In the ’50s my father & grandfather came across about a dozen slot machines that had been unearthed from a building excavation in Chicago. Out of the pile, they were able to restore a couple of them.
I remember my grandfather’s at their house in Grand Rapids. It was a nickel based unit and he always had a jar of nickels next to it.
We had a $.25 based machine. When I was a kid, my dad gave me the job of keeping it running. This basically entailed removing jammed coins that one of my older sister’s had forced into it and occasionally oiling things.
Last spring when my mom passed away, I finally took possession of the machine. It had been sitting in storage for about 5 years. It required a deep cleaning, but otherwise is still in great shape.
I present to you an amazing piece of mechanical workmanship, a “1929 Ode D Jennings Dutch Boy Quarter Play slot machine”:
More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ckindel/sets/72157629446309168/
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I have one of these also a matching nickel machine 100% working they are up for sale !
Amazing article Charlie!
I have very similar memories, my father bought somewhere real slot machines and we played them in the garage! We has coins beside each of them and played them many many hours! 😀
They weren´t so old like yours 1929 Ode D Jennings Dutch Boy, but it was old Novomatic slots (http://slotsmax.com/category/free-novomatic-online-slots) like Sizzling Hot http://slotsmax.com/free-sizzling-hot-deluxe-slot-online-88735, Book of Ra http://freeslots77.com/slot-book-of-ra-free-online and awesome Ultra Hot http://freeslots77.com/slot-ultra-hot-free-online.
I was almost a child, but I remeber it like it was yesterday 🙂