Fill Em Up & Curiosity Inc

Something new has arrived!  a 1953 Fill Em Up from Ruffler & Walker

There's a story with this one though:

There's this guy Alex in Edmonton who's doing what you kind of wish every antique dealer did: Make regular videos about things in the shop!
I was watching a video of his and of course my eyes immediately go to the bits of coin-op at the sides of the frame.
His store is called Curiosity Inc and I sent him an email, and we quickly struck a deal for the Fill Em Up!

It should be noted he has a bunch of other coin-op in his store, including 3 EM pinball machines, some slots, another allwin, and a classic trade stimulator.  He is an expert shipper, and if you're in the Edmonton area you should definitely know where he's at.  Some pics he sent me:

We are living in interesting and difficult times, so it's fascinating to see businesses adapt and cope however they can.  If that interests you, I would highly recommend following Alex and the Curiosity Inc exploits in how he's dealing with this time.  I even get a mention just after the 6 minute mark here:

It's been interesting to see him entirely overhaul his store during the time off.  He also has a great series where he buys a house that was packed full due to years of a hoarding condition, empties, cleans, and fixes it up, and then reveals the owner's identity, promotes and auctions her famous pottery, meets her before she dies at over 100, and then publishes a book on her.

My game arrived safe and sound in this absolute tank of a hand-made shipping crate.  Gloves were used, all surfaces disinfected, all packing materials disposed of, and gloves sent off to decontaminate for 4 days.
Cleaned myself and the machine surfaces, but really there's no risk on the internals because coronavirus can't live on surfaces for 5 days.

key was originally in this gap...

Get it down and realize... no key!  There was a keyed wedged in the gap on the front but it had fallen in.  I messaged some friends "HOW DO I PICK THIS LOCK?" and finally got it going once I assembled the correct tools. (I had a few bad tries, but that tiny screw driver and the dental pick did the trick.  Dental picks are essential tools)
Worst case scenario I could have drilled it out, but with the key inside, I really didn't want to.

British locks have pins on the bottom.  I'm told this is a cam wafer lock, one of the easiest to defeat

*total hacker voice* I'm in
On the right is the original key, rescued.  A little bent but still working great

It even has the original coin box!  Wow this is going to need a cleaning.  And I'm going to have to procure more pre-decimal British pennies before this is all over...

original coin box: heavy duty and super rusty

You know what it took to get it to play OK?  Removing this one piece:

one of the nails was missing, so the entrance gate became an obstruction

I'll put that red circle back on eventually, but really that was the only issue.  The payout mech seems great.  Some mild variability in the coins paid (for the larger stacks it seems it gives more than one coin per ball in column) but the fact it pays out is lovely.  There is a locking mechanism on the payout that sometimes needs a jiggle, but I can look to refine and adjust that later.
It's going to need a new sheet of glass and I'll replace all of the 45 steel balls.  Then a very deep cleaning.

Here is a shot of the glorious internals:

*sniff* it's so beautiful

Here is an excellent video that explains what is going on:

I've always wanted a game LIKE this.  I first was really into this British game Challenger (by Samson circa 1960), where you fill columns, and the winning coin goes to the operator, and the others fall out as a prize.
Same idea in Fill Em Up, but I like the skill element of Fill Em Up more.  Challenger's gameplay is still just a basic coin drop, like some of the oldest and most basic trade stims.  The Fill Em Up machine is a bit of a mechanical marvel, instead.  But both have that column-filling action.

A video on Challenger, and you'll see the same column-filling.  The only satisfying advantage of the challenger is that it's a much simpler machine, and so the payouts are automated.

But I think the Fill Em Up scratches that itch, and I won't have to consider importing a freaking CHALLENGER from the UK :)

the only other allwin I'm looking for right now is The Hat Trick, another Ruffler & Walker machine.