Operator hacks: 'bugs'

This one got posted to FB:  an operator has attached these "bugs" to the teeth of a reel.

This effectively combines two teeth into one and prevents the machine from stopping in between them, rendering those symbols impossible to stop on.

bagatelle notes: Toupie Hollandaise / Dutch spinning top

Back in my original bagatelle posts I had this one table at the bottom I didn't understand, with cast characters standing over gates, and no visible plunger, and no real obvious shooting area.

Turns out this is called Toupie Hollandaise, aka a spinning top game from France.  It apparently has origins from the 17th century with Toptafel tables being make in Holland, Belgium, and Germany, but the larger sized tables were mostly 19th-20th century.   It's thematic connection to bagatelle being that it was an aristocratic game played on a custom table surface.  No cues, no balls, this game used spinning tops to try and knock down tiny pegs / skittles.  It is often mislabeled as "bagatelle" in many of the auctions they've appeared in.

Some tables had bells hanging between gates, which I believe gave points in addition to toppling the skittles.  These balls would be thematically similar to the bells in carombolette tables, and pin bagatelles.

There is hearsay that the tables would be made with bells underneath them to discourage movement, like a proto-tilt, but it is thought that these would be later add-ons.   I have never seen a table that has a bell.  We received a comment (check the bottom of this post) on this topic, and wish to reflect that information here.

I've found lots of discussion of these tables, but very few primary sources.  They are still popular carpentry projects, and yes after 400 years they basically evolved in to Beyblades.

pictures via Dead Flip on twitter
click through for a short video