The Pinball, Antique Slot Machine and Console Page
| Machine Manuals and Informational Files | The H C Evans Co of Chicago | H C Evans Coin Machines from 1940 catalog |
| LINKS to related sites. | BINGO MACHINE PRICES to the operators back in the '50s. | PHOTO ALBUM of antique machines, punchboards with some United bingo machines. |
| The Hub News Stand--a brief description of a small gambling operation. | Selected coin ads from the March 28, 1931 issue of THE BILLBOARD. | Partial listing of slot machine introduction dates: Bally, Caille, Jennings, Mills, Pace, Watling |
Donald Hooker was the electrical and mechanical genius who designed Bally's bingo pinball machines and the earlier one-ball horserace payout pins of the '40's and '50's. He developed the advancing odds in Citation that did not drop back once attained, a feature brought forward to the bingo pinballs. Don was 85 years old at the time of this interview. Russ Jensen, noted pinball historian, is one of the people conducting the interview.
This is a link to the interview on the Bingo Pinball website. The Don Hooker Interview
Amusement pinball machines were not prevalent in Galveston through my younger years. The City was "wide open" so the gamblingmachines prevailed because of their higher earning capability. Pool tables and amusement machines in clubs and taverns were unknown until crackdown on the gambling machines began in the 50's and 60's. Some ancillary shuffle-type games were popular such as bowlers. The largest aggregate of amusement machines that I can remember was the penny arcade at Houston's Playland Park on South Main (before the time of theme parks). My first visits to the park were during and at the end of WWII. I can remember the Evans Machine Guns so popular at the time. A enemy plane would fly across the backglass somewhat randomly and players attempted to score maximum hits. With successfulhits the screen would flash red. This was typical of many war games featuring submarines, dive bombers, bombardiers, etc. See the Mike Munves Catalog on the Downloads Page for illustrations of other machines of this era.
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Another favorite of mine was a baseball game by Amusematic called Lite League. It was like a pinball in appearance, but the playfield glass was paintedwith illumination from below. The pitcher would wind up, throw, and if my timing was right I hit a home run. Or out. Or bases.I would like to see one of those old machines again -- if anyone has a flyer, please send me a scan of it.
I have collected some machines representative of the machines I played. Being from Galveston, I am primarily interested in gambling pinball machines, antique slot machines and consoles, how they work, pay out percentages, repairing and restoring them. I prefer electromechanical consoles and pinball machines.
Gary Cartwright's book Galveston A History Of The Island provides a more historical account of the city, and he includes several chapters on the Maceo era. He also describes the hurricane of 1900 which devastated the Island killing 6,000 people.
Cartwright's book is available from Amazon and other booksellers.
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The structure over the Gulf as depicted on the book cover above was known as Murdoch's Bath House. The photos were made about 1929. The picture of the viaduct was made from a vantage point on Murdoch's. The viaduct connected to an amusement center called The Crystal Palace which featured, among many concessions, a salt-water swimming pool. Rental swim suits, lockers and showers were available for the many tourists visiting the Island. Six railroads operated passenger service to Galveston and there were many excursion trains. Additionally, there was the Interurban, an electric rail operation from Houston that could run the 50 miles between the cities in 50 minutes. It ran every hour on the hour.
In the '40s and '50s Murdoch's had a bingo parlor, restaurant, curio shops and souvenir stores and the "Bird Cage" which was acircular room filled with slot machines. Accross the Boulevard from Murdoch's were two Sportland arcades, each filled with slots.Two other bingo parlors operated, one on and the other just off the beachfront.
The Beach Amusement Park was also in this area with thrill rides, Ferris Wheel, etc. with an endless loop of Hank Williams background music. The arcade within the park was essentiallyslot machines, but they also used Diggers as slots by filling them with watches, silver dollars, halves, quarters, and of course lots of dimes and nickles.
Among the concessions were a Sit-down Grab ,Wire Joint, Dark Walk, Mirror Maze, Salt-water Taffy, Penny Pitch, Over-Under Seven, Bix Six wheel, Cat Rack or Punk Rack, Spill the Milk, Shooting Gallery, two Set Spindles and two Razzle joints, one on each side of the midway. Many vacations were lost right there. What is a Razzle? It is a flat joint carnival game sometimes called a count store. It could break the Chase-Manhattan bank in less than an hour. See the Evans catalogs in the Download Area for a description of games and shooting galleries. The H C Evans Resoures page discusses some specific Evans games.
This picture of 1909 Galveston shows the Mountain Speedway roller coaster which was on 23rd Street just off the Seawall Boulevard. It was dismantled in 1961.
What is that machine worth today? A record of eBay Auctions, while not complete, gives an indication of current selling prices.
BINGO MACHINES This is a link to the definitive web site. The site is mature containing comprehensive information on bingo pinballs including maintenance and repair. For example, there is a illustrated tutorial on the disassembly of the mixer and spotting unit common to all machines. There are useful recommendations for tools, tips for repair procedures and diagnostic aids.
There is a database of Machines including photographs and/or scanned images of flyers. There are also scans of award cards and instructions which may be downloaded and printed. The database was expanded to include all known manufacturers.
Thanks for visiting.
Comments or criticism? Email Ray in Galveston.
