Cocktail Table

[GORGAR 1]

The original Hankin tables demand a premium price. They are very well made. Sadly, the ones Dad operated in the old days were sent to landfill. I cringe every time I see one on eBay.

I'm not sure if they sell kits, but Gamemasters, Pinball Factory and a couple of others that slip my mind sell machines that might be available as kits ?

Nino I've heard storys of semi's backing up in the tip and dumping 60 cocktails at once  they where easier to chuck than keep i suppose and looking at the wear around the joystick on mine they would have made a ton of money, how many you reckon your dad through out? and on a side note when Space Invaders first come how much money would they have made a week in a good location?
I'm after another and will start looking soon and I love the wear on the control panel its part of the history.

Peter

I remember the first two Space Invaders uprights that went on location in Northcote. They were next to each other, and they were the strangest things I'd ever seen. Then the clones came out - Like "Super Space Stranger". The cocktail tables - I don't think Dad ever had an original table. They were all clones. First ones were woodgrain with black and white CRTs. They had coloured strips on the monitors. They were sent in boxes, that were shipped in containers. There was one container that was full of Space Invaders cocktail tables (clones). These were quickly unpacked and put on site. They only work that was done was the barrel locks were replaced with a universal barrel. Although it sounds like this is a good story, it isn't. For each table put onsite meant that a Pinball was removed. On some locations, there were 5-6 tables installed. Then the next "generation"" was the color CRTs with white woodgrain tables. These were really good. I'd say that there were well over 100 tables operated and I'd say they were earning very well. The good thing about the tables was that the Space Invaders boards were removed and then replaced with Galaxian, then Galaga etc etc.. So their earning capacity was always high. The Hankin style tables were heavy - they originally had Asteroids PCBs in them (still have these boards), but the CRT was massive. So these could be easily converted.

In the storage building, I have boxes of parts. Some of these boxes were the original shipping boxes that the Space Invader clones were shipped in. I will tape a photo and post in this thread. The clone boards are still in storage as well. There are single layer boards and then two level boards with a riser board in between. They still work, but I have no way (or interest) in testing them.

There were 10 cocktails left over from the old days. I sold most of them to AP members. I kept two really nice ones for myself. The last original space Invaders upright I sold to a member here as well.

Where did 90% of these games end up ? In Reservoir landfill.

so in a way, it is a SAD story, but there was no way of telling that amusement machines would one day be collectibles. Heck, my old man was GIVING them away to my school friends. In a way, he probably pioneered the "home" market back in the early 80's.

Cool great story I love hearing the old op stories so they must have been emptying the coin boxes once a week and the op's must have been very wealthy I mean "cash in hand" and no fee to operate these? I remember playing the clones did you dad import and sell games to other operators? oh and did each op have there own turf how was that worked out or was it a gentleman's agreement.

Peter

peter

[Strangeways]

No fees that I recall, other than a license to operate the games and an annual registration sticker for each game operated (1985 onwards). Dad imported his own machines for his own company. Initially, he built coin operated games like Foosball Tables, Bumper Pool and Billiard tables in the late 50's right up to the early 70's. I have one original Bumper Pool, Foosball and Billard table from this period that he restored in the late 90's to keep in the family. He was importing woodrails direct from the USA, and he continued up to 1990 ish. While I was doing my HSC in 1986, we built over 20 cabinets, and he fitted them out with new CRTs and he developed his own " Universal " wiring convention - pre jamma. This meant he would put any gameboard in any cabinet as long as the screen orientation was right.

Operator Turf Wars ? None of that. You had a machine on a location and that was it. Being Italian, he had machines in almost every coffee shop in Melbourne. Especially Bingo machines. Early days he operated machines as far north as Woollengong in NSW. He got sick of traveling so far, so he left a lot of machines up there. There's a few operators / dealers that my old man helped out in the early years. He bought out struggling operators in the 70's.  An interesting fact was he was approached by Zaccaria to be the sole australian distributor. He didn't like the machines, so he rejected the idea and LAI picked it up.

It was VERY cool growing up around the machines. I was chatting to Greg the other day, and he mentioned something to me that I hadn't thought about - "You have pinball literally in your blood. You have always had amusement machines around you". My son is the third generation, and he LOVES pinball. Cool. I do feel lucky, and I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the hobby to lean on.

[Caveoftreasures]

In 1978, at Freddy Fongs Takeaway shop in Reevesby, Sydney, he had 3 x sitdown cocktail cabinets delivered for the small arcade room out back on the same day.
It also had the one x Williams 1978 Phoenix Pinball installed as well. It also, was very busy and got emptied every arvo because it was full. There were always about 20 to 30 kids inside n outside, waiting for games, with 20 peoples names n coins waiting in turn on the cocktail tables and the pinny machine.

 It was packed from 7am til 8pm 7 days a week. Alot of kids would regulary skip school one or two days a week and hang there all day playing the machines n having fun. The chineese owner didnt mind, provided u didnt act like an idiot, keep things quiet, bought his lollies n drinks, and made sure there were never fights over who's turn it was. If anyone started any crap, the bigger kids (14 - 15 yr olds) would play prefect and look after the place. freddy was smart, he gave the bigger kids a can of coke to keep watch and make sure his arcade game was respected and looked after. In 1978, chineese business owners in Sydney were very rare, and this guy I still think to this day, was a very smart friendly man.

 He always gave the kids extra lollies, always happily gave change, and would always pop in and say hello to the kids outback and some times give some of us some extra 20 cent coins to play with cause he was a smart operator. Remembering also, that 20 cents back in that day bought you a chocolate paddle pop icecream, which means the 20 cents back then was worth probably more than a dollar really, pro-rata if not more. (remember how the chocolate paddle pop icecreams used to be much BIGGER, and how piss poor and shrunken they have become today !). Yep, Freddy was making some serious $$ in those days. probably a few grand a week in todays terms. Very successful indeed I would say. !

I remember, the owner Freddy Fong, would have to come out every 4 hours and empty the machines, because every cocktail table was chock o block full of 20 cent coins every 4 hours. I reckon they would have held apx $80 each in coins, cause I remember Freddy would send his wife accross the bank accross the road, and she would always bring back $80 in cash notes for the large bag of 20 cent coins she would take accross. I reckon he was making alot of money from that store, and i say good luck to him for being a smart business man who really looked after the local kids. He was a very popular shop owner. All the adults liked him because he opened early, shut late, and allowed kids in his shop out back for many hours.

Yep, fond memories of Freddy Fongs Takeaway store that I will always remember fondly. I was so glad last year I could buy a 1978 Phoenix Pinball from Blair(Pintoxicated) on the AP forum, That machine brings back the best of childhood memories. Great fun. Great memories. Everyone loves those 1978 sitdown cocktail tables for the same reasons I think.  

[GORGAR 1]

Nice story Brett I grew up in eltham east of Melbourne and used to help the lady carry out the cocktail which had a pheonix game board in it gee I pumped loads of cash into it and now have one, it's an original taito dedicated Phoenix

Peter

[Caveoftreasures]

Yeh Pete, its great that the small things sometimes can be the best way to evoke great memories from when we were kids. I think its terriffic u scored a dedicated cocktail.

Its well worth all the great memories. Its nice to hear similar stories. Makes u feel good on the inside after a long day at work.