This is a carnival arcade redemption game located in Holland and made in Italy. Initially, the name of the manufacturer was unknown to us and to the operator, Van der Meer, whom we had contacted at their website for more information. A senior staff member supplied this detailed reply:
The pinball games are the only ones of their kind known in Holland. There are a few in private use, but the rest (36 and 2 in reserve) are in use in the fair by Van der Meer. They are made in Italy but they are sold in the Netherlands by Valco Automatenbouw in [the city of] Bergen op Zoom. They are about 35 years old [as of 2009].
On the site you can see some changes of the machines, at this moment there are little LED's build in to make it more attractive. In winter time they will be painted again (outside).
We don't know how many were built exactly. The machines work by Euro's (money), 1 ball 50 ct. or 5 for 2 euro coin. At every 300 points you will get a yellow coin and with these coins you can buy prizes; the more coins, the bigger the prize. When you play with one ball, 4000 points or more (=10 yellow coins) you get 40 coins extra. At every 300 points you will hear a funny sound and when the ball falls down (end of game) you will also hear a funny sound.
Henk de Jager, a collector in Holland, tells us about the manufacturer:
"I know the Valco company, owner was Mr. Leo Vale. The Vale family was very well-known in the coin machine business during the 70s and 80s. The brother of Mr. Leo Vale, Harry Vale, had been the official Bally distributor for the Netherlands some time in the 70s. Valco was a small company producing skill games for use on (travelling) fairs. The company's address was Zeelandhaven 12 at Bergen op Zoom (Netherlands). For many years, I didn't hear anything about that firm, so I checked out at the Chamber of Commerce and I found the company was liquidated in 2009."
