by normww » Sat Jun 28, 2014 8:48 pm
I am now in Sacramento, California, however I grew up in New York City and in fact one year in the 1940's lived in Brooklyn, New York about 4 block from the Coney Island Boardwalk.
I believe that I saw a commercial coin operated version of the game. The Coney Island Board Walk was a thriving bustling place after the end of WWII. Steeplechase park was one of the key locations as was the Parachute Jump and Roller Coasters. But along the Boardwalk which stretched on for quite some distance there were small independent operators of everything from small amusement venues to food sellers to everything else one could think of. I believe I saw the game in one of the small multi game operations, which where crammed full of ski-ball machines, fortune telling machines, which had moving figures such as a gypsy woman in a box who would turn her head side to side eventually dispensing a fortune card. Unfortunately the less elaborate machines such as the one you restored often did not survive.
Here are a few links to Coney Island.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steeplechase_Park]
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island
[url]http://coneyislandfunguide.com/pub/files/CI_FunMap2012.pdf
Sorry, I may have used the URL inserted incorrectly.
But I like the way you refurbished the piece.
Best,
Norman Weinstein