@OurLostArcade@mastodon.social
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OurLostArcade

@OurLostArcade@mastodon.social

Discovering the arcade's past!

A journey through the history of coin-op. Games, jukeboxes, vending, and more from the 1st century to the 20th!

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OurLostArcade, to random
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Who’s afraid of the jukebox?

The coin-op industry was incredibly reluctant to accept the term “juke box” when it first took root in the 1940s.

This was mostly due to the first part of that word – let’s have a little etymological discussion.

OurLostArcade, to random
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Bingo Novelty played an important role in the spread of - by ripping someone off.

In 1931, D. Gottlieb & Co. was promised exclusive distribution rights on this early table - until Bingo started making side deals.

Infuriated, David Gottlieb got his company into manufacturing with the redesigned Baffle Ball, creating the first pinball mega-hit.

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https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/bagatelle-baffle-ball-home-game-bagatelle-game-d-gottlieb-co/FgG_8QEBVPUNMw

OurLostArcade, to random
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Video game extra lives come from the feature of add-a-ball.

Created in response to the prohibition on free games starting in the 1930s, Alvin Gottlieb pushed for the creation of Add-A-Ball to drive skilled pinball play.

After being introduced in the table Flipper, it subsequently became a standard industry feature and itself an iconic piece of pinball vernacular.

1960-12-03 Cash Box pg 63
https://everout.com/seattle/locations/add-a-ball/l16895/

OurLostArcade, to InitialD
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Digger machines, precursors to the modern crane game.

These machines were another cultural staple that broke into the mainstream, with many commenting how it seemed you could win just about anything from an digger.

However, this also attracted particular ire from law-makers. Crane machines were targeted in the infamous 1951 "Johnson Act" which prohibited certain coin-op machines from being shuttled across state lines.

1943-02-06 Billboard
https://penny-arcade.info/cranes-diggers

OurLostArcade, to random
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Worthy of a future examination, bumper pool helped make coin-operated billiards a staple in the business.

Combining the fun of mini-golf and pinball into a bar setting, bumper pool raged onto the scene om the 1950s and remained an amusement staple for a few subsequent decades.

1960-10-22 Cash Box pg 81
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/bumper-pool-table-coin-op-chicago-coin-co

OurLostArcade, to InitialD
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Let's spin a tale about an American town, the city of Rochester, New York. (Coincidentally, where the Strong Museum of Play is currently located.)

Peo Manufacturing was offering a game called the Little Whirlwind, right before the dawn of the boom in 1930.

However, despite having a patent on the device, the little countertop machine had a long history. Let's tackle another story.

OurLostArcade, to InitialD
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Where does Duck Hunt come from?

Today we explore the deeply fascinating story of the light gun, one of the defining game types of the

The rise of coin-op's first major device to use electronics remains somewhat enigmatic, but is one of the most important stories in the technological evolution of games.

Lets put the story of Ray-O-Lite in our scopes!

OurLostArcade, to random
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Mills' Panoram was an evolution of the mutoscope format, made for a new projected reality. A mini-movie that could be shown in lobbies.

This one's worth a dive sometime, but there were tons of unique films made for the Panoram, most of them early music videos of a sort.

Have a listen to my favorite, The Preacher and the Bear by The Jubalaries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNzKZ7lJRUc

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OurLostArcade, to InitialD
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How do we research the old and coin-op games?

Let's take a journey into the publications that covered the coin-op industry over the years! From these lifelines, we can learn so much about how the culture of amusement machines affected society across the world.

Ready for a deep dive? Better be!

OurLostArcade,
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The first publication to have a dedicated place for coin-op was Billboard Advertising - later The Billboard, still later Billboard magazine.

The tumultuous ownership turnaround is a story for elsewhere, but the important thing is that when it started, it was what it claimed to be: A billboard for advertising various things.

OurLostArcade,
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Some of these things included ongoing theater shows, contact information for booking agents, amusement park equipment, and eventually the availability to buy coin-operated games.

Billboard was tailored towards businessfolk and the well connected of society. These "trade magazines" tracked business development in entertainment as a whole.

It just so happened that people like theater owners wanted things like coin-operated devices for their lobbies.

OurLostArcade,
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Billboard eventually became famous for the "Hot 100" music charts. This came directly out of their association with coin-op.

Jukeboxes fundamentally changed the music industry in the 1940s. The chart was created to track what records were most popular among jukebox owners, not radio stations or the general public.

This relationship with jukeboxes as the most prominent part of coin-op entertainment remained established until the early 1970s.

OurLostArcade,
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Billboard retained a diminishing coin-op section until about 1970 when they completely axed their coin-op connections in favor of the more prominent record industry.

For almost 50 years it served as the main advertising hub for coin-op devices of all types. Until a new trade took over that role in the 1940s.

OurLostArcade,
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Billboard portrayed itself as an all-around amusement magazine, but The Cash Box - later Cash Box - was specifically dedicated to coin-op.

In fact, it had started as a confidential price list of coin-op machines to keep out of the hands of any non-industry people. They wanted to protect their business from outsiders.

It's a bit unclear when the first issue of The Cash Box was published, but the earliest issues we know of extend back to 1942.

OurLostArcade,
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Cash Box quickly rounded out into a full service magazine with advertising and news stories which were often more specific and extensive than Billboard.

It too was eventually seduced into the world of recorded music. First this was service of the coin-op base. Eventually, as music news took over, it too crowded out coin-op.

OurLostArcade,
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By the end of the 1950s the coin-op section of Cash Box had shrunk to well less than half of the magazine.

It remains a good alternative source to Billboard's coverage in historical terms.

The decision to go away from coin-op also led to the creation of RePlay magazine with Eddie Adlum, but that's outside of the scope we're currently looking at.

OurLostArcade,
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This first solely dedicated coin-op magazine that never lost focus or pretended to be more than it covered was The Automatic Age.

This trade featuring full-color advertising, profiles on all levels of coin-op, and op-eds on the rapidly evolving future of the nascent industry.

Automatic Age was, however, a monthly magazine, which did mean that it missed many of the day to day changes, focusing mostly on new product announcements and big companies.

OurLostArcade,
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But Automatic Age does excellently chart the evolution of pinball, being the chief publication at the height of the craze.

The magazine eventually fell victim to the industry shifts in World War II, leading it to wrap up in 1945.

It remains a vital source for unlocking how the companies that came to dominate the coin-op industry came to be and where their competitors ultimately went.

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OurLostArcade,
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Running concurrently with Automatic Age was The Coin Machine Journal.

The magazine featured mostly the same sort of content, with slightly more advertising and newsflashes than its cousin.

It also lasted much longer, finding a place into the early 1960s. Unfortunately, out collections of this magazine are extremely narrow. We would love to find more.

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OurLostArcade,
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Some of the larger coin-op companies also had their own internal newsletters which would provide some content for the other magazines.

Mills had their house organ Spinning Reels and Bally had Bally-Who, just to be clever.

There were likely others from some of the larger companies, but we've never found any. Keep your eyes peeled!

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OurLostArcade,
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There is another side of coin-op that had its own brand of publications: machines.

Vend: The Machine of Automatic Merchandising was founded as a spin-off of Billboard's coin-op section.

Vending Times joined the fray a decade and a half later.

The former merged into the latter in 1974 and the publication of Vending Times continues to this day!

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OurLostArcade,
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In the 1960s, Vending Times also had a game-focused spin-off called V/T Music & Games which contained some specific focus on amusements.

However, even the Vending Times publication covered all coin-op in its back pages. It too remains an incredibly useful source, so don'[t discount it if you're looking for info!

OurLostArcade,
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There are several coin-op mags we don't have any issues of to examine.

-Pacific Coin Machine Review: A West Coast publication from the 1930s
-American Automatic Merchandiser
-Coinamatic Age
-Launder-matic Age
-**Mass Vending **magazine
-Vending World
-Operator's Automatic Gazette

PLEASE let us know if you find issues of any of these! They are a complete mystery right now!

OurLostArcade, to InitialD
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On the road again!

Driving games are one of the most universally loved concepts.

Coming in all shapes and technologies, racing at high speeds pushed coin-op games to their limits and remained something that people of all backgrounds and ages could approach through every era of arcade history!

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OurLostArcade, to random
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Shuffle Alleys were one of the most popular game types of the 1940s to 1960s.

These simulacra of bowling were technological wonders and incredibly popular attractions for bars and taverns - big as they were.

http://www.pinrepair.com/bowl/
1960-11-26 Cash Box pg 62

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