Wheel of Fortune

[CVslots]

I was looking for a wheel of fortune...and I found one. This is a Bally EM wheel of fortune. I can't find any reference to it in the Bally manuals?

[CaptainHappy]

Wow,

Never seen that one ever!

CaptainHappy

[a69mopar]

Wow, I've never seen that before.  I will scour my documentation to see if i can find anything.  I wonder if Barry (Foxslots) has ever seen them.

K+ for the post with pics.

Thanks,
Wayne

p.s., Captain beat my post but I typed it so I thought I'd post it as is, Guess I owe a beer

[StatFreak]

Wow, I've never seen that one before.     ...Hey, it's too late to break precedent now!  

It's hard to read the fine print, but it appears that one only gets to play the bonus if one hits the top jackpot of 5-of-a-kind. The winner is guaranteed $2500 plus the value that comes up on the "wheel". I hope that I'm wrong, since that would mean that one would never play the top bonus -- but that's what it looks like. Either way it is a cool machine. Thanks for posting.    I think I have a K+ lying around here somewhere...  

[CaptainHappy]

I hate to say it, but maybe that is where IGT stole thought of Wheel of Fortune!!!  

 

Thanks   You too!

CH

[FOXSSLOTS1]

interesting but I doubt it is a Bally issue - looks like a revamp - professionally done using a Bally cabinet and parts - common practice for casinos techs to come up with new games using old gear.   Looks like it may have started as the Jackpot Special (model 1038) and ended up this way.

[a69mopar]

interesting but I doubt it is a Bally issue - looks like a revamp - professionally done using a Bally cabinet and parts - common practice for casinos techs to come up with new games using old gear.   Looks like it may have started as the Jackpot Special (model 1038) and ended up this way.

I was thinking along the same lines, couldn't see Bally on the glass anywhere, not that it's always there but....  barcrest type rework?

Thanks,
W

[uniman]

I hate to say it, but maybe that is where IGT stole thought of Wheel of Fortune!!!  

 

Thanks   You too!

CH

I think it was Anchor Gaming who came up with Wheel of Fortune for IGT in 1996.
As their reward they were assimulated into the IGT collective in 2001. 

[CVslots]

I hate to keep you all guessing so here's a little more info that I found on this thing. It is in a  EM 917 cabnet. It was designed and built by a guy named Phil Anderson ( Philadelphia Phil ) in 1971 at the Bally facility in Reno. Phil worked at Bally and when some of the Bally guys left and started IGT Phil went with them and took his ideas and designs. Phil worked at IGT for several years then startred his own company, ACE Distribution in Reno. Phil passed away this year and his wife Joann has been selling whats left of his inventory. I do have several other one of a kinds and will try to post them as I get them back in action.

Darrell

[StatFreak]

Don't forget that the concept of the wheel of fortune has been around a lot longer than the game show or slot machines. I've found examples dating back to at least the 1300's AD and earlier. It is origins are related to the wheel of life. Most Tarot decks (well, all that I know of, actually) have a wheel of fortune as the tenth card in the major arcana.

By the way, the minor arcana of the Tarot -- cups, coins (or pentacles), swords, and wands  -- became our modern deck of cards. Cups became hearts, coins (or pentacles) became diamonds, swords became spades, and wands became clubs. The Tarot has four court cards instead of three for each suit: King, Queen, Knight, and Page. The last two were combined to create the Jack in a modern deck of cards. Of the 22 cards in the major arcana, only card zero, the Foole, remains in our current deck, as the Joker.

It's the specific look of the wheel, the logo design of the show using the letter turning board, the audience yelling "WHEEL -- OF -- FORTUNE!!", and the music that makes the IGT licensed game what it is.

[StatFreak]

I hate to keep you all guessing so here's a little more info that I found on this thing. It is in a  EM 917 cabnet. It was designed and built by a guy named Phil Anderson ( Philadelphia Phil ) in 1971 at the Bally facility in Reno. Phil worked at Bally and when some of the Bally guys left and started IGT Phil went with them and took his ideas and designs. Phil worked at IGT for several years then startred his own company, ACE Distribution in Reno. Phil passed away this year and his wife Joann has been selling whats left of his inventory. I do have several other one of a kinds and will try to post them as I get them back in action.

Darrell

Good sleuthing.   Another K+ (when my 12 hour restriction ends )  How did you discover the history of the machine?

[CVslots]

I've been talking to Mrs. Anderson and trying to get as much information about Bally and IGT and some of the games as she can remember.

[uniman]

Another great piece of slot machine history. Thanks CVslots and Karma here too! Please let us know what else you find out!

Anchor Gaming started out with the "Wheel of Gold" on Bally machines. Then later came the IGT WOF. The addition of IGT's Wide Area Progressive system combined the game show theme and bonus wheel really made this game one of the most profitable ever! I wonder how much IGT has made from just this one theme?

[blueridgeslots]

Bally made some very ornate and different theme games way before the stepper slot, one thing about Bally (and IGT) they should be dairy farmers as well, because when they get a popular title "they milk it for all its worth", this Monte Carlo was from the mid 70's (76-77) and was a 5 Reel, paid left to right and right to left on 3 reels using the center reel as a common, and had hold buttons to repull, the wheel was a motor that was activated with a symbol on last reel, gee sort of like the original; IGT WOF and Monte Carlo is still a current theme in different versions, both Bally and WMS used previous themes and graphics from pinballs into the slots, guess they didn't have creative thinkers back then

[blueridgeslots]

Here's another Bally E/M oddball, Double or nothing, if you had a winner you could re pull the handle and the 4th reel had a clam shell cover that would close and reopen after spinning the 4th reel for a 50/50 chance of doubling up, hmmm, IGT has the Haywire 3+1 Bonus Reel game with similar deal, go figure

[Op-Bell]

Here's another Bally E/M oddball, Double or nothing, if you had a winner you could re pull the handle and the 4th reel had a clam shell cover that would close and reopen after spinning the 4th reel for a 50/50 chance of doubling up

That was a feature of Bally machines made for the British club market in the 1960s. There was one in a club I used to belong to, a "Windsor Castle". The 4th reel always spun with the others, but it was under a cover so you couldn't see it. When you hit, you had the option to take the money or play the odds. If you chose the odds, the three reels would go into automatic hold and you had to pull the handle again. When you did, the cover on the 4th reel opened slowly on a dashpot so you could see what it stopped on.

One night I was watching a visitor play the machine, and she hit the top jackpot. Then she pressed the wrong button... The machine went into hold and told her to pull the handle. She went into total panic, wouldn't pull it, and called for the club steward to just pay her the basic amount, which he wouldn't. Eventually, after twenty minutes of pissing and moaning, she resigned herself and pulled the handle. By this time there was a large crowd watching.

It came up FOUR TIMES PAY.

[CVslots]

Thanks for all of the cool info. Maybe we should start a oddball page for all of the strange and unusual stuff.

[StatFreak]

Thanks for the pictures Jim. 

The Double or Nothing is listed in the Marshall Fey EM book, but the Monte Carlo isn't. I love looking at these older machines. It's a good thing that my space and budget don't allow it or I'd have twenty or more EMs.

[jay]

The Monte Carlo is an attractive theme. It reminds me of my youth with the older pinball glass (mechanical scoring era) that had very vibrant colors. You just don't get those same type of graphics any more. I have never been able to quite pin down why.

[FOXSSLOTS1]

does anyone know who bought all of Phils inventory?

[CVslots]

I think I ended up with most of the inventory. I wish I had gotten the opportunity to meet Phil.

[FOXSSLOTS1]

you think?  I got news that Phils widow was going to continue the business.   

[CVslots]

 Other folks bought some of the machines in the main building before I met Mrs Anderson.  I'm not sure what all was there when she started to sell things. She did say she she's done with slot machines and won't be renewing her license.

[slotparts]

yes and what is left is the junk missing parts  and not the right parts if they are there so be carefull the going price is 100.00 parts complete  if there is no handle the wires have been cut and coils missing there were over 700+ machines at first and she wont sell parts    but there is a good deal on universal machines you take them all lol

[CVslots]

Whats left is pretty much parts or parts missing machines. I still have quite a few EM's to shop but so far all have been plug and play after we get the dust knocked off of them.
100 bucks a machine was a steel for some of these things, like anything else the more you buy the cheaper they get.
 I understand that the parts won't sell until all of the machines are gone so if anyone is looking for whole lot of Universal machines at a really good price......... that's were there at.