putting token mechs on machines

[frolic]

I've been thinking of putting token mechs on my machines.

1) stops kid visitors from just starting 4 player games
2) stops bone-headed adults from starting 4 player games
3) Was thinking of doing some charity nights, sell tokens, all proceeds to xyz charity
4) puts the fun back in score match
5) can still put the machines on free play or hand out tokens

Seems pretty straight forward, mechs are generally cheap, and I don't have too many machines. I think tokens would work better than just using the loonie slots that most of the machines have, since I could freely hand out tokens to kids or whatever.

Anyone done this?

 

[Menace]

I personally haven't but I know at least one collector who has. He went as far as obtaining a token machine just for his game room to dispense tokens.

If it works for you, giddyup!

D

 

[Vengeance]

No one will believe your games are HUO if you have coin door wear :mrgreen:

 

[Menace]

LOL. They are Sterns. Everything else on them will wear out long before the coin doors show signs.

 

[frolic]

yeah, well, if i was worried about wear i dont think i'd be letting anyone play them .

Doug, any idea what a token machine goes for? I guess I'd need to source a Canadian one that can handle loonies and toonies as well as bills. I already thought of that, would be cool to have.

 

[mwong168]

Send thunderstorm (Eric) a PM on pinside, everything in his game room takes tokens. Here is his pinside profile page:

http://pinside.com/pinball/community/pi ... understorm

 

[movingpictures]

who needs tokens?

cash money baby is what i use

its like a big piggy bank

 

[ThunderStorm]

Ok,

Yeah i'm the guy who has the gameroom running all on tokens, i'll weigh in with my perspective,

As to your comments, i agree it stops kids/newbs from starting 4 player games and walking away, it also adds to the whole arcade experience, but it isn't for everyone, as all the guys from my league tease me about it every time they come over, but hey, to each their own. I'm glad someone else is interested in doing it

The charity night is a cool idea, i think people would be really into it i find putting the games on tokens instead of cash is a much better choice, that way if someone accidently leaves with a couple tokens, no biggie (depending on how cheap you got them) compared to someone walking away with a pocket full of quarters.

As for a token dispenser, i had originally bought a change machine from an auction.. problem is these days all the bills are changing to the new polymer type, and converting the machine to accept the new bills is not a cheap endevour.

Also, when i got mine, i thought it would be easy to change the hoppers to dispense my .984" tokens, but i found out a new hopper wheel was going to cost me hundreds of dollars... so that was out...

I ended up finding a 1982 Pizza Time Theatre (Precurser to chuck-e-cheese) counter top token dispenser, you'd walk up order your meal, and the attendant would press a button on the back to give you 5, 10, 25 tokens depending on what your meal gave you, and it would spit them out the front, so that's what i use to dispense my tokens.

you can keep your eyes open for something like that, or just keep a bucket of them around. Also you could always try to find a hopper from those Japanese skill stop slot machines, and build it into a cabinet yourself and mount a button to make the hopper spin. that would be your cheapest option as the skill stop tokens are super cheap and easy to find online.

Also the mechs aren't too expensive either, sometimes you can find someone online selling a bunch of them at once, that's what i did

My tokens i got from a Starburst auction... got 27,000 in a single lot hahah ended up using 4,000 to cover my bathroom floor, another 3,000 to stock my coin pusher, and i'll have tons to last me for years to come!!

You can also make your own there's a mint in toronto who will print custom tokens for you kind of unique, but out of my pricerange since i need so many right now.

If you have any other questions or whatever, let me know, would love to see your progress!

Eric

 

[frolic]

Thanks, Eric, for replying.

Can you explain how tokens work? I guess they are all minted in different sizes, and you can set the mech on the machine to accept that specific size? One mech will accept any token though?

I'll worry about the dispenser later. Any leads on who sells them at all? Like, if I went nuts and went and bought a new one that accepted new Canadian bills and loonies/toonies? Dunno if I'd do that, but might as well look at them.

 

[WARLOCK]

Eric,
Lots of us outside your league think the tokens are kewlio.
And children inside machines is pretty neat too!
I wish I could sell the token idea for a floor. :ugeek:
Scott

 

[ThunderStorm]

All mechs are set for specific size tokens so find the tokens you want to use first then buy your mechs for that sizetoken.

Warlock. You should come to the next league night here
When are you making your run cant wait to play time machine

Eric

 

[WARLOCK]

I will be there for the July gathering. I am looking forward to it.
KW is my home away from home "party town" for a long time.
Just too few trips down since the creation of children.

I will bring you your Time Machine long before that though.

The Montreal trip to pick it up is delayed to the week of the 24th.
I could have made it for the 28th, but not the 21st GTG.

All the best. See you soon.

I am tempted to follow suit for tokens one day, just for the charity fundraiser aspect that Frolic presented alone.

 

[luch]

a Canadian change machine that accepts new plastic and old paper bills , and gives out two styles of coin , either looney and twooney and or all tokens, costs about $5 k plus taxes , as for tokens they cost about 25 cents each for generic or 30 cents for custom , but would have a minimum order of 5,000 units or more . this I know as I am in the business of using these. If you buy an old change machine the conversion to the new accepter for the new money is about $2,000. If you need further contacts PM me.

 

[Menace]

a Canadian change machine that accepts new plastic and old paper bills , and gives out two styles of coin , either looney and twooney and or all tokens, costs about $5 k plus taxes , as for tokens they cost about 25 cents each for generic or 30 cents for custom , but would have a minimum order of 5,000 units or more . this I know as I am in the business of using these. If you buy an old change machine the conversion to the new accepter for the new money is about $2,000. If you need further contacts PM me.

I wonder if I could use my contacts to get new style bill validators... Cash Code is another one of my customers.

D

 

[luch]

I deal with a guy from montreal , named paul , from standard change machines of canada