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Retro Arcade Machines, Polyphons etc.

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Del.Monte
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Retro Arcade Machines, Polyphons etc.

#1

Post by Del.Monte »

Probably due to my misspent youth in the many amusement arcades in 1960s Bray I have always had a fascination for what would these days be described as retro machines. I'm mainly talking about purely mechanical machines with no electrical involvement in their operation. I was lucky enough to own a couple of machines in the 1990s but alas like everything else they were eventually sold to finance 'the stolen railway' - but for legal reasons you'll have to wait for the book to find out more.

Anyway, I digress, back in the 1990's I had the opportunity to visit the wonderful 'Lost Street Museum' in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire where amongst other things was a music shop displaying several magnificent Victorian, German made polyphons - like the one featured in the video below. Completely mechanical, and coin operated the sound quality and amplification is quite amazing, not to mention the wonderful craftsmanship of the cabinets themselves. You can still pick-up these early Hi-Fi units - but expect to pay £10,000+ for one like this. A table top version will set you back c.£1,000+ but they are nothing like as an impressive.



Please start a different thread if you want to talk about the awful electronic arcade games and leave this one for the golden oldies!
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Re: Retro Arcade Machines, Polyphons etc.

#2

Post by 765489 »

Enjoyed that video. Never seen one of them work before.
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Del.Monte
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Re: Retro Arcade Machines, Polyphons etc.

#3

Post by Del.Monte »

Anybody here old enough to remember seeing one of these?

Image

Not far from the scenes of my misspent youth in Bray's amusement arcades stood one of these venerable Victorian machines for printing out a dog tag type metal strip with your name on it. Dating from the late 19th century there was still one in everyday use at Bray station in the 1960s. Built and operated by the British Automatic Company (London) they literally must have been coining it in for years. As I remember it, every child that went near one wanted a tag.

In the 1990's a chance encounter with a man who had been the British Automatic Machine Company's representative in Ireland threw light on the fate of these venerable, indestructible machines. As he explained it, one day a missive from head office advised him to organise the removal of all such machines to the Hammond Lane Iron Foundry for scrapping and this he did with ruthless efficiency. I have no idea where the one pictured here at the Railway Gallery at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum in Cultra, Co.Down about ten years ago escaped from.
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Del.Monte
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Re: Retro Arcade Machines, Polyphons etc.

#4

Post by Del.Monte »

Another of my favourite arcade machines were the Allwins - now used as a generic name used for these simple flick ball machines - which usually paid out winnings in cash. However, there were also machines that paid out in Aero/KIt Kat/Fruit Gums etc. and when you were a regular like me you soon learnt precisely how far to press down on the handle to win nine times out of ten. The result being a bar for half the price that it would cost in a sweet shop but I suspect that they were still highly profitable for the operators due to the bulk of players being hapless hoildaymakers.

Image

Years later I owned one of these machines and remember being amazed at the very sparse interior of the case with the simplest mechanical operation and yet as kids they seemed magical.

Lots more information here: https://penny-arcade.info/
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Re: Retro Arcade Machines, Polyphons etc.

#5

Post by 490808 »

I'm just popping these here as they are so retro, couldn't believe anyone was still making them.

Image

As a kid the mechanisms always fascinated me, big department stores had these on big metal stands and I could be amused for ages pressing the button on the top and watching the disk spin.

Spotted them on Amazon this morning.



Sorry OP going a bit off topic :oops:
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Re: Retro Arcade Machines, Polyphons etc.

#6

Post by Del.Monte »

I remember them from the 1960s and have seen them for sale in Dealz. They were horrible, evil smelling yokes back then but perhaps people have a different use for them now.
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Re: Retro Arcade Machines, Polyphons etc.

#7

Post by 490808 »

I suspect they are available because of the level and tolerance of smoking in China and third world countries?
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