excerpt from the 1839 Swedish book Hand-bibliothek för sällskapsnöjen

The following tidbits of pinball ancestry were shared with me by user PaulKersey on the Gaming Alexandria Discord.

Booklet series name : Hand-bibliothek för sällskapsnöjen : eller systematiskt ordnande spel, lekar och konster
Edited by G. J. Billberg
Publisher : Stockholm : L. J. Hjerta, 1838-1839 

1839 Hand-bibliothek för sällskapsnöjen pages 86+87

1839 Hand-bibliothek för sällskapsnöjen p88

 

Transcription via Paul:

FORTUNA.

För detta spel erfordras ett vertikalt jemnt stående bord (a), som är rundadt i öfra ändan, i hvilken rundel är utmärkt plats för 9 käglor, deraf de 3 medlersta stå midt emellan båda sidorna (b). Omkring de 3 sidorna och hälften af nedra ändan löper en ränna för klotets lopp. Denna är betäckt från halfva långsidan till höger (c); äfvensom nedra ändan (dd) är betäckt, deraf likväl locket (dcee) är gångbart, till förvarande af käglor och klot. Början af rännan från (e) till (d) är långslut, och vid (d) har klotet sin vanliga plats, hvarifrån det utstötes med en kort mas (f), sådan som i Billard, men af rännans bredd. 

Spelsättet.
Spelarne kunna vara så många som hälst, och beräkningen sker såsom i vanligt kägelspel. Klotet stötes från (g); men om det ej hinner (c), omstötes. I öfrigt räknas bom, såsom i vanligt kägelspel.

 

Machine translation:

FORTUNA.

For this game a vertical, even table (a) is required, which is rounded at the upper end, in which round is a place for 9 skittles, of which the 3 middle ones stand midway between both sides (b). Around the 3 sides and half of the lower end runs a chute for the ball to run. This is covered from half the long side to the right (c); although the lower end (dd) is covered, the lid (dcee) is still operable, for the storage of skittles and balls. The beginning of the chute from (e) to (d) is the long end, and at (d) the ball has its usual place, from which it is ejected with a short mass (f), such as in Billiards, but of the width of the chute.

Method of play.

The players can be as many as desired, and the calculation is made as in ordinary skittles. The ball is ejected from (g); but if it does not have time (c), it is overturned. Otherwise, a miss is counted, as in ordinary skittles.

 

This game of fortuna is similar to 'naco' bowling tables. For me this highlights how the game names really shifted between countries and decades, so I am grateful for the diagram and description.

 

Another tidbit, this from a 1795 Swedish newspaper:

I was told Fortuna-spelet med des tillbehör = “The Fortuna game with its equipment.” so we do not know for sure what time of table this was, but it shows that Fortuna was a name used for tables like this going back to the 18th century. 

 

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4 notes on interesting bagatelles

Let's chat about parlor bagatelle toys again. 

1)   One Man's Toys, Games and Tools Collection

There is an incredible auction of bagatelles coming up, one person's lifetime of collecting.  Many incredible pieces, but also the comprehensiveness of the collection combined with the robust and exceptional photos provided by the auction house makes this one quite special.

We have collected all of the bagatelle photographs from this auction.  For the bagatelle historians out there, I've made a single ZIP file with all of the lots I find interesting.  There are 3 folders here:  Redgrave/Singer tables, toy bagatelles, and one for other marble games of note.

2242 files, 590 MB.  Download the ZIP of images from the One Man's Toys, Games and Tools Collection.

 

2) my new solar system bagatelle from Japan

Here is a solar system-themed corinthian bagatelle from Japan.

No confirmation on name / date / maker, but I assume it's 1930s because the Corinthian craze came to Japan in the early 1930s, and in 1939 Japan went to war and I assume made few toys.  The text itself does not appear to be post-war.

Here are the pockets on the board and their translations:

10 太陽 Sun
20 上弦 First Quarter
30 下弦 Last Quarter
40 海王星 Neptune
50 天王星 Uranus
60 水星 Mercury
70 土星 Saturn
80 地球 Earth
90 木星 Jupiter
100 金星 Venus
110 火星 Mars
120 満月 Full Moon

Then there are TA and ST pockets at the bottom left and right sides.  These are features you see on some other Corinthian boards, sometimes labeled and sometimes not. 

pictures courtesy James Masters

So assuming the same rules, if you pocket TA you take all of the balls that went to the bottom without scoring and play them again.  Do you also replay the ball that fell in TA?  Perhaps not.  What does TA mean?  Try Again?  Take All?  I am unsure.

The ST pocket might be for STOP or Stop Turn?  But it would mean the game ends, regardless of any balls left to shoot.  A trap to avoid!

 

3) Sugiyama-san's UK bagatelle in Japan

I am happy to showcase this bagatelle game owned by Sugiyama-san of the Birth of Pachinko Musem. He purchased it on a trip to the UK and was told it was from 1890-1900 by the dealer. 

It is fascinating to me because it copied many parts of the classic Redgrave design, but keeps the cue/mace shooter lane on the right and slaps in a spring plunger on the left.

While the means to propel the ball are unique from the Redgrave design, so is the upper  area with 3 arched wires protecting the king ball divot.  Also different is that the mid-playfield cups have a nail beneath them to ensure the ball falls into it.  The bottom uses classic Cockamaroo-style vertical slots to award small points to balls that fail to score on the main playfield.  Redgrave never used Cockamaroo-style bottom channels, typically opting for a series of cups with nails funneling the balls to them.

 

Kazuo Sugiyama showing off the backside of the bagatelle

I really like this style of game because it merges the classic cockamaroo designs with the then-contemporary Redgrave & Singer design ideas.

Looking through my archives, I found a photo of a similar table.  The point values differ slightly.

the scores are slightly higher on this model, and it is longer with an extra bell & gate section

 

Redgrave bagatelle examples:

 

 

4) Le Basket Francais by Samud

This next one comes from a catalogue from a prestigious seller of rare papers and books.

I want to caution against purchasing this for the 3000 Euros being asked.  Currently there is a copy on Ebay for 220 €. (archive)

ebay France

This one sold for $60 USD.

And this one for 110 €

And this one sold 50 €:

 

There is also a restoration video of this game on youtube:

 

Very cool game, but definitely not a 1930 game or the first usage of Basket Ball in a game.

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This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by the USA to remove trans people from society.  Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this fascist administration has declared a war against reality and says that trans people can no longer be allowed to exist.  Trump's executive orders say that trans children should be abused at school, in their home, in public, and at hospitals.  Trump's orders are a decree to destroy all traces of trans existence from society, and that all trans people are subhuman threats and liars who should not be allowed to exist publicly.  He is attacking children, he is attacking families, and he is delighting in his sadism.

This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are being terrorized by a president who has declared them to be threats that must be eliminated.

Live to read his obituary.

Please, stay alive.  Even if just out of spite.

Arts & Decoration 1932-12 bagatelle article

In which Rosamond relates how she found the game of pinball as an excellent way to distract from discussing the depressing state of the world she's living in with dull men.

 

found on the Internet Archive, Arts & Decoration 1932-12, referenced from A Pinball Biography (archive):

 

Arts & Decoration 1932-12

 Here is the text to allow for easy translation:

Holey-bogey Is My Game

BY ROSAMOND PINCHOT

I RECENTLY read an article on games in which the writer described herself as one of those unfortunate people who can't shine in any of the brainier ways of whiling away an evening. Well, if that young author is slow at bridge, I'll bet I'm slower. The awful truth is that I have never been able to master a single card game in my entire life. Even those two supposedly simple and amusing games known as Pig and Old Bitch leave me bewildered. Having no card sense is a serious affliction. There are always little tragedies in store for the sufferer. When, after a dinner party, the hostess cheerfully suggests bridge my heart sinks. All the clever, smooth guests settle down at tables with tall glasses and cigarettes, and I find my self in for a long dreary evening of talk with the dullest man in the room who doesn't play games either. It seems to me that what kissing babies is to the politician, playing games is to a social career. Games help you to get on. And they are also a protection. The politician knows very well that to kiss a baby is as good as a speech, often better. The successful dinner guest knows that to play games adroitly is to avoid endless drivel about the depression and the latest play. How I've envied those bridge stars sitting in self-satisfied silence while I've struggled through a heartbreaking jungle of polite small talk.
So, after much suffering, I decided a year or so ago that I must learn something to play or stay at home. Conversation was running very low indeed. But I knew from sad experience that even to attempt to master bridge was hopeless. I couldn't seem to tell one card from another and the faces on the kings and queens were so tiresome. Backgammon was suggested. It sounded ideal.
Several self-sacrificing men offered to teach me. I did my best but showed only slight improvement. After some months of half-hearted endeavor, I was still counting the points with my fingers. My friends, at the end of the first game, were likely to say, "And what do you think about the depression?" That was the signal for putting away the board. Again my heart would sink and we would go back to talk. It was very discouraging.
Then, one evening, a great thing happened. I actually ran into a game that I could master; or rather a game that didn't need a master. And it wasn't tit-tat-toe either. It's bagatelle, or rather that particular form of it called holey-bogey. In case these picturesque names confuse you, bagatelle is the generic term for all games played by shooting little balls across a board, either with a stick or with a shooter on a spring. Usually the objective is to land the balls in cups. The cups are marked with scores. You can have fun playing bagatelle from the start, and it doesn't get dull like parcheesi. You can win or lose just as much money as at bridge and be a lot gayer about it. People always look so grim at the bridge table; perhaps it is because they are thinking. I don't know. But don't get the idea that holey-bogey doesn't involve skill. It does. I know several experts who can shoot those little chromium balls into the 130 three times out of five. But you don't have to be skillful. And what's more important, you don't have to concentrate.
Holey-bogey is played on a polished board about three feet long and round at one end. All around the edge of the board is a narrow run to keep balls in. On the right side, there's a groove. With a wooden wand you push the balls along this groove and out into the field of the board. Here the balls come in contact with resilient brass pins from which they rebound into a score cup or back to the foot of the board. If you are very skillful you know just how much force to put into the wand stroke so that the ball will be sure to roll into a high number cup.
Like bagatelle, holey-bogey was played in medieval times both in England and on the Continent. Then for a long time, it was forgotten. I often wonder why in our age of invention, no one has been able to think of a single really good new game. Well, anyway, about two years ago some enterprising Finn rediscovered and modernized holey-bogey. Winter evenings in Finland are said to be longer and duller than in other parts of the world. So if holey-bogey could keep the Finns amused, you can see that it must be a pretty good game. They played with such enthusiasm that the English across the North Sea soon got the idea too. From England holey-bogey traveled in state to America via the lounge of the Aquitania. When I first came upon the game and welcomed it, there were only a few boards in New York. At the present time, I believe holey-bogey is as popular as backgammon and still gaining. People play sitting on the floor, standing at bars, or sitting at tables, alone, in pairs, in threes, fours, and even sixes. It's a cheery game, and a game that can boast of never having broken up a single home. This is an important point and meant to be taken seriously.


page 40 photo caption: You can have fun playing bagatelle from the start; it's a cheery game, that's never broken up a single home. You can lose as much money as at bridge, and be gayer at it. But don't get the idea that it doesn't take skill

page 41 photo caption, top: First you take the wand in hand and push the ball down the groove with precise, masterful stroke 

page 41 photo caption, bottom: The art lies in putting just the right impetus back of the wand to roll the little ball for a high score
Then—the moment of suspense while the chromium dot wavers crazily between one hundred thirty and zero

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This blog stands in protest against the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted by the USA to remove trans people from society.  Trans people have always existed, in every society, but this fascist administration has declared a war against reality and says that trans people can no longer be allowed to exist.  Trump's executive orders say that trans children should be abused at school, in their home, in public, and at hospitals.  Trump's orders are a decree to destroy all traces of trans existence from society, and that all trans people are subhuman threats and liars who should not be allowed to exist publicly.  He is attacking children, he is attacking families, and he is delighting in his sadism.

This blog stands in solidarity with all of the youth who are being terrorized by a president who has declared them to be threats that must be eliminated.

Please read:  Trans People are Under Attack and We Must Help Them by Rebecca Watson

Please read: Trans women transferred to men’s prisons despite rulings against Trump’s order

Please read: ‘Stop these crazy bills’: Republicans join Democrats to defeat anti-trans legislation in Montana

scan: M. Redgrave letter 1900-02-06

Scanned and transcribed by tweakbod  

Download the uncompressed 1200 DPI scan at archive.org

1900-02-06 Redgrave letter [1200 DPI]

 

Transcription of the handwriting:

    Jersey City, N.J., Feby 6th 1900

    Brass Goods Mfg Co
    East Hampton Conn

    Gentlemen,
    The gongs received, would
    say, I can use from about 5 M, each
    of the 1½, 1¾ & 2 inch gong extra
    nickled but you must give me a very low
    price.

    Also give me prices on above sizes
    for not extra nickle, kindly answer
    soon as possible, & also let me know
    how long if would be before you
    could send me some of the extra
    nickled.

    ys truly
    M Redgrave

    P.S. will send you a check about the
    16th returns are coming in very slow,
    trusting same will be satisfactory

 
The "7 Up" or "Help your Neighbor" patent of July 27, 1897 is the D. Kogler game board:
https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/27/38/38/8eb8ef29c98916/USD27443.pdf

 

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To my readers in the USA: This blog stands in protest against the moral panic directed at trans people, and the horrific eliminationist policies being enacted to remove trans people from society.

Suggested reading: Who Goes Nazi? by Dorothy Thompson, published August 1941

Pinball Expo 2024: prewar booth and more

I spent the last weekend in Chicago, USA, For the 40th anniversary of pinball expo. 

Pinball Expo 8am Wednesday morning

I was there to help my friends Cliff & Colleen of Tap91 Gameroom run the pre-war pinball booth. This was a lot of hard work, and 14-hour days, but it was all pinball and it made me very happy.  We also teamed up with Jeff of HistoryOfPinball.org and Bryan.

booth layout plan

We ran a prewar-only tournament on Friday and Saturday, as well gave out medals for people that could meet difficult challenges that were placed on some of the machines.

The prewar booth received the award for first place booth at Expo. 

<3 <3

Making friends

high-voltage!

On Thursday I was on the panel "Collecting Pinball Machines from the Birth of Pinball to the 1930s".  My talk is the first 20 minutes of this video:

Note: I have edited this post to include the transcript of my speech.  Scroll down to the very bottom for the full text.

I have made an amendment to the section about toupie hollandaise.  My suggestion in regards to the bell sometimes beneath a table was sloppy. 

 

J. A. Jost, Jost & Cie: gamemaker extraordinaire

I have found the Jean Anatole Jost (1860-1926) catalogues very useful for my pinball ancestry research.  According to Association Wellouëj (archive), Jost filed a patent for "le grimpeur au Mât de Cocagne" back in 1886.  The current archives for patents don't seem to go back that far, but hopefully they will eventually get digitized.

In this post we are covering this across a few sections:

1. Catalogues
2. Factory Negatives
3. Games that Jost created
4. Games that Jost improved upon
5. Game Photographs
6. Patents

Catalogues

I have uploaded a number of Jost catalogues to the Internet Archive.  Thank you to Patrick Carrière at Billards Anciens and James Masters at Masters Of Games for assistance.

J.A. Jost Catalogue 1890 - Manufacture De Jeux De Précision - Ancienne Maison Chevallier [PDF download]

This next catalogue is INCOMPLETE.  I believe it is from ~1922, as I think the "Catalogue No." generally aligns with the year of 1900.

Jeu De Precision - Jost & Cie Catalogue No 22 [INCOMPLETE] [PDF download]

I am assuming that catalogue No. 26 is from around 1926.

Jeu De Precision - Jost & Cie Catalogue No 26 [PDF download]

This next catalogue does not even mention Jost at all, but contains materials from their earlier catalogues.  On the back page you can see the imprint "1073 - 25.9.28".  My assumption is that second number is the catalogue date, September 25th, 1928.  

Règle Du Jeu Avec Notice sur Les Jeux D'aujourd'hui [PDF Download]

This next one is very similar to the one above, and appears to have been pasted inside the box of a roulette game.  It contains the roulette instructions, followed by a short catalogue.  It features J.A.J and J.A.L on the cover.

J.A.J. & J.A.L. - Les Jeux D'Aujourd'hui Règle Du Jeu [PDF download]

The following are images of covers of other catalogues.  If you have these or any other Jost material, please send me an email.  thetastates@gmail.com

1892 catalogue

The 1902 catalogue cover says "Catalogue No 2", which leads me to believe that there is a strong correlation between the catalogue numbers and the year in the 1900s.

1902 catalogue

One exception to that rule is the "Catalogue special" which seems to be a bonus supplement, perhaps published halfway between annual catalogues?  That is a guess.  This one still says " No. 2" but also 1903.

1902 catalogue

The following is a slim catalogue that popped up on Ebay.  Given the phrasing, I assume this is a later catalogue, after Jost passed.  I like the photographs from the shop.  If you think there are clues to help date it, please let me know.

Factory Negatives

The following are silvered negative photographs from the Jost factory, as listed on proantic (archive).  I'm posting the inverted versions.