(Topic ID: 257037)

Show us your old operator decals, etc.

By jrpinball

4 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

You

Linked Games

No games have been linked to this topic.

    Topic Gallery

    View topic image gallery

    IMG_0496 (resized).jpeg
    PART_1708208293655 (resized).jpeg
    All-Coin OP Sticker (resized).png
    IMG_0438 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_3902 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_3335 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_3154 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_2496 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_3148 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_5836 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_3346 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_5576 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_8878 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_9715 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_3825 (resized).jpeg
    IMG_3826 (resized).jpeg

    There are 633 posts in this topic. You are on page 9 of 13.
    #401 2 years ago
    20211117_101205 (resized).jpg20211117_101205 (resized).jpg
    #402 2 years ago

    Magnet inside coin door.

    32666DA8-4660-4E9C-89EC-4C7064CE15C7.jpeg32666DA8-4660-4E9C-89EC-4C7064CE15C7.jpeg
    #403 2 years ago

    Just noticed this label on the back door of my World Fair. I guess it was in an air-conditioned site at some point in its life...

    20211119_112418 (resized).jpg20211119_112418 (resized).jpg
    #404 2 years ago
    Quoted from Vintage-Pinball:

    Just noticed this label on the back door of my World Fair. I guess it was in an air-conditioned site at some point in its life...[quoted image]

    Maybe that back door was originally on a North Star or Ice Review.

    #405 2 years ago

    I saw this Western Distributors decal in a 2017 Craigslist ad for a bingo pinball machine. I didn't record the name of the game or the manufacturer. As of 2021, I see no evidence that Western Distributors is still in business. Great decal paying tribute to Seattle's rough and tumble past.

    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/485825878561255457/

    847f08f111a6e3745cdb2ca4fba7f0ab.jpg847f08f111a6e3745cdb2ca4fba7f0ab.jpg
    #406 2 years ago

    Metal tag issued by Oklahoma City to affirm the nickel amusement tax had been paid on this Rock-Ola Deluxe 46 for the period ending April, 1936. Based on the game's 1935 release date, this license tag likely was placed on the game when new. Deluxe 46 is a coin payout game, so it's interesting that the game was qualified to be licensed.

    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/485825878561168756/

    7b6a407505755581693298cd0f886357.jpg7b6a407505755581693298cd0f886357.jpg
    #407 2 years ago

    From a 2017 Dan Morphy auction listing for a 1935 Mills Equity coin payout pinball:

    "A sneaky game produced by Mills Novelty, this pinball game has a hidden payout drawer underneath the front of the machine. Any winnings players earned could be collected by tipping open the small compartment. Another noteworthy feature is that the player gets his money back if he does not get a win after 8 plays. The refinished cabinet is painted an Army drab green and is accented by chromed elements. In working order. Circa 1935. Condition: (Very Good). Dimensions: 40"D x 20"W x 41"T."

    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/485825878561071472/

    3c634998b822e52b0ad3cb4bf8f41192 (resized).jpg3c634998b822e52b0ad3cb4bf8f41192 (resized).jpg
    #408 2 years ago

    1956 Baltimore amusement device tax tag on a 1954 Bally "Hi-Fi" bingo pinball machine. The two tags make me wonder if bingo pinball machines were operated legally in Baltimore in 1956. The tags don't prove it, but they do raise the question. If not, the operator was trying to pass this gambling game off as a novelty pinball machine. The image was posted on eBay 2021-11-12 in a listing for a Hi-Fi with a overall nice backglass at $1,200.

    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/485825878563677320/

    fffb28be220b12e343ad9566eb455618.jpgfffb28be220b12e343ad9566eb455618.jpg
    #409 2 years ago

    On a Chubbie I serviced a few weeks back. It's not an operator decal but a license fee tag for the city of Detroit for the use of an amusement device.

    Screenshot_20211119-201906 (resized).pngScreenshot_20211119-201906 (resized).png
    #410 2 years ago

    On the back of my Wild Kingdom...

    20211120_095257.jpg20211120_095257.jpg
    #411 2 years ago

    Model 443 SpaceLab

    30B2F503-A696-4682-AB5A-D21701A0ECC2 (resized).jpeg30B2F503-A696-4682-AB5A-D21701A0ECC2 (resized).jpeg

    #412 2 years ago

    This was on the back of my Stern Trident I picked up in Naples FL before I restored it. (check out the resto here https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/trident-2020-restoration-)

    IMG_2206 (resized).JPGIMG_2206 (resized).JPG
    #413 2 years ago

    A trifecta of labels on my 1956 Bally Key West. Unfortunately obscured is the silver foil label celebrating Bally's 25th anniversary. Above it is a neat Teamsters' stamp documenting that they got a little taste in 1960. The oval decal is from Dunis Distributing Co. They last time I checked, they were still in business. The Dunis territory was massive, spanning (from memory) Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Denver and Salt Lake City.

    Screen Shot 2021-11-23 at 9.46.15 AM.pngScreen Shot 2021-11-23 at 9.46.15 AM.png
    #414 2 years ago

    Not sure about the Seevend one - it's painted onto the cabinet (grand prix).
    I'd assume so, it's a german version, probably the distributor there?

    20211123_112628 (resized).jpg20211123_112628 (resized).jpg20211123_112743 (resized).jpg20211123_112743 (resized).jpg20211123_112916 (resized).jpg20211123_112916 (resized).jpg
    2 weeks later
    #415 2 years ago

    Not very exciting…

    91DFA0EA-AF6B-415D-9B8C-8847F71BF31C (resized).jpeg91DFA0EA-AF6B-415D-9B8C-8847F71BF31C (resized).jpeg
    #416 2 years ago
    Quoted from EJS:

    Not very exciting…
    [quoted image]

    It’s impressive that Big Ben was still making money in 1980.

    #417 2 years ago
    Quoted from EJS:

    Not very exciting…
    [quoted image]

    That would be an easy one to forge!

    #418 2 years ago
    Quoted from Murphdom:

    It’s impressive that Big Ben was still making money in 1980.

    You're good being able to tell that's a "Big Ben" from what is visible.

    #419 2 years ago
    Quoted from jrpinball:

    You're good being able to tell that's a "Big Ben" from what is visible.

    That’s what I thought too. That or he’s checking the “what machine did you bring home” thread haha.

    #420 2 years ago
    Quoted from EJS:

    That’s what I thought too. That or he’s checking the “what machine did you bring home” thread haha.

    Caught red handed

    3 weeks later
    #421 2 years ago

    Picked up a Skateball last weekend. It has a tax sticker from '88 and a brass numberplate on the side of the backbox. I've never seen a numberplate like that on a pinball machine before. I'm guessing it was added by an operator. The odd thing is the number doesn't match with the serial number or tax number.IMG_20211226_205056845 (resized).jpgIMG_20211226_205056845 (resized).jpg
    IMG_20211226_204749501 (resized).jpgIMG_20211226_204749501 (resized).jpg

    #422 2 years ago

    Bally decal on top apron of Booster pinball machine (1936).

    abe97ea2bc323f34be43de1835bb27bb.jpgabe97ea2bc323f34be43de1835bb27bb.jpg
    #423 2 years ago
    Quoted from ScottThePhotog:

    Picked up a Skateball last weekend. It has a tax sticker from '88 and a brass numberplate on the side of the backbox. I've never seen a numberplate like that on a pinball machine before. I'm guessing it was added by an operator. The odd thing is the number doesn't match with the serial number or tax number.[quoted image]
    [quoted image]

    I'm guessing the brass tag on the head is the operator's inventory number for this game.

    1 week later
    #424 2 years ago

    I’ve got this one:

    60DC8794-E98C-4621-A318-65029EFEFD09 (resized).jpeg60DC8794-E98C-4621-A318-65029EFEFD09 (resized).jpeg
    #425 2 years ago

    Add this really old one:

    image (resized).jpgimage (resized).jpg

    #426 2 years ago

    old machine number
    no idea what it means

    operator (resized).jpgoperator (resized).jpg
    #427 2 years ago

    Newfoundland Operator Sticker

    IMG_0296 (resized).JPGIMG_0296 (resized).JPG
    10
    #428 2 years ago
    Quoted from BlackCatBone:

    1956 Baltimore amusement device tax tag on a 1954 Bally "Hi-Fi" bingo pinball machine. The two tags make me wonder if bingo pinball machines were operated legally in Baltimore in 1956. The tags don't prove it, but they do raise the question. If not, the operator was trying to pass this gambling game off as a novelty pinball machine. The image was posted on eBay 2021-11-12 in a listing for a Hi-Fi with a overall nice backglass at $1,200.
    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/485825878563677320/
    [quoted image]

    They were legal to operate, but it illegal to pay out on. My grandparents both got arrested at their bar for paying out on a Bally orient machine back in the day lol.

    The law in Maryland said that Bally and United could not legally ship a game with the same serial numbers on the cabinet and parts through state lines (like a location ready game in a box on a pallet). So what Bally would do was they would ship parts to like eight different places in the city of Baltimore. My dad and my grandfather used to go around in a truck and pick up all of the parts with all the different serial numbers, take the parts back to my grandparents house, and assemble the bingo machines and put them on location.

    #429 2 years ago

    grand papa was a regular Al Capone in the days ! cool story

    #430 2 years ago
    Quoted from Guidotorpedo:

    They were legal to operate, but it illegal to pay out on. My grandparents both got arrested at their bar for paying out on a Bally orient machine back in the day lol.
    The law in Maryland said that Bally and United could not legally ship a game with the same serial numbers on the cabinet and parts through state lines (like a location ready game in a box on a pallet). So what Bally would do was they would ship parts to like eight different places in the city of Baltimore. My dad and my grandfather used to go around in a truck and pick up all of the parts with all the different serial numbers, take the parts back to my grandparents house, and assemble the bingo machines and put them on location.

    A very cool piece of history. Thanks for sharing it.

    #431 2 years ago

    My Fish Tales was re-imported back from Europe long before I got it. The arcade sticker was on the left side by the pelican head.

    20180720_174613 (resized).jpg20180720_174613 (resized).jpg
    #432 2 years ago

    Not an operator tag, but a tag from a long gone pawn shop that was on a Pop-a-Card I worked on recently.

    92A7F8BB-FB24-4144-943B-48A26A04FBFC (resized).jpeg92A7F8BB-FB24-4144-943B-48A26A04FBFC (resized).jpeg
    #433 2 years ago
    Quoted from Guidotorpedo:

    They were legal to operate, but it illegal to pay out on. My grandparents both got arrested at their bar for paying out on a Bally orient machine back in the day lol.
    The law in Maryland said that Bally and United could not legally ship a game with the same serial numbers on the cabinet and parts through state lines (like a location ready game in a box on a pallet). So what Bally would do was they would ship parts to like eight different places in the city of Baltimore. My dad and my grandfather used to go around in a truck and pick up all of the parts with all the different serial numbers, take the parts back to my grandparents house, and assemble the bingo machines and put them on location.

    Even back then Balto governing body a bunch of dopes... that unfortunately continues to this day. LOL

    #434 2 years ago
    Quoted from Dono:

    Even back then Balto governing body a bunch of dopes... that unfortunately continues to this day. LOL

    True. Maryland sucks. The amount of crap and taxes required just to put a pacman in a pizza shop is ridiculous. They enforce it too. There are like 2 big vending companies left, and that’s pretty much it.

    #435 2 years ago
    Quoted from luch:

    grand papa was a regular Al Capone in the days ! cool story

    He was the nicest guy you’d ever meet. War vet, busted his ass around all the asbestos at Beth Steel, saved up enough money to open a bar and make a better life for his family. Retired in his late 50’s and made rosaries for all the local churches..... When he died, he left my grandma in a spot where she didn’t have to work for the rest of her life... she would just wake up at 530 and cook pasta for no reason. That’s why I was a fat kid lol.

    He was just a regular blue collar dude that appreciated life. Thanks for making me think of them today.

    Mike

    #436 2 years ago

    Italian background ?

    #437 2 years ago
    Quoted from Guidotorpedo:

    They were legal to operate, but it illegal to pay out on. My grandparents both got arrested at their bar for paying out on a Bally orient machine back in the day lol.
    The law in Maryland said that Bally and United could not legally ship a game with the same serial numbers on the cabinet and parts through state lines (like a location ready game in a box on a pallet). So what Bally would do was they would ship parts to like eight different places in the city of Baltimore. My dad and my grandfather used to go around in a truck and pick up all of the parts with all the different serial numbers, take the parts back to my grandparents house, and assemble the bingo machines and put them on location.

    Badass grandparents!!!
    Didn’t let THE MAN keep them down!
    That’s genuinely awesome

    #438 2 years ago

    This post has nothing to do with operator decals, but that last couple of stories reminded me of this story.

    I was maybe about 5 or 6 years old, and my parents (both teachers) were going to “summer” school in Aberdeen S.D. My Dad was getting his masters in teaching and my Mom was finishing up her 4 yr B.A. in teaching, at Northern College. While going to school, my dad also worked a part time job during the summer, as a teacher’s salaries in the Dakotas were pretty paltry. He worked as a bartender at a place called the Star Tavern, owned by a fella name Milo Hagen. On rare occasion, especially if mom had classes and dad was scheduled to work that afternoon, he would bring me along to work. He would proceed to plop me down on a bar stool in front of a row of 3 or 4 pinball machines, with an ashtray full of nickels, to keep me occupied for however long need be, in order to take care of other patrons.
    My dad would tell me years later, after he realized that I was heavy into the hobby, a story about Milo and his coin-op operations at the bar. It seems that Milo also used to operate bingos at his bar. While bingos were legal in the state and county, they were illegal within city limits. My dad tells me that the revenue from the bingos oft times surpassed the tavern’s cash intake from alcohol sales. Back in the day, hard-working fellas would end up spending a good portion of their salary trying to manipulate those silverballs into the proper holes, hoping for a big bingo payout from the bartender, to knockoff any extra credits won. After a while the wives got wind of these “shenanigans”, and grew tired of their hubbies coming home with empty pockets, and took their complaints to civic authorities, who eventually did a “Mayor LaGuardia” on Milo’s bingo operations. My dad also told me about another bingo story, that happened a few years before the shutdown. Apparently, there was one young (but of age) guy that frequented the bar to play the bingo machines and he was pretty good. So good that he was starting to eat into Milo’s profit margin. So, Milo, after having grown tired of having to pay off too many credits this guy tended to build up, decided one day when the fella in question came back into the bar, confronted him, gave him a $20 bill and told him to get the hell out, and never come back and go play somewhere else.

    #439 2 years ago

    Amazing how guys could blow their entire paycheck a nickel at a time!

    Quoted from pinwiztom:

    Apparently, there was one young (but of age) guy that frequented the bar to play the bingo machines and he was pretty good. So good that he was starting to eat into Milo’s profit margin. So, Milo, after having grown tired of having to pay off too many credits this guy tended to build up, decided one day when the fella in question came back into the bar, confronted him, gave him a $20 bill and told him to get the hell out, and never come back and go play somewhere else.

    Was his name Vic, by any chance?

    2 weeks later
    #440 2 years ago

    Someone was operating a nickel game as late as 1968? Not in my town. From a marketplace ad for a 1960 Williams Official Baseball pitch and bat, although it looks more like a Gottlieb game to me.

    pasted_image (resized).pngpasted_image (resized).pngpinside ad for 1960 williams 1960 official baseball https---pinside.com-pinball-market-classifieds-ad-127010 (resized).jpegpinside ad for 1960 williams 1960 official baseball https---pinside.com-pinball-market-classifieds-ad-127010 (resized).jpeg
    #441 2 years ago
    Quoted from pinwiztom:

    While bingos were legal in the state and county, they were illegal within city limits.

    Although illegal in N.Y.S., an old time Vendor once told me the Bingo days is
    when Coin Op was booming (profit wise) the most..

    Quoted from BlackCatBone:

    Someone was operating a nickel game as late as 1968?

    A little off topic, but a couple weeks ago I was at a birthday party at an American
    Legion out in the Country and the Pool Table was a quarter a game.

    #442 2 years ago
    Quoted from BlackCatBone:

    Someone was operating a nickel game as late as 1968? Not in my town. From a marketplace ad for a 1960 Williams Official Baseball pitch and bat, although it looks more like a Gottlieb game to me.
    [quoted image][quoted image]

    Most likely: 2 Nickels, 1 Play.

    #443 2 years ago

    In the 90s, there was a Skill Roll in a popular bar the next town over. It was in
    there forever. Nothing on it was changed. Still a nickle a game..

    #444 2 years ago

    This is from the TAF I bought in 2005 right before restoring the game It had 21,450 plays by the audits but that went back to like 1998 so who knows what it made when it first came out. I kept all the operator stickers I found, will try to find more pictures.

    014 (resized).JPG014 (resized).JPG
    2 weeks later
    #445 2 years ago
    04271A5C-1AD7-4B3B-902C-2C6D6C5BEC37 (resized).jpeg04271A5C-1AD7-4B3B-902C-2C6D6C5BEC37 (resized).jpeg
    #446 2 years ago
    Quoted from dudah:

    [quoted image]

    A portion of a location Contract by a route operator.

    This is why many Operator decals state: "Contracted Establishment".

    Ugd853wrsofyo6f (resized).jpgUgd853wrsofyo6f (resized).jpg
    #447 2 years ago

    Just saw this one on a FB ad for a 1948 Paradise from United.

    274626359_10224230702089111_242907512676491771_n.jpg274626359_10224230702089111_242907512676491771_n.jpg

    #448 2 years ago

    Of course they put it over the Bally logo.

    A6B7D0F9-8362-4AFB-893C-FC31D26D37C6 (resized).jpegA6B7D0F9-8362-4AFB-893C-FC31D26D37C6 (resized).jpeg
    1 week later
    #449 2 years ago
    1F6D3758-24A1-4C3F-9272-8C280B4855E2 (resized).jpeg1F6D3758-24A1-4C3F-9272-8C280B4855E2 (resized).jpeg
    #450 2 years ago
    E4C19991-59B0-404A-83AD-1750A3ECF883 (resized).jpegE4C19991-59B0-404A-83AD-1750A3ECF883 (resized).jpeg
    There are 633 posts in this topic. You are on page 9 of 13.

    Reply

    Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

    Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

    Donate to Pinside

    Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


    This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/show-us-your-old-operator-decals-etc/page/9 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

    Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.