RameGoom wrote:It's just hard to believe, back in the day, that someone would put a machine like this in an establishment, patrons would play for a penny, and they would get a gumball! How on earth did anyone make any money on this thing? I'd bet the route owner would split the take with the bar or restaurant, and the end of the month, they'd make, what, $2.00 each, after factoring in the cost of the gumballs?? and all in pennies.....!
Now subtract out the cost of the machine.
Just strange all that effort went into making those trade stimulators, with little in return.
buzzojoe wrote:I've got some old advertisements for VERY desirable peanut "gumball" machines where you got the machine for free if you bought like 25 lbs of peanuts for $3.00. Of course this was back at the turn of the last century (1900). Regarding the trade stimulators, guys wouldn't just play them once and get a gumball. Most of them were made so that you had to "take" the gumball so it' didn't release a gumball every time it was played unless someone took the last one. Guys' didn't sit around in bars in 1930 with piles of gumballs all over the bar. They sat and played the machine for hours just like people do with slots now, in the hopes of winning the cash prizes, drinks, or cigars that the establishment would give out for a winning combination on the reels. and since they didn't take the gumballs it was pretty good profit for the operator and the establishment! I remember talking with old operators who used to have to go in every few days and EMPTY the pennies out of trade stimulators in certain bars because they were so full that the pennies inside jammed up the mechanism!
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