by Chief Engineer » 05 Aug 2010, 23:53
Wow your going to need a big room with a strong floor to put one of those in. I remember one very well, I used to think there was a method of working out which car was going to win, but of course its was all down to random luck back in the electro/mechanical days.
It was one old penny when I used to play it down at my local Pier. Six cars to chose from, the red car being the most likely to win, but you only doubled your money, the white car had the higher odds of winning more money, but only rarely did it ever win.
When I grew up and ended up working for the same Pier, this was one of many arcade games that grew to old to compete with the video game rush. Its days ended being smashed apart, but I do recall it was a monster of dexion steel, sprockets, chains and grease, over the years of constant summer use the inside was black with grease. Nothing got saved apart from a few relays and some of the round coloured indicator lamps. The cars, track complete with Scalextric scenery with trees, people and stands all got thrown.
It would be nice to think one of these did survive, another machine from the same manufacture and era although slightly smaller, that I have never seen since, had six top hats that raised, you had to guess which one had a large steel ball bearing underneath, same colour combinations of lamps as before, all done by electro magnets and another one I thought I could become rich by working out which hat would be hiding the ball.
CE
