You turn a knob and the whole world rotates. OK not the whole world, but the whole world under glass. The platform shifts. The playfield tilts with your delicate wrist movements.

Rotation is one of the fundamental mechanisms used in game design, going back to the skill games of the 1900s. As with our other Niche Mechanism examinations, rotation is mechanism embedded throughout arcade history across the globe. While it might not give the same kind of thrills in the 21st century, the inherent simplicity has helped it be resurrected endlessly for over a century.

Within the topic of "rotation" we are going to be breaking things down in to a few sub-categories:

Coin guidance
Ball guidance

Tilting labyrinths
Fire Escape style
Hill climbers
other ball guidance games

For all of these we are letting gravity do the work, and just adding a bit of rotation into the mix.

Let's get nerdy about arcade games. We begin in Germany, thanks to the amazing work over at Alte-Spielautomaten.

section 1: Rotation - Coin Guidance

1909 Schlaumatz (smartass) by Athenia GmbH

Guide the coin down to the slot at the bottom of the wheel. If the coin enters the slot it falls out at the bottom right, advances the ratchet wheel, which dispenses your winnings. If you fall off the track, your coin is added to the payout coin stack.

1910 Erato by Jentzsch & Meerz

1926 Jemoc by Jentzsch and Meerz

Skip to 4:20 of this video for some Jemoc action:

1926 Original Balance-Automat by Balance-Automaten G.m.b.H

1927 Beluno

1927 Forma by Jentzsch & Meerz

by Coin Machine Co

1927 Triumph

this machine added 2022-04-03:

1934 Eidesko
in this game you load your coin into the top, and it waits in the center. The outer wheel rotates and the player's control is to release the coin into the rotating wheel, timing it so the coin falls into a proper part of the wheel. So kind of rotation? Kind of also harkens back to the Drop Shelf games.

America would get in on the game with Drushell's 1928 Try Skill and 1929 Roll Skill. What's the difference between them? Not much, but often a renamed version meant better quality tooling, patent resolution, etc. Don't ask questions, contact your jobber today!

1928 Try Skill by Drushell

1929 Roll Skill by J.D. Drushell

Coin mazes, where you can spin the whole circle maze, aren't as common. I find them delightful.

1927 Triumph

It is a testament to the power of the concept that a machine made in 1909 gets remade nearly identically in 1930.

1930 Jongleur (juggler)

America had a renewed push for countertop trade stimulators in the 1950s. I don't think it went very well, and the post-WW2 American trade stims aren't heavily collected.

1955 Go Go Girl by Star Amusement

Guiding the coin down a track became a stand-up affair in the 1970s in the UK, with a number of machines following the Steer-A-Coin path.

1970s Steer-A-Coin by Innes

1970s Steer-A-Coin by Innes
note the variant track graphic

1979 Monza by Euromatic
uses the first track graphic above

Steero
uses the second track graphic above

Money Cross

Japan also had a version of the same game:

Pass by 日本自動販売機 (Japan Vending Machine)

One of the variants I quite like is the upright coin maze. These 3 machines are all the same gameplay, but with different graphics and builds. In each one you try to steer your coin in to the center whole to win it back.

A few more random British coin guidance games...

Zig Zag

Ski Slope Challenge

Japan would get in on the action too of course, with the rise of candystore games in the late 1970s. We had Pass listed above, but that's not all.

宇宙遊泳 (Spacewalk)

1988 ホップポップ悟空 (Hop pop Goku) by Taito

The classic German 1926 Jemoc would also get a few cheaper remakes over the years...

section 2: ball guidance games

Remember all those machines we looked at above? What if those... but BALLS instead of COINS? Mind blown? Yes, that was the next great leap. The transition actually happened early on. Designers had a lot more leeway using balls instead of coins. It also meant that you were not tied to a specific currency and denomination.

While the majority of this post will be about Ball Guidance games, I want to break out a few very distinct categories.

section 2-1: Rotation - Tilting Labyrinths

Many of us have probably seen the kids toy Labyrinth...

Well now we're going to pay coins for that pleasure at the arcade!

The earliest tilting labyrinth coinop game I could find comes from USA!

1926 Rock-It by Doraldina Corp

Then Germany...

1931 Die Silberne 5 (The Silver 5) by Willy Wiedemann

In the UK in the 1930s we got machines like Rolling Road and Steer-a-Ball

1930s Steer-a-Ball by Hawtins

1930s Steer-a-Ball & Rolling Road games

Steer-A-Ball was a success and resurrected as the nearly identical Super Steer-A-Ball post WWII.

1950s Super Steer-A-Ball by Jay Pee

America answers back!

1956 Rock and Roll The Crazy Maze by Mutoscope

Japan had a few relevant machines in the late 1960s, but using a fixed ball track obstacle course.

1960s サーキットボール (circuit ball) by 児童遊園設備

1960s ボールドライブ (ball drive)

Ringo was from the UK and is the only game where you tilt the playfield but use a coin. You would try and land your coin on one of the circles, and an voltaic cell would detect which circle you were on to determine your payout.

1965 Ringo by Ruffler and Walker

This American machine came in a sit-down and more compact version:

1973 Monte Carlo by Allied Leisure

A popular candyshop game in Japan, you have to navigate two labyrinth levels to win:

1977 ファミリーボールII (Family Ball II) by ニュー三徳ボール製作所 (New Santoku Ball)

Rat Race was only ever released as a prototype. I am so lucky to have been able to play it! Thank you Aljo.

1983 Rat Race by Williams

Once the 90s arrive, we're almost exclusively redemption games.

1991 Sidewinder by Bob's Space Racers

1993 Dinosaur Eggs by Alvin G
never made it past prototype

1993 Dinosaur Eggs by Alvin G

A company out of Taiwan is currently making these Track Dribble machines:

2010s 軌道運球-教學版 (Track Tribble) by 感統訓練教材開發工作室

2010s 3D 軌道運球 (3D Track Tribble) by 感統訓練教材開發工作室

2010s 軌道運球-教學版 (Track Tribble) by 感統訓練教材開發工作室

Added 2022-04-07:

2020 aMAZE-ing TRACK 摩軌迷宮 (AMAZE-ing Track Motorcycle Labyrinth) by 感統訓練教材開發工作室

And a company in Japan uses this mechanism for skilled candy dispensers:

2011 Big Trick Skateboard by トマトランド (Tomato Land)

It's OK, we have even more gumball machines to show you, like these from Europe.

Hard Driving Daytona Racing by Luca Srl

Microguida Formula-1

section 2-2: Rotation - Fire Escape style

Is there a better name for this mechanism? Surely it can't stand that I've named it after the MOST RECENT game in the series? If someone knows a better name for the mech I will come back and edit this. But for most of us, we are familiar with this specific mech via the 1984 arcade game Fire Escape, but it all seems to have started 50 years earlier in Germany...

1936 Bomber by Elfriede Jebens

1939 Skill Jump by Groetchen

1939 Skill Jump Horses by Groetchen
sometimes just called "Skill Horses", it is nearly the same game (note the 200-point columns are taller!)

1948 Skill-Test by Groetchen
post-WW2 they re-released it

1960s Steeplechase by Irving Kaye

Fire Escape would take the same concept, add a few extra bonuses, and bring the scoring and sound into the solid-state era.

1984 Fire Escape by ICE

1984 Fire Escape by ICE
the course with the glass removed. Of note is the skill hole in the upper right which warps you right to the end, but the jump to get there is very difficult.

1984 Fire Escape by ICE
note how the flames can obscure some of the track.

1984 Fire Escape by ICE
At the bottom you flick a lever into this bagatelle to get your score

Even more!

copy of 1939 Skill Jump by Groetchen
I'm assuming this is a knock-off

Danger Mine by Vari-Tech
I have not been able to find a proper photo of this machine.

The UK produced two versions:

Sky Jump by Jay-Pee

Sky Jump by Stevenson & Lovett

And WOW, even Japan had one in the 1960s! Mind you, I have never heard of anyone seeing this game, so perhaps no copies have survived.

大障害 (Dai-Shogai) by さとみ (Satomi)

and here's one more, but more recent:

1984 Xenon - キセノン by サミー & エスコ (Sammy & Esco)

section 2-3: Rotation - Hill Climbers

Gravity pulls the ball down, but have you considered.... going up? Rotate the knob on hill climbers to get the ball up the course!

1941 Pikes Peak by Groetchen
one of the ultimate classics of the skill-based trade stimulators

1993 Hill Climber by Irem
Irem took Pike's Peak and turned it in to a full arcade cabinet, 50 years after Pike's Peak debuted. The top has a center winning hole that is worth more than the 2 other holes at the top. Above is the Japanese version.

1993 Hill Climber by Irem
American version

2004 Gravity Hill by OK Manufacturing
Make it to the first hole for a small prize, or the very top for a larger prize.

2004 Gravity Hill by OK Manufacturing

Super Rider - ターゲットマシンスーパーライダー by トマトランド (Tomato Land)
win yourself some bonus candy!

Super Rider - ターゲットマシンスーパーライダー by トマトランド (Tomato Land)

Now, back to the rest...

section 2-4: Rotation - other ball guidance games

Time to CIRCLE back to the 1920s and look at a vexatious development in ball guidance rotation games... The "Circle Skill" phenomenon.

You'll notice these first two machines provide some outer structure to the circle. A few solid lines to help you try and guide the ball into the winning cup.

1927 Problem by Jentzsch & Meerz

1927 Problem by Jentzsch and Meerz

But what happens when we get rid of the ball guides? CHAOS.

1929 Indra by Riedel & Fischer

1930s Circle Skill
made by a number of different manufacturers, a payout could mean cigarettes... or candy!

Sure they include more win pockets (including seemingly impossible 50-point ones on the left and right,) but good luck hitting them on purpose.

1952 Druplix Magnet by Emil Plinke

And the last I've seen of the dreaded "Circle Skill" was Sega's Black Hole, where they added the extra challenge of making the winning hole a catcher mech.

1978 Black Hole - ブラック・ホール by Sega

OK, final batch of machines, starting out in the 1930s...

1930 Kugel-Schaukel (ball swing) by Curt Thielemann

1934 Halt Auf! by Raimund Singewald

Tipsy Test (unknown maker and year)

1940 Poison The Rat by Groetchen
one of the infamous war-time games, this machine now commands a hefty sum at auction

1943 Kill The Jap by Groetchen
Known as one of the most racist arcade machines out there. (To USA people upset about the word 'racism' being used to describe pejorative ethnic stereotypes: yes it's still racist even if you think the circumstances at the time justified it.)

1945 Slick by North Autos

this is the THIRD (and final) time Slick will be appearing in our Niche Mechanisms posts! The top mech? Rotation. The 2nd mech? Catcher. The 3rd mech? Drop bar.