Coppers was probably made in the 1920s or 30s, and would have been extremely difficult to win. The object was to drop 8 pennies one at a time, and have one each land in 8 scoring lanes. Two lanes were Alleys and not scored, while 6 lanes had street names, and score values of 100, 200, or 300 points. In this version I have given the Alley's 500 point values.
The actual game was a simple Win or Lose deal. But I would imagine that bar keeps and store owners might offer their best customers a free drink for getting 5 or 6 lanes with only one penny. They might even offer this to any takers for a penny or two more, adding to their take. Most trade stimulators were a good bit easier to win than Pay Out machines, which were no more than licenses to steal for the most part.
Such Trade Stimulators were very popular in bar's where patrons would insert their spare change. Win's were shown to the proprieter who would then payout a win as either a free drink or a cash prize (usually five or ten cents on a penny machine). many variations of coin drops were produced throughout the years including ones that had actual jackpot's which could be made to payout when a coin landed in a particular games winning target. --@tiltjlp
The actual game was a simple Win or Lose deal. But I would imagine that bar keeps and store owners might offer their best customers a free drink for getting 5 or 6 lanes with only one penny. They might even offer this to any takers for a penny or two more, adding to their take. Most trade stimulators were a good bit easier to win than Pay Out machines, which were no more than licenses to steal for the most part.
Such Trade Stimulators were very popular in bar's where patrons would insert their spare change. Win's were shown to the proprieter who would then payout a win as either a free drink or a cash prize (usually five or ten cents on a penny machine). many variations of coin drops were produced throughout the years including ones that had actual jackpot's which could be made to payout when a coin landed in a particular games winning target. --@tiltjlp
