if you
win or loose. You have control, therefore you can determine the outcome; the cups are
fixed, the circular track is motionless, the only variable is in your level of skill. It is a
challenge. Placing money into a machine with three reels where you pull and wait. ..
just did not do it for me.
So having drifted into my late forties, I did not expect that fascination to be
rejuvenated. But a visit to a pub in Giggleswick, which had a couple of allwins on the
wall, did just that. Of course, I could not resist playing them and on return home
searched the internet to find that not only could you buy these machines but there was
also a dedicated website, and a magazine. So I signed up, subscribed to the magazine
and my brown envelopes started to arrive.
I laid dormant for a couple of years enjoying the articles but not daring to go to
an auction and bid for fear I might buy a 'minger', until finally taking the plunge last
year and booking a hotel well in advance, so the date was fixed.
It is a strange experience going to/meeting a collectable group; you have no idea
what type of people you are about to mix with. Will they all be experts? Will anyone
talk to me, having little knowledge? Will they brush me aside for not knowing the
difference between a Whales and a Bryans?
Well we arrived at a social club where fortunately the fast moving world had
passed it by, sat in the car park for a bit and watched a few people entering. They did
not have two heads or strange clothing; they all seemed quite normal. So we entered
and found ourselves standing in front of a small table with a couple that seemed to be
on the ball. I thrust out my programme and just at that moment a guy came up and said
"Jerry, where do you want to put the bandits?" Finally, without realising, I was in
front of the MMM author who had been sharing his editorials with me for the last few
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