Sources
Contributors to this record: moses, Flipcommons AI Descriptions (GameFormat), Flipcommons Catalog.
- description
- mosesA **flasher-type gambling console**, also called an "electronic upright" or simply an "upright", is not a pinball machine; it is a gambling device styled to look or operate similarly to mechanical arcade games.[1][2] ## Why they exist These machines were built to bypass anti-slot-machine gambling laws. Manufacturers replaced the slot machine's traditional physical spinning reels — a feature by which laws often identified a slot machine — with electronic flashers that lit up symbols behind a silk-screened glass, and dressed that difference in the language of skill.[3][4][5] [[manufacturer:pace]] sold *[[title:king-pin-5]]* (1938) as a "pin table", "an attempt to get their slot machine console games into pinball-only territory",[6] and [[manufacturer:bally]] offered *[[title:lincoln-fields]]* (1937) with an optional captive-ball "Skill Feature", "something to add an element of skill to the game usually done to circumvent gambling ordinances".[7] After the war the line moved again: coin payout were made illegal in the US so American manufacturers exported them to the UK.[8] ## Connection to pinball These machines came off the same factory floors as pinball, and share its relays, wiring and backglass art.[9] "Bally had a foot in both sides of the coin operated industry",[10] and so did [[manufacturer:keeney]], [[manufacturer:games-inc]] and [[manufacturer:mills-novelty-company]]. ## How a flasher-type machine works - **The credit counter.** Coins increment a credit meter, and on the post-war uprights that meter is also the prize. Of Games Inc's *Wild Cat* (1958): "It does not payout cash. The credit meter increments instead, allowing for continued play without insertion of additional coins."[11] - **The spin.** A handle or button starts a motor-driven wiper. On a flasher "the wipers for the flashers not only control the lights but the timer wiper as well",[12] so the same mechanism that runs the light show decides the result. - **The flashers.** Symbols printed on the glass light in sequence.[5] Mills' *[[title:flasher-bell-fruit]]* (1937) "has a glass playfield with no moving parts but has slot machine symbols that are lit from behind after the player pulls the side handle".[13] - **The outcome.** When the cycle stops, the symbols left lit are read against the award schedule on the glass. A pre-war console paid in coin, the Mills machine "into a spring-loaded metal cup located on the front underside of the machine";[14] a post-war upright paid in credits, and only the export models paid cash.[11][8][15] ## Two generations The pre-war consoles of 1937 to 1947, such as Bally's *[[title:ballys-club-house]]*, "an upright 7-coin console slot machine",[16] Mills' Flasher and Keeney's *[[title:gold-nugget]]*, paid out in coin.[17] The electronic uprights of 1955 to 1964 from Games Inc, Keeney, Bally and [[manufacturer:auto-bell-novelty-company]], such as Keeney's *[[title:big-tent]]* and Games Inc's Wild Cat, paid in credits, with cash-payout versions such as *[[title:barracuda]]* built for the UK.[18][2][8]
Other values claimed:
Flipcommons AI Descriptions (GameFormat)A **flasher-type gambling console**, also called an "electronic upright" or simply an "upright", is not a pinball machine; it is a gambling device styled to look or operate similarly to mechanical arcade games.[1][2] ## Why they exist These machines were built to bypass anti-slot-machine gambling laws. Manufacturers replaced the slot machine's traditional physical spinning reels — a feature by which laws often identified a slot machine — with electronic flashers that lit up symbols behind a silk-screened glass, and dressed that difference in the language of skill.[3][4][5] [[manufacturer:pace]] sold *[[title:king-pin-5]]* (1938) as a "pin table", "an attempt to get their slot machine console games into pinball-only territory",[6] and [[manufacturer:bally]] offered *[[title:lincoln-fields]]* (1937) with an optional captive-ball "Skill Feature", "something to add an element of skill to the game usually done to circumvent gambling ordinances".[7] After the war the line moved again: "Upright machines built for coin payout were not legal in the United States so American manufacturers exported them to the UK."[8] ## Connection to pinball These machines came off the same factory floors as pinball, and share its relays, wiring and backglass art.[9] "Bally had a foot in both sides of the coin operated industry",[10] and so did [[manufacturer:keeney]], [[manufacturer:games-inc]] and [[manufacturer:mills-novelty-company]]. Collectors and restorers in the pinball community meet them regularly and find them thinly documented; one owner of a 1959 *[[title:wild-cat]]* wrote that he had "an extremely hard time finding any real resources for these machines".[19] ## How a flasher-type machine works - **The credit counter.** Coins increment a credit meter, and on the post-war uprights that meter is also the prize. Of Games Inc's *Wild Cat* (1958): "It does not payout cash. The credit meter increments instead, allowing for continued play without insertion of additional coins."[11] - **The spin.** A handle or button starts a motor-driven wiper. On a flasher "the wipers for the flashers not only control the lights but the timer wiper as well",[12] so the same mechanism that runs the light show decides the result. - **The flashers.** Symbols printed on the glass light in sequence.[5] Mills' *[[title:flasher-bell-fruit]]* (1937) "has a glass playfield with no moving parts but has slot machine symbols that are lit from behind after the player pulls the side handle".[13] - **The outcome.** When the cycle stops, the symbols left lit are read against the award schedule on the glass. A pre-war console paid in coin, the Mills machine "into a spring-loaded metal cup located on the front underside of the machine";[14] a post-war upright paid in credits, and only the export models paid cash.[11][8][15] ## Two generations The pre-war consoles of 1937 to 1947, such as Bally's *[[title:ballys-club-house]]*, "an upright 7-coin console slot machine",[16] Mills' Flasher and Keeney's *[[title:gold-nugget]]*, paid out in coin.[17] The electronic uprights of 1955 to 1964 from Games Inc, Keeney, Bally and [[manufacturer:auto-bell-novelty-company]], such as Keeney's *[[title:big-tent]]* and Games Inc's Wild Cat, paid in credits, with cash-payout versions such as *[[title:barracuda]]* built for the UK.[18][2][8] - name
- Flasher-Type Gambling ConsoleFlipcommons Catalog
- slug
- flasher-type-gambling-consoleFlipcommons Catalog
- display_order
- 5Flipcommons Catalog
Citations
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — https://www.ipdb.org/glossary.php Archive
Also called an "upright" or a "flasher type" slot machine, this is not a pinball machine.
- Retro Refurbs — https://www.retrorefurbs.com/michigan-pinball-show-2025/
in reality the Keeney Big Tent was a gambling device
- YouTube — YouTube #tLuZl2oDquM
these things were effectively made to bypass certain gambling laws
- PennyMachines.co.uk — https://pennymachines.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=11237
the Act specifically said a slot machine had reels and these [...] they had switches
- PennyMachines.co.uk — https://pennymachines.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=11237
The earlier flashers had symbols on the front glass that lit up from behind.
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #6175
an attempt to get their slot machine console games into pinball-only territory
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #6940
something to add an element of skill to the game usually done to circumvent gambling ordinances
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #7013
Upright machines built for coin payout were not legal in the United States so American manufacturers exported them to the UK.
- Pinside — https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/anyone-know-anything-about-flasher-slots
I got a hot tip on everything being similar to bingo pinball machines.
- Pacific Pinball Museum — https://www.pacificpinball.org/pinball-gambling
Bally had a foot in both sides of the coin operated industry
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #6966
It does not payout cash. The credit meter increments instead, allowing for continued play without insertion of additional coins.
- Pinside — https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/anyone-know-anything-about-flasher-slots
the wipers for the flashers not only control the lights but the timer wiper as well
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #3101
has a glass playfield with no moving parts but has slot machine symbols that are lit from behind after the player pulls the side handle
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #3101
into a spring-loaded metal cup located on the front underside of the machine
- YouTube — YouTube #tLuZl2oDquM
converted from an actual slot machine to an amusement only machine
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #3025
an upright 7-coin console slot machine
- Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) — Internet Pinball Database (IPDB) #4387
It is a console slot machine.
- PennyMachines.co.uk — https://pennymachines.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=11237
They were extremely popular for six or seven years and used by Keeney (of course), Bally (which secretly owned Keeney) and Clarence Schuyler
- Pinside — https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/anyone-know-anything-about-flasher-slots
an extremely hard time finding any real resources for these machines