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Cost: $112.50
Obtained from: Individual in Byron, GA on Dec. 11, 1999
Condition: Sold "As Is" to protect the seller. Machines looked very good but wouldn't play.
Current Status: Awaiting an order of tokens. Some lights need to be replaced and I'll probably be making a stand.
This machine is titled "Getter Mouse" and has a cute but somehow evil looking mouse on the front. I suppose that the machine is so titled because it gets your money!
I've learned a little more about these machines lately. They're called Pachislo machines and they either come from cruise ships or casinos in the Ginza strip. The Ginza strip is Tokyo's version of like the Vegas strip. The machines are set to use tokens and the tokens are exchanged for prizes (similar to pachinko). Supposedly these are legal in all states so long as they aren't converted to use quarters. I would recommend checking the law in your state before buying one. Luckily it's legal where I live!
An evil-looking mouse! |
These are the innards. |
Since I already played the Taco Slot the day before, I spent some time cleaning the machine before actually playing it. It had the same hopper empty error on the front. There were no pieces missing and no serious scratches or nicks. The machine was a bit dirty but that's to be expected.
The first thing I did was to remove the lock and pull out the tumblers. This allowed me to reset the machine at will since I didn't have a legitimate key.
I need to replace several light bulbs that are blown out. Initially I thought that the bulbs were permanently attached to the socket. I was worried that I'd have to order from a slot distributor for the rest of the machines life. Fortunately I found out that the bulbs do actually come out and that they have a wedge shaped base. I saw these bulbs at Wal Mart recently so I'll hopefully be able to replace all of the blown bulbs soon.
This is a wedge light and the re-usable socket.
Other than the bulbs, I need to get some tokens and a manual. I wanted to put quarters in the machine but tokens are only 10 cents each as opposed to the 25 cent quarter. I know that quarters retain their value but I worry about the quarters getting pilfered here and there for sodas or something like that.
This machine has been played roughly 5.8 million times and still looks brand new!
This slot machine only worked when I switched coin hoppers with the other one. Since I already disassembled and cleaned the working coin hopper, I hoped that cleaning this one might fix the problem. I obviously had a bad hopper because it caused both machines to report a hopper error when inserted.
The hopper isn't very sophisticate and doesn't have any hard to assemble parts. I disassembled it with a phillips screwdriver and a socket wrench. I removed all connectors, printed circuit boards and wires from the major plastic pieces. The plastic went into the dishwasher and came out very clean.
This is the coin hopper. |
It's hard to see, but the switch is just above the motor. |
The remaining parts contained lots of metal shavings from grinding the tokens/coins around over the past couple of years. I vacuumed up the shavings as well as I could and then used some Mothers Chrome Polish to shine up all the metal pieces. The chrome polish removed most of the metal shavings and left a slick waxy feel to the metal. Hopefully this will also reduce wear on the hopper parts.
After the plastic was dry I assembled the hopper and put it in the machine. The machine again reported a hopper error. I put the hopper into the other machine and got the same results. At that point I decided to switch the logic boards between hoppers. Other than one PCB, the hopper only contained wires and connectors. Just before preparing to remove the logic board, I remembered that the hoppers had a strange looking switch on them. The switch had some sort of protective latch so that it wouldn't be accidentally switched and it was attached to the logic board. I flipped the switch and tried the hopper. Success! I switched the hopper between machines to find that it worked in both of them!