Vintage One Arm Bandit Number Two - pays to hunt around!
Well, my house is becoming an amusement arcade with pachislos and now we have two one armed bandits following the purchase of this baby from a local add. Its a late 60's model running on the old 6 pence coin (or 6d) quickly adapted with some spacer washers to run on new 5 pence piece (will also accept US dimes)
Bandits have rocketed in price in the UK, the nostalgia of losing all your money down at the seaside when you were a kid is a big grab for us old enough to remember them. What i have to say, is if you are looking to buy a bandit you dont have to get into a bidding war on ebay, hunt about on local adds through the internet. (that old chestnut by ebayers saying "I dont know much about these machines, not sure if its all there etc" is bull, especially when theres a second bandit to edge of photo and their feedback shows they have sold them before. If this is the case, avoid.
I found this one for sale only 15 miles away on an advert that was one month old. I rang, left a message on the phone and the lady got back to me, so already she had realised that she may not sell it (on ebay she would of done well). This machine was a steal at £50, its all mechanical , electric only for lights, and in perfect operational order following some help from some bandit experts, a tiny screw needed adjusting. On ebay ive seen this going for £250-300 (often been chopped about, the wrong reels, no locks, no keys etc) so it pays to wait if you want one and even more of a buzz when you get one cheap in good order. This machine is a Berkely Light, a british made SEGA (thats right, the same company who made sonic the hegehog) SEGA took over the US company of MILLS and the machines were rebadged by identical to the MILLS machines. MILLS machines cost a fortune in the UK, and the dear old Sega/Berkely is a highly underated machine (coin mech actually far more reliable). So, if you fancy a dip into something different in between playing king camel etc, be brave and buy a mechanical marvel. If you missed my other jubilee bandit, this can be viewed at http://www.cyborg7.com/jubilee/jubilee.wmv Similarly a real steal.
Today ive played 1000 tokens through MUMU World and won nothing, the king camel was equally tight, and my two bandits fleeced me of 200 coins in an hour. I do not have luck on my side!!! If anybody wants more info on bandits, old coins ops, weird and wacky machines then take a look at, www.pennymachines.co.uk Cheers all, malc
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