Trade Stimulator Experts Please Chime In

[RameGoom]

Maybe someone can explain this to me. My one and only trade stimulator in my tiny collection is a Mills "Bell Boy" which has been in my family for many years. It has a set of three dials on the top, that works into some odd chart that guesses your fortune. On the reels, there are numbers on text that gives you an answer to your question when you spin. You have to make the dial choices before you spin, otherwise a red bar blocks off the reel symbols, so you can't "cheat". Who knows what they were thinking when they made this game...?


Just recently, one of these machines sold on Ebay. But, there was no dial assembly on the top, but instead, a sign. And, the reels on this one were bells and cherries, like a slot machine. Otherwise, they were identical. Could this be a "revamp" or maybe a different model? Just curious on this one. And, a few of the colors are different than mine. Minor, but different.


Can anyone explain?
Thanks for e-listening.

[nvmos2]

You have inherited a most excellent machine.
FYI:
"The Mills Bell Boy is a 4-coin machine that plays 1 cent through 25 cent through the same slot. The more common version is the Bell boy fruit reel version without numbers on the top of the machine that operates as a trade stimulator. The machine pictured is the "Numbers" version that has numbered fortune reel strips. The player could win large awards by matching the three numbers on the top of the machine in unison. The operator would pick the three numbers early in the day from the lottery numbers in the papers. The "Numbers" version is quite rare and the few that have turned up have almost exclusively come from the New York City area. Bill Howard believes that this machine simply provided a way to play the numbers racket by machine rather than by gangster, as discussed on page 136 in Every Picture Tells a Story. The Bell Boy sold for $37.50 or $29.50 in lots of 10 or more. Another unique feature of the "Numbers" version is the deception window that hides all "bets" except for a penny. A fake penny covers the actual coin played and can be raised to verify the actual coin played if there is a winner."
excerpt from Reel Amusement by Tom Gustwiller, page 120.

Additionally, the Bell Boy was written up in the Feb, 79 edition of The Coin Slot magazine.
If you want a copy of the article, send me a PM.

[RameGoom]

Nvmos, thanks for the insight. I can see the gumball is optional, the way it works. But I never tried another coin besides a penny. There is a single penny pressed into a metal frame, seen thru a window on the side. You press the button on the back of the machine door, and the window opens to reveal the coin. Also, it has a clever escapement mechanism where the coins fall; every fourth or fifth coin played gets kicked into a separate coin box, separated by a wall. Probably the establishment's take on the profits.