so I bought a pinball machine: Niche Mechanisms 003: skill flicks

Perhaps you've seen a Bally Skill Roll before? There is a long history in arcade games where you insert a coin and that coin becomes part of the game. These are generally called "drop case" games, but I want to focus on one specific type of these games, that I'm calling "skill flick" machines.

Skill Flick: machines where you flick along the coin you put into the machine, and it's dependent on skill alone. So that means no machines with bagatelle-style or pachinko-style playfields that make the skill negligible. Some shots might be next to impossible, but the only thing standing in between you and a win is a Skilled Flick.

1958 Bally Skill-Roll

Let's get flicking!

Let's start with some of the oldest machines. The oldest games here are from the start of the 20th century and are essentially slot machines where the coin falls through a randomizing pin field and maybe lands on a winner. But a few of these had a tantalizing difference: a skill shot on the other side of the playfield that could be hit without interference of the pins. A shot that is incredibly difficult, but still technically a skilled flick of that coin.

Making it in takes a whole lot of luck, considering how difficult the shot is and how hard the coin might be to control, but it still offered the player a sense that they could make it happen if they just were good enough

Mills Cricket, circa 1903-1918
if you can flick the coin into the slot on the left, your nickel investment becomes $2.50! How hard could it be? Well, extremely.

inside the backdoor of the Mills Cricket

Jennings' The Target
these types of machines were made by a number of companies in the 1920s

Target Practice

Other early skill flick games came from Britain, where this extremely simple type of game had a striking appearance, thanks to the scenery painted on the glass.

Flick a coin into the center hole and it will be returned out the front. Miss and it goes into the cash box.

Lifeline - 1920s, British Manufacturing co.

Climbing The Alps - 1920s, British Manufacturing co.

Hod Clod (Stevenson and Lovett, 1940s)
shoot the coin into the fisherman's bag

obviously a repaint, but this simple game of Dam Busters bridges the 1920s machines into the 1930s european machines that will have more winning targets.

One of the earliest hits of skill flick machines came out Finland and also found great popularity in Norway and Germany: pajatso / payazzo /kronespill. In Finland they were outlawed as gambling games, except for charity, and would be used for charity for the next 50+ years.

1932 ContiMat, Berlin coin flick

1932 Gebr. Paetz coin flick

these full-sized pajatso machines have very regal style
Note that the entrance holes have adjustable pegs allowing an operator a lot of customization for difficulty.

1920s oak cased penny machine
This machine didn't have he trips/levers that became common in these machines from the 1930s onward, instead used a cog-like gear to advance coins for payout, a mechanism you see in many 1920s machines in Europe.

Komet (1910):

Totomat (Günter Wulff, Berlin, 1950)

Hinein (Dr. W. Hansberg, 1953)

a huge variety of machines

even a golf themed one!
Fore & Against

absolutely one of the most iconic Finnish models

bless this mess

La Puce

Erbü-Wunder (Erich Büttner, Germany, 1950)

In Norway these machines were called Kronespill

Made around 1971 by Bell Fruit, this entirely mechanical machine matches the same design as some of the original 1930s ones. This was made for a British market.
While in America post WW2, purely mechanical machines were a thing of the past outside a few rare cases. But in England the mechanical allwin tradition still flourished and they were slower to phase out purely mechanical arcade machines.

Elektroninen Pajatso (RAY, 1984)
in the 1980s pajatso went solid-state, like every other arcade machine, but couldn't fend off the popularity of the emerging video game arcade machines.

Silverfinger circa 1979:

Lars Berg Silverstrike II (1996)

The most well-known of these of course is the mighty Skill-Roll, a machine that wasn't very popular 60 years ago, but is now wildly desired by American collectors.

1958 Bally Skill-Roll

Bally made some variants with the Skill-Roll cabinet, 2 of which feature this triple-tier design, allowing the player a "skilled flick", but the element of skill and control one has here could be debated.

Skill Parade (Bally, 1958) photo by pindude152
this machine is essential an electro-mechanical slot machine, except that each "reel" is picked via a flick. Get them triple elephants!
This is a machine that will really test your concept of skilled flick.

Skill-Score (Bally, 1960) has the same layout as Skill-Parade but with different graphics. Odd that they would have the obvious gambling machine have more kid-oriented graphics and putting adults on the game that is obviously trying to HIDE the fact it's a gambling machine by pretending it's an arcade machine.
I'm assuming some operators would have a payout card for certain high scores.

for the longest time, Lite-A-Diamond was a footnote on the pinrepair site. But in a recent (Feb 2021) video for a fundraiser for the Pinball Hall of Fame, Tim Arnold showed the world what appears to be the only KNOWN Lite-A-Diamond (Bally, 1959) in existence, with an odd (prototype) glass front that still says Skill Roll.

Triple-Tap (Brenco, 1970s)
a UK take on the Skill-Score styled layout, you get three changes for payouts on your coin

Tap-A-Coin circa 1970s

Tap A Fruit (1970s, by Dennis Jezzard)
same gameplay idea as Skill-Parade (match three symbols down three rows)

Skill Shot (Hanaho, 1998) is variant on the classic Skill-Roll

The buzz from collectors around skill flick machines is also huge in Japan where similar machines go for hefty sums. These most came out during the 1970s when 10¥ machines became very popular, and are now looked upon with intense nostalgia.

The gameplay might not be so enticing for people enamored with Skill-Rolls, however. The goal is to make it to the bottom and get your coin into one of the skill slots, which will release a prize token (some machines have a tougher shot that pays more, maybe 30¥, and an easier one that pays a basic 10¥ token). No points are accumulated along the way, and the games are often quite easy, as they are made for younger kids at candy shops.

Hop Step Jump

A級LICENCE

I so wish I had a better photograph of this one...

these next three are essentially the same game but with different graphics

Grand Prix

Air Race

there are a handful of coin flick machines where you have to ascend instead of descend! For my post I didn't include machines where you fire coins upwards and into holes because that would rope in too many others, but I'm including these because they're still mostly horizontal. (also vertical flick games tend to not have nearly the same level of control as horizontal flick games)

CAT FATHER

Another slight variation are the skill flick games that have dual-layered playfields. These have a horizontal track, plus a vertical track behind.

this machine is a skill flick at first, but once a board of pins is introduced, it also because a game of chance. But this machine is special for having mid-gameplay goals that give bonus rewards. If you can enter the spinning moon your coin will fall out at the bottom of the moon, hit a switch, and reward an extra token.

a beautiful sight! 4 coin flick games sitting outside a shop in Japan

Skill flicks enjoyed some popularity in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. These basic coin flick games preceded the similar Japanese machines by about 2 decades, but showcase a similar type of simplicity. You're just trying to get to the bottom.

1960s penny golf

detail

a very basic early coin flick course

as seen on a take-out restaurant in New Zealand - made by Kiwi Amusements

1960s Master Golf Game by Mastermatics

1950s Nine Holes by unknown

Rolling Home

Sho-Penny Golf (1960s)
You can see the slots along the side of the machine. The coin would protrude slightly and you can tap it forward with your finger.