The Groetchen IMP is a ball gum vendor. It would vend a ball of gum for each penny played from the port on the lower left of the machine (hard to see in the picture). The gum had to be collected after each play or it was forefeited except for the last play.

The machine was furnished with Cherry Bell Reels, Cigarette Reels or Number Reels. In 1940, a case lot of six Imps sold for $67.50 from the Groetchen Tool Company in Chicago.

An award card just above the reels (missing on this machine) could be flipped over the reels in the event of a raid. The reverse of the award card was made to look like the dial of a small radio. This chameleon feature was useful in a gambling raid. Even if questioned, the machine could be demonstrated to be a vendor with an element of amusement added for the patron. The machine made no direct payout to the player.

This machine has Cigarette Reels and will average three of a kind each 44 cents played. The award was a package of 15-cent cigarettes over the counter.

Interestingly, the Lucky Strike symbols on the reels were green packages. Lucky Strike packages were changed to white about 1942. I can remember the radio ads of the time saying, "Lucky Strike Green has gone to war."