While I was going through some mostly-local classifieds listings I came across an older SEGA slot machine. It appears to be a Sega Bell slot machine, but the one documented on the Wiki has a red color scheme while this one has has a green and gold one. Between the Sega Retro article and a quick google search, it appears that there are four known variants - Types A through D - and only Types A and D have a color picture. Adding to this, they're both using a different color scheme. I have neither the funds to purchase this machine nor to make the trip to pick it up at this time, but does anyone have any additional information about this unit? Edit: On looking at the pictures more closely I'm reasonably certain that it's a Type D with different colors
I don't trust our coverage of these slot machines much. I used to, but then I went looking for specific models and struggled out of the starting gate. Truth is, when you look at Early Sega slot machines, all the pictures are illustrations, and the illustrations... don't tend to match their real-life counterparts. Also Sega made bespoke machines (and repaints aren't uncommon). Also Sega rennovated earlier Mills machines so you get hybrids. Also you get conversions for other markets, e.g. ones set up to use old English pence (or tokens), so the style changes again. And it's things like, a couple of months ago I came across a "Copper Star"... and it's not documented anywhere. So yes the whole thing needs a good look through. It can be documented properly but it's not a simple task.
So I looked at this again and while I was able to answer my own question, its (again, undocumented) predecessor threw up a few results: http://www.rutlandgardenclassics.co.uk/upload/images/shopprod/copper-sega-fruit-machine_10361_main_size3.jpg http://www.arcade-history.com/images/cabinetmini160/32204.jpg http://www.visit.carters-steamfair.co.uk/rides/arcade/copper-sega.jpg It's actually really quite hard to find two early slot machines from different sources which are identical (which again makes me think they were mostly bespoke units), so the best course of action I can see is to upload as many variants as possible. To ignore any "Type A/B/C/D" stuff and just treat them as flavours of the same thing.
This reminds me, a small theme park near where I live used to have an old Sega Bell Slot Machine when I was a kid that was designed like a cowboy of some kind. Turns out they still own it but it's missing a big hat it used to have, the hat was a sombrero I think. I got a phone photo of it awhile ago, sorry it's not a great photo, and I can't go back and get a better one as it was in a meeting room when I was working on a one-off project for them.
Okay, I've been doing some research because full-size cowboy slot machines deserved it, and I've found some info here and here. tl;dr: There was this guy called Frank Polk that carved wooden cowboy and bandit figures in wood to accomodate slot machines, in the late 40s and early 50s, making a total of 92 of them which were sold to casinos in Northern Nevada and other places. Then, in '79, somebody called Mannie Sanchez made 15 more and, of course, many more people have been making more of them since they became a thing (as seen here or here). If you want to own one of the originals, make sure you have many thousands of dollars to spare. I don't know who created this specific one but yeah, it's not "SEGA stuff".
Thought I should post this: http://I.imgur.com/vVbUarV.jpg Ronnie Barker with a Progressive Star Sega slot machine. Because obviously.
Because triple posting is fun. I spent the morning tracking down photos. The part of the result was this: http://segaretro.org/File:SegaMadMoneyStar_SlotMachine_1.jpg http://segaretro.org/File:SegaMadMoneyStar_SlotMachine_2.jpg http://segaretro.org/File:SegaMadMoneyStar_SlotMachine_3.jpg http://segaretro.org/File:SegaMadMoneyStar_SlotMachine_4.jpg http://segaretro.org/File:SegaMadMoneyStar_SlotMachine_5.jpg http://segaretro.org/File:SegaMadMoneyStar_SlotMachine_6.jpg http://segaretro.org/File:SegaMadMoneyStar_SlotMachine_7.jpg http://segaretro.org/File:SegaMadMoneyStar_SlotMachine_8.jpg Again all signs suggest these were bespoke models. Even if you take into account coin slot differences and paint jobs, the panel with the rules changes, as do all sorts of cosmetic things. It seems to me that designs were dictated by what spare parts were lying around, however I'm assuming the core functionality and rules are always the same, even if the payouts are slightly different. It's the rules that are causing the most problems. Ever-so-slightly different methods of calculating payouts, which leads me to think it might be better to simplify things. As far as I can see there are four "generations" of Sega-branded slot machines (discounting the one-offs and novelty units): The "Sega Bell", which are supposedly derived from Mills designs of the late 1940s. The "Star" series. There are tons of these which all take use this style, and might be the first to be offered with different rule sets. Early 1960s. The "Continental" series, in which multiple variants were actually advertised at the same time. Mid 1960s. The "Windsor" series. And by this point things are mostly standardised. Late 1960s. So unless we have some slot machine experts hanging around, I'd propose just making four pages to cover everything, bar of course any that don't match.
