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.
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.jpgMetal 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.jpgFrom 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).jpg1956 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.jpgThis 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).JPGA 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.pngQuoted from EJS:Not very exciting…
[quoted image]
It’s impressive that Big Ben was still making money in 1980.
Quoted from EJS:Not very exciting…
[quoted image]
That would be an easy one to forge!
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.
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.
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
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).jpg
IMG_20211226_204749501 (resized).jpg
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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?
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).pngpinside ad for 1960 williams 1960 official baseball https---pinside.com-pinball-market-classifieds-ad-127010 (resized).jpegQuoted 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.
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.
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..
Quoted from dudah:[quoted image]
A portion of a location Contract by a route operator.
This is why many Operator decals state: "Contracted Establishment".
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