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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Another classic turn of the century vending machine: The Cupid's Post Office. Sold in many variations - all terrifying - it's the love-themed postcard vendor that absolutely nobody ever needed.

An early variation of the Mills Novelty vending machine, Cupid's Post Office.

https://www.arcade-museum.com/Arcade/cupids-post-office--mills

The Cupid from an Exhibit Supply variation of Cupid's Post Office in the 1920s.

https://www.torrencecollection.com/exhibitsupply.html

1905-05-15 Street Railway Review pg 324. An illustration of the Mills Novelty Cupid's Post Office machine.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Not content with what they did to Europe, the Germans created a gun game based on Bambi to fuel your trauma. Schießautomat (Shooting machine) was an influential Dale Gun-style cabinet released in 1956. See more from @cpi.pinball.horse: earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/2024/02/1963...

1957-02 Automatenmarkt. A photo of the Schießautomat machine by Wiegandt in West Germany.

https://www.antik-automaten.de/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=1709

A color photo of a Schießautomat shooting game, showing off the crudely painted Bambi facsimile.

https://archive.is/Zv4GB

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

We actually know precisely how well the tachyscopes did at the fair too! (Or at least what was reported) They outdid one of the phonograph exhibitors, as well as vending machines and stamp vendors combined. These were not just some obscure one-off!

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A few more reports, all connected to the exposition. I think the answer is: Everything that was ever made for the format.

1893-08-02 Portage Daily Democrat pg 02.

1893-10-17 San Francisco Chronicle pg 02.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Here's the article snippet from the July 13, 1983 The Russell Record, which mentions many other coin-op machines as well. "Horses run, men box and wrestle, girls dance, etc."

https://phonographia.com/Fairs/1893%20WCE%20KN%20REF.htm#KN_50TACHY

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A precursor to the kinetoscope, the Electrotachyscope was a German invention that showed zoetrope-esque photo animation in a box. In 1893, fifty of these machines in coin-operated form were placed at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

A model of the coin-operated Electrotachyscope, produced in Berlin circa 1891-1893.

An image of the inner workings of the tachyscope, a photo-based zoetrope device. It features an athletic man running.

https://museudelcinema.girona.cat/eng/colleccio_objectes_fitxa.php?id=7844

A mass-produced version of the Electrotachyscope viewing station, coin-operated, circa 1892.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Candid photos from an arcade inside of Chicago's wonderful Union Station, circa 1971. Oh to have been there for the end of the EM age...

A floor view of the arcade inside of Union Station in Chicago. Features notable games like Sega's Periscope, Sega's Helicopter, shooting games, and a pitch and bat baseball game.

Source: Chicago History Museum, ST-60004603-0001.

A man plays Target Zero by Bally while a child walks by. A woman plays Chicago Coin's Speedway while another watches.

Source: Chicago History Museum, ST-60004603-0041.

Two women laugh joyously while one plays Speedway by Chicago Coin.

Source: Chicago History Museum, ST-60004603-0043.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

A unique take on pinball from Deutschland, with the German Alarm by T. H. Bergmann. Not quite a bingo, boxy and stylish, it goes to show what other countries can get up to when they get the chance.

A promotional photo for the T. H. Bergmann pinball Alarm.

https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2867&picno=41398

Photo of a surviving Alarm pinball in Germany.

https://www.flippertreff.de/start/forum/topic/4930-alarm-bergmann/

A close-up of the art on the Alarm playfield.

https://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=2867&picno=56177

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Here's to over a hundred years of the arcade! Even if the Cleveland Arcade is not the sole origin of the term, the opening 136 years ago stands as an important moment in the creation of the arcade. And there's plenty more arcade stories left to tell.

A closer view of the Ohio Phonograph office in The Arcade in Cleveland, circa 1901. By this time, the location had also come to feature Kinetographs. It would vacate the space in 1902.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2016800199/

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Ohio Phonograph would eventually be caught up in the collapse of the phonograph Trust. James Andem would end up suing the Edison Company and leaving the industry. He died 1932 and never claimed title as "Father of the Arcade".

1892-06 Phonogram pg 123. James Andem (center) in a group photo with other phonograph pioneers, sitting in front of a phonograph on a desk next to a typewriter.

1892-12 Phonogram pg xi. Andem authored a pamphlet book titled "A Practical Guide for the Use of the Edison Phonograph" in 1892 with business advice on the new medium.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

But they were dead wrong. Coin-op allowed phonographs to be mass-produced, sustaining the technology until it was cheap enough to realistically enter the home. Steadily, "arcades" with coin-operated machines of all types appeared around the country.

1892-10 Phonogram pg 21. An exhibit with rows of Edison Automatic Phonographs, all of which play a single cylinder with the insertion of a nickel.

1892-01 Phonogram pg v. A man posing; listening to an Edison Automatic Phonograph.

A sketch from the 1893 World's Fair of people congregating around phonograph machines, likely coin-operated.

https://phonographia.com/Fairs/1893%20WCE.htm

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Regardless, the success of the Ohio Phonograph arcades (and others) attracted scrutiny. Phonograph proprietors looked down on those who peddled coin-operated machines. They believed that devaluing this technological wonder as an entertainment device would be its downfall.

1892-03 Phonogram pg 70. An early model Edison Automatic Phonograph being listened to by a child.

1891-01 Phonogram pg 6. A screed against the coin-operated phonograph and its devaluing nature to the technology.

1891-02 Phonogram pg 34. The editor responds to James Andem's criticism of the journal's stance on coin-operated phonographs.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

That point is somewhat unproveable. We cannot be certain that these specific arcade locations were the reason for the term's adoption. The ones in Ohio were certainly not the only phonograph parlors based in arcade buildings - the location made sense for this particular business model.

1892-11-26 The Evening Journal pg 8. Notice of phonographs placed in an arcade building in Adelaide, Australia.

1893-10-02 The Cambria Daily Leader pg 2. An ad for a phonograph parlor located in the Alexandria Arcade in Wales.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

In a retrospective article on the history of the arcade from the March 15, 1947 issue of Billboard Magazine, the author stakes a claim that "arcade" comes from the Ohio Phonograph Co. They credit the location opened in Cincinnati's Emery Arcade in November 1890, but the point stands.

1947-03-15 The Billboard pg 124. "The Penny Arcade" article section dealing with the origin of the term "arcade" as a coin-op amusement space.

1891-11 Phonogram pg 248. An Ohio Phonograph location with coin-operated machines, possibly the Emery Arcade location in Cincinnati.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

On September 13, 1890, Ohio Phonograph opened an office in the brand new Arcade building in Cleveland. Initially featuring only five nickel-play phonographs, this location was among the first spaces dedicated to coin-op devices. And it was in The Arcade.

1891-11 Phonogram pg 249. An Ohio Phonograph location featuring coin-operated machines, possibly the location at The Arcade in Cleveland.

1890-09-13 Cleveland Plain Dealer pg 5. Ad for the opening day of the phonograph parlor in The Arcade in Cleveland, Ohio.

A view from the far end of Cleveland's The Arcade building. The Ohio Phonograph office would be located on the second floor at the far right end from this angle, if it was always in the same location.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2018651561/

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Rather than charge for entry into a parlor, Ohio Phonograph became one of the earliest adopters of coin-operated phonographs. First commercialized in early 1890 by the Automatic Phonograph Exhibition Company, nickel-actuated machines were a perfect business model for wax cylinders.

1890-08-09 Electrical Review pg 1. A sketch model of the coin-operated Edison Automatic Phonograph.

An early model Edison Automatic Phonograph.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-gilded-age-and-progressive-era/article/abs/from-talking-machines-to-music-machines-the-early-years-of-recorded-sound-and-playback-in-pictures-and-audio/985C2153A42C386B7231CA53A05074D6

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

And what better place to draw foot traffic than an arcade? This part of the story takes us to the great state of Ohio, where the Ohio Phonograph Company took up the license. Its chief principal was one James L. Andem, who is credited with their shift in business model.

Facade of The Arcade in Cleveland, prior to the completion of construction in 1889.

https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/24

1891-11 Phonogram pg Photo 1. James Lambert Andem, head of the Ohio Phonograph Company founded in December 1888.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

While the company still believed the phonograph was for dictation, several of their subsidiaries soon hit upon the model of the phonograph parlor. These permanent spaces were stuffed with phonograph machines. Patrons listened using eartubes and would return frequently to hear new recordings.

1892-03 Phonogram pg 82. The phonograph being used as a dictation device with two secretaries on typewriters.

1891-10 Phonogram pg 222. Patrons of all shapes and ages listening to an exhibition phonograph through ear tubes.

1892-06 Phonogram pg 125. An illustration of a man listening to a phonograph through ear tubes while a woman and an operator watch.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Rather than figure out the business prospect himself, Edison instead handed the rights to exploit the phonograph into a Trust called the North American Phonograph Company. It was their job to create subsidiaries and spread the phonograph all across the U.S.

Share ticket for the North American Phonograph Company.

1893-01 Phonogram pg 300. The North American Phonograph Company office in Chicago.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

And most importantly: Music became the phonograph's raison d'être. Recorded music was born as an entertainment medium, giving those who listened to the phonograph a reason to come back beyond its novelty. But the machines were too expensive to purchase for the home.

1891-10 Phonogram pg 226. A brass band performs recordings to a series of acoustic horns to be pressed onto wax cylinders.

Edison's phonograph recording lab on September 24, 1892 featuring a number of instruments including pianos. Photo taken by William K. R. Dickson, inventor of the Kinetograph.

1893-03+04 Phonogram pg 361. A choir being recorded to phonograph.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Then in the late 1880s, things changed. Improvements made by Bell's Volta Labs resulted in the creation of the more durable wax cylinder medium. Edison's company then applied a reliable electric motor to the phonograph to ensure consistent playback.

An early version of the Volta Labs Graphophone, an evolution on the phonograph utilizing wax cylinders.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_855751

Thomas Edison and lab staff sit around the "Perfected Phonograph" using wax cylinders, circa 1888.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Edison_and_the_perfected-phonograph-group_in_1888.jpg

An 1800s era Edison phonograph with wax cylinders.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edison_phonograph_with_wax_cylinder_record,_1811_Kid_Ory_Historic_House,_LaPlace,_Louisiana.jpg

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

It all goes back to the phonograph. Though first demonstrated in 1878, the original phonograph was only ever an experimental device. Its complexity, fragile recording medium, and Edison's insistence on it as a dictation device limited the machine to controlled exhibitions.

Thomas Edison sits with his original foil phonograph, circa 1878.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edison_and_phonograph_edit2.jpg

An illustration showing a demonstration of the phonograph from Harper's Weekly, March 30, 1878.

https://phonographia.com/Fairs/Six%20Degrees.htm

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

In the United States, indoor shopping arcades became centerpieces of inner city life. Their facades reflected the architectural trends of the day - often grand and ornate; of the highest class. How do these buildings relate to the dingy dens of games we think of today?

Photo of the Windsor Arcade in New York City on Manhattan island.

https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/first-shopping-mall-in-nyc/

Postcard of the Westminster Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The word "arcade" evolved from a term which simply meant an archway. By the 19th century, the word had taken on a more specific meaning in English: An outdoor area covered by said arches. These spaces congregated shops within - like an early predecessor to the shopping mall.

Galeries du Palais Royal, painted circa 1800, showcasing an early covered arcade location in Paris.

Illustration of the northern entrance to the Burlington Arcade shopping center in London, England, circa 1800s.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Heal-Topography-255

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Why do we call it an "arcade"? This question takes us back to the earliest days of coin-op amusement, the origin of recorded entertainment, and the tumultuous days of technology Trusts. Introducing: The First Arcade (maybe).

A postcard featuring The Arcade building in Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1901. The lower left shows the Ohio Phonograph Company office on the second floor. This is possibly the first location for coin-operated amusements situated inside of an "arcade" style building, potentially giving birth to the term "arcade" as a space for coin-operated machines.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2016800199/

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Untitled, Goose Game. Not coin-operated, but too good to not share.

A carnival style rolling ball game featuring a goose that players threw balls into to score points.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/240446302_rare-british-1940s-1950s-goose-roll-a-ball-game-tilburg-north-brabant/

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Grab it by the horns: Bull Perfume! This unique dispenser leveraged the shape of the common handle to ensure that only the strongest and bravest of people would smell fabulous.

A frontal image of the Bull Perfume dispenser.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-antique-cast-iron-bull-503676198

A restored and painted version of the Bull Perfume machine.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The Mills jukebox, Throne of Music. Has there ever been a more coveted seat of power?

1939-06 Automatic Age pg 36. A specimen of the Mills Throne of Music jukebox, painted in red.

A Throne of Music jukebox in green, lit up from within.

https://www.photo4me.com/shop/247117/canvas?o=1&e=1&s=46&u=mm&share=false&toneId=0

1939-10 Automatic World pg 36. Models promote the Mills jukebox Throne of Music.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Do you like it hot? The world of hot coffee vending in the world of Bert Mills with this Coffee Bar machine! Would you spring for the 500 cup deluxe model?

1951-04 Coin Machine Journal pg 5. Advertisement for the Bert Mills vending machine Coffee Bar.

A surviving, mint colored Coffee Bar machine.

https://www.ebth.com/items/3545108-vintage-coffee-bar-vending-machine

A match box with advertisement for the Bert Mills Coffee Bar machine.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144972661500

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Ain't that machine just cute as a button? Daval Mfg produced their Penny Pack slot machine in the late 1930s, an adorable little device with so many different colors and varieties. Just remember: It's only for gum. No ulterior motives here!

A red, white, and blue variation of the Penny Pack slot machine from Daval Mfg.

https://www.bradfordsauction.com/auction-lot/daval-penny-pack-3-reel-countertop-cigarette-tr_2b0478299f

A yellow model of Penny Pack, loaded with gumballs.

https://www.bradfordsauction.com/auction-lot/1930s-daval-penny-pack-coin-operated-3-reel-count_10a4f8aa5c

1938-12 Automatic World pg 42. Part of a Daval Mfg ad focusing on a new model of Penny Pack.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I stumbled across the original source for the slot machine myth that I could not previous access, from the September 1940 issue of the American Mercury! This salacious account is far from the most reliable source, but it's fascinating in its alacrity. Will update the post soon.

1940-09 American Mercury pg 100. The article which first propagated the myth about Mills Novelty stealing the design of the Liberty Bell from Charles Fey.

https://archive.org/details/american-mercury/American%20Mercury%20v51n201%20(1940-09)%20(unz)/page/100/

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

The Strong Museum of Play may not focus on coin-op, but they have some amazing pieces on display! Here's a few snippets from their main arcade exhibit - including my favorite mechanical trade stimulator: The Fairest Wheel!

A mutoscope with a marquee for Quick on the Trigger, a crane game "Iron Claw" filled with marbles, and a Sky Fighter machine on display at The Strong Museum of Play.

A later model Fairest Wheel machine demonstrated at the Strong Museum of Play.

A cabinet for Ace Bomber at The Strong Museum of Play - between a Computer Space and a Gun Fight.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Slightly grotesque but nonetheless fascinating, this Mills lung tester called Hats Off from the early penny arcade era is a wonderful example of creative theming for the era. Also, the game's free if your lungs are hardy!

A restored unit of the Mills Hat's Off lung tester.

Close-up of the faces on a model of Hats Off by Mills Novelty.

A wide view of the Hats Off lung tester machine.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Ready to rock with Rock-O-Ball? Rock-Ola really knew how to brand in the 1930s. Even this miniature skee ball-alike soars with a fun name like that!

1937-01 Automatic Age pg 128. Promotional image of what pieces come with the purchase of a Rock-O-Ball machine.

An unrestored marquee score board for Rock-O-Ball.

1937-03 Automatic World pg 60. A Rock-O-Ball being played on location in Chicago.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Created as an add-on to kiddie rides, Bally's Fun-Phone was an interesting audio novelty to keep kids occupied while a grown-up did their shopping. All of the fun of the telephone with none of the AT&T mark-up!

Flyer for Bally's Fun-Phone novelty amusement.

https://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/funfone.htm

A Fun-Phone machine by Bally.

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/10-cent-bally-fun-phone-magic-story-teller-417-c-fef4a3fb8e

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Ron Haliburton is one of the few designers of electro-mechanical games that moved on into early video games! His work with All-Tech and Allied Leisure were stellar examples of late EM design. Check out the article for info on Alyssa' project!

The two-player gun game Crack Shot by Allied Leisure.

https://www.tiltedpinball.com/the-garage/em-arcades/crack-shot/

Flyer for Allied Leisure's Crack Shot game.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

The Fourth is passed, but patriotic coin-op lives on with the Uncle Sam handshake grip testers! This iconic, creepy mannequin lasted on location for decades after first appearing in the early 1900s.

Shake With Uncle Sam machine in a storage room.

https://www.gameroomshow.com/product/penny-arcade-machines/uncle-sam-personality-tester/

Arcade 1: Illustrated Historical Guide To Arcade Machines pg 117. Advertisement for an early 1900s era The Hand-Shake Automaton shaped like Uncle Sam.

A Shake Hands with Uncle Sam grip tester in a Bay Area arcade, circa 1981.

searchworks.stanford.edu/view/9685083

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

There's plenty more Mills to come, but this was the first decade of madness that forged the company who would redefine coin-operated machines. The Owl flies high!

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Under the auspices of his family, Mills Novelty survived and would soon catapult itself into massive success on the back of the penny arcade phenomenon. This isn't even everything I could have covered: Including robberies, accusations of racketeering, cornering the market on peanuts...

Mills Novelty Penny Arcade brochure, 1905. A sign advertising the Mills Edisonia at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.

1904-04-16 Billboard. Advertisement by Mills Novelty for their booklet of machines.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Herbert Mills and the company secretary were both sentenced to a year in jail. During his time in the clink, Herbert was said to have charitably contributed to his fellow prisoners' lives, including excess resources from his company.

1901-04-23 Chicago Tribune pg 3. Herbert Mills and Anthony de Gignac (his father in law) are sentenced to a year in prison on a federal charge of distributing obscene photographs by mail.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Several arrests were made, including that of Herbert Mills, who was convicted of using federal postage to send "lewd" photographs. As this was going on, the company entered yet another labor dispute - which allegedly led to the suicide of one of the former workers.

1906-01-07 The Inter Ocean pg Sporting 2. Photo of Herbert Mills among a group of Columbia Yacht Club members.

1901-01-16 The Inter Ocean pg 5. Mills Novelty Co. raided and its secretary arrested.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

A photo viewing device distributed by Mills suddenly started making news across the country - for the wrong reasons. The photos distributed with these machines were judged to be of an obscene nature. Though they tried to deny it, eventually the evidence led back to Mills.

A Mills Novelty Quartoscope photo viewer, with a marquee showing racy photographs. This potentially dates from the period of their run-in with authorities.

1900-07-13 Passaic Daily News pg 3. Six thousand photographs and associated machines are seized from the F. W. Mills Novelty Co. of New York for obscenity.

1901-01-04 The Buffalo Review pg 5. Mills Novelty operator is arrested for display of racy photographs in viewing machines.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Nevertheless, by 1900, Mills Novelty was a booming business. According to Herbert Mills, they were exporting machines from Chicago by the thousands every month and employing over 600 people in their factory. Then they went a step too far.

1899-10-14 Spokane Chronicle pg 5. Mills Novelty newspaper advertisement showcasing their many machines.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Even after returning to the building, Mills had to fight against the anti-trade stimulator movement popping up in parts of the country. The following year, they were caught up in a machinist's strike temporarily stalling their growth.

1898 Mills Novelty Catalog pg 5. A photo of the Ewart Building with the letters "Mills Novelty Co. Coin Operating Machines" on the exterior. Likely this was an illustration and Mills never had a sign like this on the outside of the building, of which they were not the only occupants.

1898-12-04 Marietta Daily Leader pg 3. Description of an injunction against a Mills Novelty representative placing machines in Parkersburg, Virginia.

1900-02-25 The Inter Ocean pg 7. Description of fifteen machnists stepping out from Mills Novelty as part of a larger strike movement.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

However, on January 28, 1898, the building block of 11 to 23 S. Jefferson St. was engulfed in a raging flame. While the building was not totally destroyed, Mills Novelty was displaced and suffered an estimated loss of $5,000 and had only $3,500 in capital.

1898-01-29 Chicago Tribune pg 4. Illustration of the fire that engulfed the Ewart Building.

1898-01-29 Chicago Tribune pg 4. Estimated damage by Mills Novelty and other companies of losses in the Ewart Building fire.

1898-03-12 The Topeka Capital-Journal pg 7. Newspaper ad showing the temporary office of Mills Novelty, 127 W. Randolph St.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

From its earliest days, Mills had national ambitions for their selection of trade stimulators and vending machines. Their branch offices spanned coast to coast and their variety of offerings was immense. Their signature machine was The Owl; the animal soon became part of their logo.

1898 Mills Novelty Catalog pg 1. A list of Mills Novelty branch offices on the East and West coasts.

1898 Mills Novelty Catalog pg 4. The shipping department in the Ewart Building offices of Mills Novelty, showing Admiral and Owl machine.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

M.B.M. Cigar was only a side business for Mortimer, but eventually his fourth son, Herbert, took an interest in coin-op. Fully adopting the name Mills Novelty in 1897, they set up a manufacturing facility on Jefferson St in Chicago to create coin-op amusements.

1905-04-29 Billboard. Portrait of Herbert Stephen Mills.

1898 Mills Novelty Catalog pg 1. The main office of Mills Novelty on 11 to 23 South Jefferson St. Their original office was 25 N. Jefferson St. before moving to the Ewart Building.

1897-07-04 The Inter Ocean pg 16. The corporate renaming of M. B. M. Cigar Vending Machine Co. to Mills Novelty Co. They had been going by this name by at least June 1896.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Mills Novelty was originally founded by Mortimer Birdsul Mills, a Canadian emigre who migrated to Chicago and filed many railway patents. On April 14, 1891, he filed a patent for a cigar vending machine and founded a company to sell the device: M.B.M. Cigar Vending Machine Co.

1935-05-02 Chicago Tribune pg 13. Mortimer B. Mills (r) with his wife Kate (nee Fuller) on their 69th wedding anniversary.

Front page of U.S. Patent #450,336, Coin-actuated vending apparatus filed by Mortimer B. Mills. It depicts the mechanisms of a rectangular-shaped cigar vending machine.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US450336

1891-04-14 St Louis Globe-Democrat pg 3. Notice of the founding of M.B.M. Cigar Vending Machine Co. by Mortimer B. Mills and George A. Fuller.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Mills Novelty was the most important company in the formation of the American coin-op industry in the early 1900s. And in its first years of operation, it faced several major crises that nearly put it out of business. This is the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad first decade of Mills Novelty.

1903 Mills Novelty Catalog pg 1. The front of a Mills Novelty catalog, featuring their trademark.

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ourlostarcade.bsky.social @ourlostarcade.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Despite widespread pinball bans in the 1940s, some people still found their salvation in the silver ball. This 1949 articles by Ted Hodges highlights the 'addictive' quality of these underground games in the post-War era.

1949-04+05 El Burro Magazine pg 23. A group of men gathered around one playing a pinball machine - the man behind pointing out something on the playfield.

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