Arcade game THE HUNT

[Retropin]

The internet is a bloody great tool.. i often chat to fellow collectors in USA.. have never met any of them, but we regularly exchange emails etc.
One of these collectors is my friend Michael.. he often digs up some very interesting games.. he loves anything EM - the older the better.
Seems he has stumbled on yet ANOTHER warehouse full of arcade games ( oh we can only dream!)... games have remained in storage for 35 years UNTOUCHED.
This is one of the games he found.. he emialed it to me to see if i could shed some light on it as he cannot find any info at all on the game or the company.

Game is called "THE HUNT" and is made by ACME CONVERSIONS.

Fact that its a conversion suggests WWII game... original game would predate that.
Here are the pics he sent me






















Game is a converted "shuffle" but the way the duck revolve round is taken from a gun game.
The gearing on the ducks is made from wood. Duck feature glass apparently has a "hand painted" look to it.
Game has #1 hand written on the underside.
The legs have "BEAR"written on them
The actual alley for shuffle is timber NOT formica as they became in later years.
Also looking at the plug.. its bakelite with single cable not figure 8.

My guess is an early 40's shuffle conversion prototype that never made it to production. Acme Conversions could well be a derivative of Acme Coin Machine MFG.. although these made 1 game in 1948 called CASBA (  ref pinball Collectors Resource) ... they may well have tried to enter the arcade game industry with conversions.. this was a relatively cheap way to make a game.. and judging by the front cabionet artwork... budget was tight on this game!!

Anyway.. anyone able to shed any light.. please chip in.. othet than that, i figured you all would enjoy a look at this machine...

... and yes..... there are still warehouses ful of games in USA waiting to be discovered

[goodolddays]

Very very interesting find Gav. Thanks for posting this.
I am surprised so see the BG seems to have held up so well over so many years.

Cheers
Dave

[pinnies4me]

I can't imagine what the thrill would be like to uncover a warehouse of arcade/pin stuff.

Thanks for sharing Gav.

[Retropin]

Very very interesting find Gav. Thanks for posting this.
I am surprised so see the BG seems to have held up so well over so many years.

Cheers
Dave

Its an interesting point you make Dave.

I was talking to someone the other day about the logistics of making repro BG's.
general consensus was that the "too hard basket" was prominant. "you should see the technology you need to do this.. machinery is VERY expensive"

I dont agree... yes automated machinery is expensive, but we have to remember tat BG's were all done by hand originally and MANY of those hold up BETTER than repros!

This machine is a prime example... funds were tight on this, paint technology at a minimum.. i mean IT IS BASIC!

And yet it holds up.

My 1950's BG's are predominantly in better shape that many of my 1970's... seems to me that the more technology became involved.. the less reliable the process became.

I often tell my kids just to piss em off that " old ways is best ways".... LOL!!!

So IF Flipperescue end up making repro BG's then they will be hand screened as they should be.

( Thats a BIG IF BTW)

[elkor-alish]

Very cool to see some old arcade history, whether it's pins or not.
I hope he can send you some after pics when he's finished the resto.

[Strangeways]

WOW - That's one beautiful machine. The backglasses are truly excellent. Would not be too hard to get going. That looks to be a Williams gearbox on top of the Duck assembly.

Great find !

[ddstoys]

That's so cool I get excited when I find any machine let alone an old warehouse with old machines luck buggers

[v8racefan]

Wow a warehouse of treasures!!, looks like there's some old cars in there as well, great post Gav, I enjoy these finds

[ktm450]

Great find, looks to be in excellent condition for its age