Posted 8 years ago
Deerwiz
(1 item)
Vintage rollerball game.1930's I believe.No info out there on this machine.9'ft. long-hand painted glass.Revoling barrel at end of alley scores an extra 100pts.Hard maple balls.Cloth covered wiring.Found in a barn in northern Ohio.WORKS after many hours of restoration. Any information would be appreciated.Quarter mechanism for play.Patent on that is early 30's
Very Nice Machine! That's the kind of items I like...
Was there a manufactures tag with the Patent date?
If there is a patent number, you can sometimes get results when searching for that. This is the government patent office link.
http://patft.uspto.gov/
It could be 1930's but I am thinking later.. Unless the coin mech had been changed, 50's you started to see the quarter machines, and the wiring was cloth covered..
The 1930's a bit later seen mostly penny or nickle arcade games..
Let me know if you fined out more.. I did some searching came up with nothing like you have.. I am very interested..
Thanks.
Coin mechanism could of been changed. The patent # was from a company in Cleveland I looked up at one time from the 1930's.Or it just could be from the 50's with an old mechanism.Classic machine no matter what year.I've talked with many collectors over the years and no one has seen one like it.
Yes.. Very Classic...
We should talk. I have something very VERY similar (that, after many hours of research, I do know a bit about);
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/186908-194-skee-ball?in=1717
I have a gmail account, and my user name is hottubfool
Made by JAFCO Inc. I found an advertisement from 1946 showing that EXACT backglass, but there's some differences in the overall machine that leads me to believe yours may be the model right before what's shown in the advertisement.
It was made late 1945
I'm assuming you came up with the 1930's from pinrepair.com? I'm pretty sure they're incorrect.
Here's an add of your game announcing it as "the newest innovation", from July 1945;
https://books.google.com/books?id=rhEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT77&dq=%22roll-a-ball%22+jafco&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib-t3My4fNAhVM12MKHZ4MCyw4ChDoAQgzMAY#v=onepage&q=%22roll-a-ball%22%20jafco&f=false
And an interesting public apology for being back logged;
https://books.google.com/books?id=ohEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT71&dq=%22roll+a+ball%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-p97KtofNAhVJ5mMKHTkyDOI4FBDoAQgjMAI#v=onepage&q=%22roll%20a%20ball%22&f=false
And another add from Dec. 1945;
https://books.google.com/books?id=nxgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT131&lpg=PT131&dq=%22roll-a-ball%22+jafco&source=bl&ots=DZ7bs1pPGs&sig=1nnhFt_DsXSLy38pz5sjXKFu2qI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvubzWyofNAhVL9GMKHT51BlYQ6AEILjAI#v=onepage&q=%22roll-a-ball%22%20jafco&f=false
And here's the next generation;
https://books.google.com/books?id=_RkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT140&dq=%22roll+a+ball%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibz5-EtYfNAhVEVWMKHc81CLcQ6AEIMTAE#v=onepage&q=%22roll%20a%20ball%22&f=false
And this (Their date of 1946 is wrong as well..be sure to click the "Goodies" tab);
http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=roll-a-ball&page=detail&id=33696