As I was walking around the Golden Gate Casino at the west
end of Fremont Street in Las Vegas, I happened upon some antique slot machines
that were on display.
These are the original one-armed bandits of the ‘40s and ‘50s,
with slots for pennies and nickels, and for the big-time gamblers, silver
dollars. The payoffs were small by today’s standards, but substantial for the
time. The largest one I saw was $1,000 for three bars.
What a big difference from today’s slot machines. The
antiques played no music, the symbols were actually on real rolls, and you had
to pull the handle to activate it. In fact, the pull was quite hard as the
handle actually worked gears. None of this fake electronic circuit stuff they
use today.
I remember some of these; well, not these really old smaller ones,
but somewhat larger ones that took nickels. The first time I went to Vegas, that’s
what I played – the nickel slots. No quarters for me, I only brought $20 with
me to gamble in the late-‘60s.
Nice display of nostalgia! It brought back memories.
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