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Penny Pushers In 1963, the first of a completely new breed of slot machine appeared in British arcades. Wheel A Win by Crompton Amusement Machines Ltd., of Ramsgate, echoed the name of Streets' penny rolling Wheel 'Em In, but more closely resembled Walton's Rotary Merchandiser. Simpler in concept than either, it required no technical breakthrough - the mystery is that it was so long in arriving. It consisted of a large floor-standing machine with stations for eight players to roll coins onto a table. Rotating sweeper arms pushed accumulated coins off the edges to the players, or down the losing holes in the table. Expecting a one-season wonder at most, Cromptons filed no patent. In its improved 1964 guise as Penny Falls it was widely copied and over forty years later, together with the one arm bandit and the crane, has survived the test of time. It is one of the few British games to export successfully to America. |
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Dark wood-effect plastic-laminated block board case. Two coin slots direct coins (via a simple throw-out for undersize coins) towards the right or left of a vertical field of pins. The playfield, below, slopes upwards towards the player, and is divided by red and green Perspex strips. These form nine separate channels, along which rotating red and blue tentacles push the coins. |
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Text. Click image to enlarge |
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Dennis Jezzard |
Alfred Crompton Ltd. Click image to enlarge |
