@ourlostarcade.bsky.social

@ourlostarcade.bsky.social

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Discovering the arcade's past! A journey through the history of coin-op. Games, jukeboxes, vending, and more from the 1st century to the 20th! Also @playhistory.bsky.social

1937-01 Automatic Age pg 128. Promotional image of what pieces come with the purchase of a Rock-O-Ball machine.
Flyer for Bally's Fun-Phone novelty amusement. https://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/funfone.htm
The two-player gun game Crack Shot by Allied Leisure. https://www.tiltedpinball.com/the-garage/em-arcades/crack-shot/
Shake With Uncle Sam machine in a storage room. https://www.gameroomshow.com/product/penny-arcade-machines/uncle-sam-personality-tester/
A burlap bag featuring the logo of Mills Novelty.
Mills Novelty Penny Arcade brochure, 1905. A sign advertising the Mills Edisonia at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.
1901-04-23 Chicago Tribune pg 3. Herbert Mills and Anthony de Gignac (his father in law) are sentenced to a year in prison on a federal charge of distributing obscene photographs by mail.
1906-01-07 The Inter Ocean pg Sporting 2. Photo of Herbert Mills among a group of Columbia Yacht Club members.
A Mills Novelty Quartoscope photo viewer, with a marquee showing racy photographs. This potentially dates from the period of their run-in with authorities.
1899-10-14 Spokane Chronicle pg 5. Mills Novelty newspaper advertisement showcasing their many machines.
1898 Mills Novelty Catalog pg 5. A photo of the Ewart Building with the letters "Mills Novelty Co. Coin Operating Machines" on the exterior. Likely this was an illustration and Mills never had a sign like this on the outside of the building, of which they were not the only occupants.
1898-01-29 Chicago Tribune pg 4. Illustration of the fire that engulfed the Ewart Building.
1898 Mills Novelty Catalog pg 1. A list of Mills Novelty branch offices on the East and West coasts.
1905-04-29 Billboard. Portrait of Herbert Stephen Mills.
1935-05-02 Chicago Tribune pg 13. Mortimer B. Mills (r) with his wife Kate (nee Fuller) on their 69th wedding anniversary.
1903 Mills Novelty Catalog pg 1. The front of a Mills Novelty catalog, featuring their trademark.
1949-04+05 El Burro Magazine pg 23. A group of men gathered around one playing a pinball machine - the man behind pointing out something on the playfield.
1890-01-19 The Saint Paul Globe pg 9. An illustration of the coin-operated photography device created by Orlando H. Peck and E. G. Fisher in Minneapolis.
Cabinet of the pinball Par Golf by Moorman Game Co. https://www.pinrepair.com/prewar/pargolfmoorman.htm
The Home Run gumball pistol game by Victor Vending. https://www.icollector.com/Coin-operated-baseball-skill-game-w-gumball-vendor-Home-Run-Ball-Gum-1-Cent-mfgd-by-Victor-Vending_i9374211
A 1930s model of a Mills Novelty wallbox phonograph. https://www.jukeboxhistory.info/mills/wallboxes.html
1941-04 Automatic Age pg 16. Full page ad for Tally-Bowl by the Tally-Bowl Mfg Co. of Boston, MA.
A restored cabinet for Rock-Ola's World Series 1937 pitch-and-bat baseball game. https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/230327325_10-rock-ola-1937-world-series-bseball-arcade-machine-las-vegas-nv
1968-10-30 Palo Alto Times pg 15. Rod Geiman and Bill Nutting standing with a Computer Quiz machine.
1968-02-17 Cash Box. Bill Nutting.
1967-07-19 The Orlando Sentinel pg Osceola-Polk 2. A child plays an I.Q. Computer machine in July 1967 in a train depo, where the machine is named and is clearly the Nutting Industries device.
The back of the "Computer Quiz" flyer, circa 1967.
1967-08-26 Cash Box pg 73. Highlights of the incongruent language of the "Computer Quiz" announcement.
1967-08-26 Cash Box pg 73. The confusing announcement for the game Computer Quiz, which is not from Nutting Associates. When sent this article, Gene Wagner, Harold Montgomery, and Dave Nutting all expressed confusion and did not recall ever naming their game Computer Quiz.
1967-07-19 The Orlando Sentinel pg Osceola-Polk 02-2. A child plays on an I.Q. Computer machine.
Image printed in 1968-07-11 Milwaukee Sentinel pg Part 2 6. Gene Wagner, Dave Nutting, and Harold Montgomery demonstrate their quiz game, I.Q. Computer.
1968-10-12 Cash Box pg 81. Richard Ball.
1966-03-09 Montana Kaimin pg 1. Students play a Knowledge Computer at the University of Montana.
1965-02-27 Billboard pg 64. Gene Wagner (second from right) standing in front of a jukebox.
1969-02-01 Cash Box pg 66. Bill Nutting.
David Nutting showing off a creation made at Brooks Stevens Associates, circa 1964.
1969-07-26 Cash Box. Bill Nutting in his office with vintage airplane pictures.
Postcard featuring the Knowledge Computer, c. 1964 from the Alexander Smith Nutting Associates collection at the Strong Museum of Play. https://romchip.org/index.php/romchip-journal/article/view/175
A flyer with a machine titled Computer Quiz - but is not the Nutting Associates Computer Quiz. https://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2026/05/scans-some-very-obscure-arcade-flyers.html
1936-05-10 Chicago Tribune pg Part 2 7.
1936 Processings of the City Council of the City of Chicago pg 1637.
A stand-up model of Perfume Lady by Mills Novelty. https://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/perfume.htm
Rocket Shuffle cabinet restored. Owned by Larry Nelson, posted on the Shuffle Bowler / Ball Bowler / Skeeball Facebook group.
L'Éclair countertop gun game cabinet. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/1930s-leclair-mechanical-coin-op-shooting-arcade--403-c-138422f90f
An old, unrefurbished cabinet of Sea Rescue by Midway. https://www.arcade-museum.com/Arcade/sea-rescue
1976-06 RePlay pg 8. Roger Sharpe demonstrates the game Bank Shot, April 2, 1976. A WNEW news reporter holds a microphone up towards him.
1976-06 RePlay pg 8. The MAA officers responsible for the overturning of the NYC pinball ban alongside New York legislators. (L-R) Irving Holzman, Abraham Beame (NYC Mayor), Sam Schwartz, Benjamin Chicofsky, Eugene Mastropieri (NYC Councilman), and Benjamin Chicofsky.
1961-05 Canadian Vending Magazine pg 61. Two women sit with prepared food trays at a table while a man goes to a hot & cold food vending machine to grab an item.
1937-07-18 The Decatur Daily Review pg Illinois Magazine 3. The assembly line of Bally Manufacturing.
1939-08 Automatic Age pg 55. A photo of Bally pinball tables set up in the International Mutoscope Penny Arcade at the 1939 New York World's Fair.
A Spook Gun cabinet by Bally Mfg. https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/10__Bally_Mfg__Co__Spook_Gun_Arcade_Shooter__-LOT460613.aspx
A Popmaticorn vending machine from 1938. https://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/corn.htm
Flyer front for Flying Circus, available from Phonographic Ruffler & Walker. https://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/flycirc.htm
Flyer for Grand Prix by DuKane Corp. https://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/dgrndprix.htm
1937-10 Coin Machine Review pg 6. Full page color advertisement for Rock-Ola's pitch-and-bat game World Series (1937) and Rock-O-Ball.
A restored cabinet of Sky Fighter by International Mutoscope. https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/lot-281261.aspx
A cabinet for Deluxe Winter Book by H. C. Evans & Co. https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/lot-447832.aspx