bagatelle notes: Carombolette and more

Carombolette seems to have been a bit of a novelty billiards table.  It took the "pigeon holes" / wooden gates / Mississippi bagatelle arches and introduced a tantalizing playground of pins and pockets you could apply some strategy to, but played heavily on chance.  Perhaps a compromise between the erratic nature of slanted pintable bagatelle and the more traditional billiards games?

This also seems to an early appearance of the stationary bell on a larger table, centered in the highest scoring pockets so to ring when a ball enters it.  Prior tables all have hanging bells that are chimed by the ball passing under.

The slant of the back portion of the playfield ensures gravity takes over and absolute control by the player is a a bit of an illusion.

There was still a strong skill component, in shooting the balls down the table and through the gates, but the randomness offers tantalization, and probably made it exceptionally fun for people to bet on.

To look at simpler bagatelles, go to this earlier post.  And we look at slanted pintable bagatelles.

This is a description given by the auction house.  Please note that auction descriptions are NOTORIOUS for their inaccuracies.  We have no evidence of the Count D'Artois having a pin bagatelle table, that's currently just a folk tale.  Where did the auction house get the 1857 date?  No one knows.

Montague Redgrave Bagatelle Company PARLOR BAGATE
 1857. Impossible to find. This is the only one I have ever seen in the past 35 years of collecting. Complete restoration from top to bottom. This is the forerunner of pinball; first named around 1777 France, by King Louis 16ths brother Count D'Artois. This game has a Solid Slate playfield underneath the new felt covering. Redgrave was the first to make small games with a coil spring and a shooting rod which we now call the "ball shooter or plunger" which was patented in the USA. These games were so popular that he made larger ones like this particular model for Saloons and Beer Halls. This game was originally played with "Wickets" not Cue Sticks. This is a real find for the player and the historian alike. Degree of play difficulty: Very hard because we don't have the rules.
Condition Overall Condition (10). Size 104" L. 
liveauctioneers

This one is fascinating!  It has 9 gates, but after the gates it slopes downward!  12 playfield holes, plus 3 pegged areas with bells inside!

these are from the 1872 Brunswick Billiards sale catalogue

Carombolette!  You can see the wooden stopper which would plug the holes so you could play like Pigeon Hole.

VINTAGE BAGATELLE OAK GAME TABLE. HEIGHT 33 1/2; LENGTH 102" (FELT WORN, FINISH WEAR) 

liveauctioneers

Another table the gates, slope after the gates, and 3 pinned areas with bells.

Photos of a machine of unknown provenance, but similar to the one above:

Some pictures from the IPDB entry on Carombolette:

Here is another odd-ball.  I have only ever seen the Cambrinus Game in this one spot:

from the 1880 Geo. Rettberg catalog

I am unsure of the purpose of the upper playfield area, but the lower section looks like similar dimensions to a Carombolette pinfield.

Adding gambling to standard billiard tables:

To capture the gambling excitement, there existed a number of accessories to convert a billiards table into something more of a game of chance.  In the 1950s there were some arcade games that were dedicated to this design, where you'd use a cue to shoot a pool ball into a grid of holes, but these allowed you to use any other table.

The idea wasn't successful, and there aren't a lot of the dedicated arcade machines around any more.

these are taken from ipdb

Saunier-Wilhem Company Catalog 1952

Unknown machines

These are old tables I have no idea about.  How were they played?  What the heck is going on?

Anyone know?  I'll update this as I find out more.

19TH C BAGATELLE TABLE:  Utilt Comapany label.  Hinged mahogany case.  Transport to the neighborhood pub for the next game. Measures 76" long open, 38" long closed x 23 1/2" wide.

liveauctioneers

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON HERE.  I assume you're supposed to use teamwork to roll balls into desired holes, with one player standing at each set of handles?