Weird MILLS on Ebay

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malcymal
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Weird MILLS on Ebay

Post by malcymal »

MILLS ONE ARMED BANDIT VINTAGE FRUIT MACHINE

Anybody know what this Mills is all about, it's electro mechanical by the looks of it and has an 'award when lit' light on the area where the glass jackpot should be? Mysterious, can't say I've seen one on ebay before, thanks malc
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JC
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by JC »

I suspect this is a standard Mills Hi-top which has had a light bulb added at some time. As far as I am aware, Mills didn't produce electro-mechanical Hi-Tops, and I have a pound note that says the machine is totally mechanical.

Isn't it strange the vendor hasn't included pictures of the mech?
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by livinginthepast »

In the 1960s many mechanical fruits were fitted with a hidden "progressive" jackpots to get round the law. This consisted of an electro mechanical stepper unit fitted to the machine which allowed the machine to pay out the maximum 10 coins allowed by law for the next ten pulls as long as a certain losing symbol - usually the lemon -did not appear on the win line.
This machine which if I remember correctly was called the Midas Touch used a variation on this theme - overlaid Midas symbols which paid ten coins on the win line. I believe all these conversions were of British manufacture.
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operator bell
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by operator bell »

It is indeed a "time jackpot", which places it in the 1967-1969 period. Either three bars, or some undisclosed but equally unlikely group, will turn it on, and it goes off again either after a time period or, more usually, after a number of plays. Note that you're paying for each bonus play, so even if you hit every time you only win 9 times the number of plays, not 10. The idea came from Bally, who used it on pub machines like the Jolly Joker and Sir Prize. I remember seeing these as late as 1969 but I think they were declared illegal that year, along with predictable hold.
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by livinginthepast »

I think it was the other way around - Bally got the idea from the earlier Mills and Sega conversions via the British distributors. But you are correct that the Bally progressives became illegal at the end of the Sixties. At that time the jackpot was triggered by 777 or bar bar bar, so what did Bally do?
They changed the jackpot to a losing combination - 7 bar bar, or bar 7 7 and it was business as usual!
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by livinginthepast »

It wasn't bar symbols - it was £ symbols.
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john t peterson
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by john t peterson »

You guys are fantastic!
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badpenny
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by badpenny »

A common one was The Red Devil version Made from Sega Hi-tops, same principle..........
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by malcymal »

Anybody going to have a pop at it then?? I'm not, but if it was local I would. Perhaps we should have a whip around out of curiosity to see how the thing ticks inside.
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badpenny
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by badpenny »

Not for me, over the years I've bought three of them (one deliberately, one by error and one in a job lot) and converted them back to purely mechanical operation.

The ones I had were a mess of bolted on micro switches and relays with a solenoid attached to the 10 coin payout finger which had been brutally separated from its pokey bit.
If you can't work out from that how it worked pm me and I'll really confuse you :twisted:
malcymal
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by malcymal »

Badpenny, I will take your word for it. It sounds as if it's a bit like having an old MGB GT with plastic bumpers.
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badpenny
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Re: Weird MILLS on Ebay? anybody know about this one?

Post by badpenny »

No chap much worse than that, we're talking about a slot machine here! :shock:
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treefrog
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Another strange Mills machine

Post by treefrog »

Yet another strange Mills machine WEIRD MILLS 130301440783
Not sure whether this really is one though - the mechanism looks like a combination of an Aristocrat and a Mills machine.... Anyone got a clue to the mystery?
Attachments
!BQ4vt6wCGk~$(KGrHgoOKjIEjlLmYd13BJ7NVEGtGQ~~_1.jpg
!BQ4v2f!BWk~$(KGrHgoOKi8EjlLmY5yVBJ7NVdbPR!~~_1.jpg
malcymal
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Re: Another strange Mills machine

Post by malcymal »

Whatever it is you would be a brave man to take it on......eek.
andy g
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Re: Another strange Mills machine

Post by andy g »

Hi,
Here is another one - slightly different award glass and a different mech.
Attachments
msb0010.jpg
msb0011.jpg
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