Tribute To Dick Bueschel
By Russ Jensen
Back in 1984 I wrote an article for COIN SLOT (published by a different publisher at that time) called TRIBUTE TO A COIN MACHINE GREAT. At that time it was a tribute to coin machine pioneer Harry Williams (pinball designer and founder of no less than four pinball manufacturing outfits) who had recently passed away. This article, I'm very sad to say, is in memory of the late coin machine historian and author Richard M. Bueschel who passed away on April 19, 1998 at the too early age of 71.
While Dick was not actually a member of the coin machine industry as Harry was, I think he certainly deserves to be called a "coin machine great". Dick's contributions in chronicling the history of that great industry certainly cannot be overstated! Without his persistent digging into how various personalities over the years have contributed to coin machines, and then describing that in great detail in his many books and articles, the history of the coin machine industry would probably still be more or less of a mystery - only bits and pieces of it being known by the individuals who were part of it themselves.
I can say for sure that almost everybody who collects almost any type of coin-operated device has heard of Dick Bueschel - and most of these have probably read one or more of his books, and probably many of his articles. This is because Dick has been writing on the subject of coin machines and their industry for many, many years, at least as far back as the 1970's. I do know for a fact that Dick formulated the idea for a book on the history of the slot machine back in 1967! Certainly the news of this great man's passing was felt with sorrow by all of those who heard about it - it certainly was by me!
I will now attempt to give a somewhat brief description of Dick's many, many accomplishments involving the coin-op hobby (any attempt to completely describe that subject would be a monumental task - and could even fill a book itself). I will also describe my personal association with this fine individual over the years, and how he has helped me greatly in many of my meager endeavors in the field of coin-op writing.
But first, before I get into the details, I would like to relate a "small world story" involving me and Dick - I LOVE "small world stories"! During a telephone conversation with him several years ago I happened to mention that I was born in October 1936 at the West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois. Dick then proceeded to tell me that that was very interesting since on the day I was born he was a child (actually 9 years old) and lived two or three blocks from that hospital at the time! Who would have known that over 40 years later we would share a common hobby and become friends? It surely is a "small world"!
Probably the first time I ever heard of Dick Bueschel was in the early 1970's. At that time my hobby was collecting player piano rolls and I received in the mail a monthly advertising paper from an outfit in New York state called Vestal Press who specialized in publishing books on the various forms of automatic musical instruments (player pianos, nickelodeons, etc.). In one issue of that publication I saw a small announcement which read something like "COMING SOON - Lemons, Cherries, and Bell-Fruit Gum - the history of the slot machine by Richard Bueschel" I remember thinking at that time that sure was a "neat title" since I did know a little about slot machines even then, and remembered their reel symbols. It would be many years before that book was published - I waited until it was and it was worth waiting for - but more about that later.
My first actual "contact" with Dick was a phone call I made to him sometime in the mid-1970's. I can't remember exactly where I got his number, or exactly what question I asked him (but I believe it was about slot machine history), but he was happy to talk to me and answered my question.
Later, when I began writing for COIN SLOT in 1981, I noticed the advertising for Dick's coin-op books in the magazine. In fact, Dick began his coin-op book writing with Coin Slot Books which at that time was owned by Bill Harris (who also published COIN SLOT at the time) - the man responsible for launching Dick's coin-op book writing career.
Dicks first coin-op book was "An Illustrated Price Guide to the 100 Most Collectable Slot Machines" which was released in July 1978, followed shortly by "Illustrated Price Guide to the 100 Most Collectable Trade Stimulators". Dick's first book (Slots 1) incidentally was reprinted in a "revised edition" in August 1981, and subsequently a "10th Anniversary Edition" was printed in December 1988. During the years 1978 through 1983 Dick published (for Coin Slot Books) four volumes of his slot machine series, plus two volumes on trade stimulators. In addition, Bill Harris was the publisher of Dick's 34 volume series of "Coin Slot Guides" - small booklets each containing copies of manufacturer's technical information on a particular model of coin-op gambling device.
It should be mentioned that all of Dick's "100 collectable" type books (which he produced over the years) had one thing in common. In the center of each was 100 pages, each showing pictures and a detailed description of one machine of the type being discussed in that book. These machines were always shown in chronological order, starting with the time when that type of machine first came into use and ending up with the current era (if that type of machine was still being made). I can see how compiling that much information about 100 machines for each book had to be a very time consuming task! Before and after this section Dick always included chapters dealing with such things as the history of the type of machine, how to collect them, and value (most of these books - if not all - included a price guide for the machines illustrated in it.)
Sometime in the early 1980's (I can't remember exactly when) I became involved in a new project of Dick's, that of writing his first pinball book for Coin Slot Books, a book to be titled "Illustrated Historical Guide to Pinball Machines - Volume 1". First off, Dick asked me at some point if I could provide him with black and white photos of the pingames in my collection for possible inclusion in the book. My son-in-law Michael Smith came over one day and took some nice photos of all my games, plus several of me and the machines, and I subsequently sent them to Dick.
Dick also ask me to provide a list of what I considered the "most collectable" pinball machines over the years. I, along with a couple others, provided him with this type of list which he used to determine which 100 games to picture in the forthcoming book, and also in other volumes in the series he planned to do later.
After he had decided on the 100 games he was going to picture in the book, and obtained suitable pictures of them from various collectors (including myself) from all over the country, Dick sent a list of the games to me and several other people who he had chosen to provide pricing estimates for the games - since a "price guide" was to be included in the book. After receiving "price lists" from all of us Dick used them to come up with his final "price list" for the book.
It was about a year or so after providing this information for his first pinball book that I finally had the pleasure of meeting this fine gentleman in person. This was at the first Pinball Expo show held near Chicago in November 1985. After communicating with Dick for several years on the phone and by mail it was sure nice to finally meet him "in the flesh".
Dick finally finished his "masterpiece" and it was published in 1988 by Coin Slot Books (which by that time had been sold to Hoflin Publishing, along with COIN SLOT magazine) I remember very well reading the extensive history section of the book which covered the period from the origins of pinball's "ancestor", the game of Bagatelle, through the pioneer pingames of the early 1930's. One thing that really impressed me in Dick's historical writing was how he would include glimpses into the history of the world in the various eras with the coin machine history of the same periods! Ever since reading Pinball 1 I have always thought of Dick as "an historian's historian".
Before continuing with the history of Dick's writing accomplishments, I would like to say a few words regarding the help he provided to me in my own writing endeavors. At various times over the years I have either written or phoned Dick with questions concerning pinball history. He would always eventually respond by mailing to me photocopies of early advertisements for the games I had questioned him about, with small "memos" attached to each. I still have all this material in a file and will treasure it forever. I cannot even begin to tell you how much help Dick was to me in my past writing career!
One of Dick's outstanding accomplishments had to be his two-volume hardback (also available in soft cover) set of books titled "Jennings Slot Machines 1906-1990", which was published in 1992 by Coin Slot Books and advertised as "Illustrated, Historical, Maintenance and Repair Guide to Jennings Mechanical and Electro-mechanical 3-reel Bell Machines". The two volume set consisted of over 800 pages, including hundreds of photos (some even in color). These books contained a detailed history of the O.D. Jennings Company (complete with early photos) and reproductions of large portions of the maintenance manuals for most (if not all) of the Jennings slots. This truly monumental book set is still available for sale from Coin Slot Books.
About a year later in 1993 Dick came out with another fine coin-op book (which he had been working on for quite awhile) in conjunction with well-known arcade machine collector Stan Gronowski, titled "Illustrated Historical Guide to Arcade Machines - Volume 1". This book featured a history of the arcade coin-op machine, plus photos and descriptions of 100 collectable arcade machines. Another outstanding book by Dick.
Delving into still another genre of coin machine, Dick came out in 1995 with a book titled "Big Head Lollipop Scales". This book covered many different varieties of antique coin-operated weighing scales and was published by Coin-Op Classics Books of Fountain Valley, California.
In addition to his numerous coin-op books, Dick of course wrote many, many articles for many coin-op oriented magazines! Especially in recent years, you could hardly open a coin-op magazine without seeing at least one (sometimes more) articles by Dick. They covered almost any type of coin-operated machine you could imagine (slots, trade stimulators, pinballs, arcade machines, etc.).
Not only did Dick write for many coin-op publications, he also, at one time or another, acted as an editor for many of them - one even having to completely quit publication due to Dick's illness. Sometime back in the early 1980's, Dick became the "Historical Editor" for COIN SLOT, which at that time was published by his old friends Bill and Roseanna Harris. When that magazine was later sold to Hoflin Publishing in the Fall of 1984 (after a short-lived ownership by Pennsylvania coin-op collector Joe Jankuska) Dick's title was changed to that of "Associate Editor", a post be maintained until the Fall of 1994.
While still doing editing for COIN SLOT, Dick also became the editor (starting in May 1992) for a new coin-op magazine called "Slot-Box Collector" which was started several months earlier by a young Virginia coin-op collector, publisher, and book designer named Eric Hatchell. Eric was later to become involved in Dick's coin-op book endeavors - but more about that later. In November of the same year (after publishing 7 issues) the magazine changed its name to "Classic Amusements". But in January 1993 the magazine quit publication entirely.
One unique feature about that magazine was that it was the first coin-op magazine to use color photography in a few of its articles! In fact it published one of my articles with color, the first and only time (except for the Internet on-line magazine "Silverball News and Views") to do that for me - and it sure looked great!
Shortly after Classic Amusements quit publication, Californian Pete Movesian started publishing another coin-op magazine in March 1994 which he called "Coin-op Classics". And who should be appointed as editor, none other than Dick Bueschel. That magazine was published more or less on a bi-monthly basis, and after awhile also published a few articles using color photographs. But when it was learned that Dick was ill and could not continue as editor, Mr. Movesian sadly decided that he could not continue publishing the magazine without Dick's editorial services and quit publication in the Winter of 1997.
Dick also acted in the post of "Supervising Editor" for the tabloid format coin-op publication "Coin-Drop International" which was published by his old friends Bill and Roseanna Harris's outfit Royal Bell Ltd. That publication began in July 1994, and Dick became its Supervising Editor around September 1996. He remained performing those duties until shortly before his untimely passing.
Before returning to discussing Dick's coin-op books, I would like to mention the fine seminars he conducted as part of the annual Pinball Expo shows. But first, a little about Dick's interest in, and collecting of, coin machine industry advertising materials.
Dick's profession before he retired a few years ago was that of advertising executive for a Chicago area advertising firm. So it was not strange in the least for him to have a keen interest in the advertising material of the coin machine industry.
Dick collected coin-op advertising material for years. This material was very useful to him in the preparation of his numerous coin-op books and articles, and excerpts from it were often used in many of them. In the last several years (and maybe even before - I am not sure) after using these documents in the creation of one of his books, he would sell the material he had used and use the proceeds from that to help finance his next project. Over the years Dick had pass thorough his hands mountains of rare (and often expensive) antique advertising materials for the coin-op industry.
Now on to the Dick's Pinball Expo seminars. And the first of these involved coin-op advertising - namely pinball advertising flyers. It was given at Pinball Expo '91 in October of that year, and titled "The History of the Pinball Flyer". His presentation included much information on how and why flyers are prepared. Dick also showed slides of numerous examples of flyers from all eras - from one for the turn-of-the-century game LOG CABIN to those of some of the current games at the time, explaining how they were created. One thing I still remember about that presentation was that Dick passed out to everyone attending an actual flyer for a game from the late 1950's!
At the next Expo in November 1992, Dick's seminar was titled "The Search For Pachinko". He told of being contacted by a Japanese television producer who was preparing a documentary for Japanese television on the origins of Japan's favorite game (and an upright version of pinball), Pachinko. These people visited Dick because he collected old Bagatelle games - an "ancestor" of both pinball and pachinko. We were entertained by Dick with many anecdotes of that memorable visit, and even shown video clips of the final product.
The following year at Pinball Expo '93 Dick was part of a four-person team who gave a presentation titled "Pinball History, Art, and Technology". The other members of the team were Canadian pinball historian Wayne Morgan (who talked primarily of the "popular culture" aspects of pinball, collector Gordon Hasse (who talked about pinball art), and pinball guru Steve Young (who talked about the "technical" side of pinball). Dick's part of the presentation was a review of the early history of pinball.
It was back to pinball flyers again for Dick at Pinball Expo '94, with a seminar titled "Collecting Pinball Flyers". This time, of course, Dick told of how pinball advertising flyers have become "prime collectables". After telling of how the prices for these "paper items" have increased in the past several years, he gave examples of some flyers and their current value. The major part of Dick's presentation was a great slide show showing many rare and unusual pinball flyers from the past.
At Pinball Expo '95 Dick's seminar was titled "The 100 Most Collectable Pinball Machines of the Past Ten Years". Earlier I told of Dick's first pinball book, "Pinball 1", in preparation for which he collected lists from myself and others of what we considered the "most collectable" pingames of the past. Well, it being about 10 years since that was done, I guess Dick decided it was time to add some of the later model games to his "most collectable list" so he could use them in a new book he was preparing with a similar format - more about that later.
During this seminar Dick had people from the audience "nominate" pinballs from the past 10 or so years for possible addition to the "collectable list". He then proceeded to have the audience vote on the various games which had been nominated, coming up with a final list of the "top 5" new games for addition to his list.
Before describing Dick's last two Expo talks, I want to go back to his books for a little while. In 1995 Dick did a book for Schiffer Publishing which embodied his interest in all forms of coin-ops, This fine hardback book had all color illustrations and was titled "Collector's Guide to Vintage Coin Machines".
The book contained separate chapters on each type of coin-operated collectable, included a "price guide" covering all the machines shown, and ended with a chapter titled "Resources" which told about, and listed, various publications and coin-op shows. The categories of machines pictured and described (including history of each) included: Slot Machines, Jukeboxes, Pinballs, Arcade Machines, Trade Stimulators, Vending Machines, and Scales. A very find and informative book to say the least!
Later that same year the project Dick started thinking about way back in 1967 finally came to fruition. Dick's definitive history of the payout slot machine '"Lemons, Cherries, and Bell-Fruit Gum" was finally published! And it was sure worth waiting for! The book was published by Dick's old friends Bill and Roseanna Harris' Royal Bell Ltd. outfit - and you'll probably remember that Bill Harris was also the first person to publish one of Dick's coin-op books back in 1978.
This book was beautiful! And I have often referred to it as "the most beautiful coin-op book ever published". One person responsible for the book being as beautiful as it was, was Dick's old friend Eric Hatchell (former publisher of Slot-Box Collector and Classic Amusements magazines) who was the Production Manager for the book. Eric sure has a flair for designing attractive publications.
The chapters in the book were divided into "decades" in a way, but differently than any other book using that format. Instead of each chapter outlining the history starting at the beginning of the decade (1910, 1920, etc.), Dick's chapters each began in the middle of the decade (1885-1894, etc.). One reason for this somewhat odd organization was because his history began in 1885 (the middle of a decade). Dick also pointed out that for some reason significant events in slot machine history often occurred in the middle of a decade.
Another interesting and attractive thing about the book was that the text for each chapter was printed on a different color paper - probably one of Eric's clever ideas. This does make reading a little more difficult for people with limited vision like myself, but it sure added to the attractiveness of the book in general.
Almost all of the copious illustrations used in the book were taken from advertising material from various slot machine manufacturers, which of course came from Dick's extensive collection of such literature which I mentioned earlier. Dick used this graphic material along with his text to very effectively tell the story of the development of the slot machine from its very early years to the current machines of the 1990's.
I can remember very well when I first received my copy of the book, reading it with fervor, and being fascinated by Dick's way of presenting the material. It took me awhile to read the entire book, but it was well worth the time and effort. The book I had read about in the 1970's was finally here!
Lemons, Cherries, and Bell-Fruit Gum was published in both a "standard" hard-back edition with a nice color cover, and a "special" leather bound "collector's edition" which sold for $150. I originally bought the standard edition, but after awhile something wonderful happened to me! In the Spring of 1996 I attended Bill and Roseanna's COIN-OP SUIPER SHOW held about 75 miles from my home. After I left the show and returned home I received a phone call from an old friend who was still there. He informed me that my name had been drawn to receive a "door prize" which (believe it or not) was the leather bound edition of that book. Even though I was not there to pick it up, my dear friend Roseanna mailed it to me after returning to Colorado. What a prize indeed!
Dick's next hard-back book was part of a new project he began for the Silverball Amusements outfit of New York pin collector and parts and literature supplier, Steve Young, and pinball collector, historian, and author Gordon Hasse. This fine book was titled "Encyclopedia of Pinball - Volume 1" and was to be the first of a projected six-volume series of such books. Each volume was to have a "history section" outlining a different period in the history of pinball - Volume 1 to cover the history from pinball's early "ancestors" up through 1933. The history sections of the other planned volumes were to cover 1934-1936, 1937-1947, 1947-1961, 1962-1981, and 1982-2000. Each of these history sections was to include several chapters each including a large number of illustrations, many in color.
Each volume was also to include (ala Dick's previous "100 collectable" coin-op books) a 100 page section picturing and describing 100 collectable pingames. The games in that section of all the books would be shown chronologically and cover all decades of pinball production in each volume, unlike the history sections. In addition to those two sections, there would be other chapters at the end of each book covering other aspects of pinball and pinball collecting. Each volume was also to come with a separate "price list" giving values of the 100 games pictured in that volume. Separate values would be given for each game for five different "conditions" of the machine.
Volume 1 of Encyclopedia Of Pinball was printed just prior to Pinball Expo '96 and the first copies were delivered (including mine) at the show in November.. It was sure something to behold! Dick's history section was astounding, and included excerpts from a multitude of interviews he had conducted over many years with fascinating people who worked in the pinball industry over the years. These were complimented by numerous quotes from coin-op industry trade publications. Dick skillfully wove this information with his own comments to present a fascinating and very complete early history of the pinball machine and its industry.
On a personal note. The photograph of the first Bally game BALLYHOO, which appeared on the cover of the book was loaned to Dick and Eric Hatchell by yours truly, and was from the cover of a Bally Manufacturing Co. annual report which I owned. Also, in one of the chapters in the back of the book there was a photo of me which I had sent to Dick many years earlier.
As soon as Encyclopedia of Pinball - Volume 1 was "put to bed" Dick almost immediately began work on Volume 2. He worked feverishly on that to have it ready for publication only one year later - and he made it - as Volume 2 was again available by Expo time in November 1997! That volume was just as great as the first volume, with a history section covering the years 1934 through 1936. Regrettably this would be the next to the last book Dick ever published (the only of his books published after that being a book on counter games and trade stimulators for Shiffer Publishing which came out a couple months later). The series, however, was to be continued, but more about that later.
Now back to Dick's Pinball Expo presentations. At Pinball Expo '96 in November 1996 (the same year Volume 1 of his "Encyclopedia" was published), Dick gave a seminar titled "Researching and Writing Encyclopedia of Pinball - Volume 1". During his talk Dick told of some of the things required to produce such a book, and gave some idea of the time frame involved in producing it. Most of the session was devoted to Dick answering questions from the audience. Intermixed with that Dick told about several of the pinball industry "old-timers" he had interviewed in the past, information from which he used in preparing the book.
For Pinball Expo '97 in November of that year Dick had been scheduled to make a presentation titled "Pinball Myths and Mistakes", but when the time came for Dick's presentation show producer Rob Berk got up and told us that Dick would not be able to speak, and that instead Las Vegas "super collector" Tim Arnold would give a talk on "starting a pinball club". When Tim began speaking he gave us the devastating news that the reason Dick was not giving his scheduled talk was the he had been diagnosed with "an inoperable brain tumor", shaking up the members of the audience who had not heard this shocking news previously.
But just after Tim began his talk, Dick entered the room in a wheelchair pushed by his daughter Megan, bringing on a massive sustained round of applause! Dick then came up on stage and began a brief address to the assembled people. Details of this talk were previously presented in Part 1 of my coverage of Pinball Expo '97 (which appeared in the Spring 1998 issue of COIN SLOT) so I won't go into it here. Needless to say, Dick's last public talk (as far as I know) was very emotional indeed!
That ends my discussion of Dick Bueschel's illustrious career in writing books and articles on coin machines, editing magazines, etc.. I will end with a few more personal notes regarding my association with this great man, and a little about how his work is still continuing in one way or another.
Back in the late 1980's, after Dick's first pinball book (PINBALL 1) was published, I received a "surprise package" in the mail. It was from Dick and contained his original hand-written manuscript (on yellow legal-size paper) for that book! I could hardly believe it! When I later asked him why he had chosen me to receive such a prize, Dick simply answered "because I thought you would like it". All I can say is that I will treasure that forever!
But that was not the only surprise gift I received from Dick. After his next pinball book (Encyclopedia of Pinball - Volume 1) was published and I got my copy, I noticed that one of his illustrations (in the chapter on the early history of Bally) was the cover of the December 1931 issue of BALLYHOO magazine (a very popular satire magazine of the time) - the magazine which supposedly inspired Bally founder Ray Moloney to name the simple pingame he was creating BALLYHOO. The magazine's colorful cover also supposedly gave Ray the idea for its colorful playfield. Not only that, but when Ray decided to form a company to produce his new game he decided to call it Bally Manufacturing - and a great name was born!
Since I owned a BALLYHOO machine I though it would be nice to at least have a color Xerox copy of that famous magazine cover, so I asked Dick if he could possibly copy it for me? Dick said he would think about it. Well, not too long after that I received another surprise in the mail. Dick had decided to not copy the magazine cover, but to give me this rare magazine (and piece of pinball history memorabilia) as a gift! That, of course, is another thing I will treasure forever!
In addition to those two special gifts I received from Dick, I will also always treasure the autographs he gave me on most of his books which I own. One of my personal favorites is the one he wrote in my copy of "Collector's Guide to Vintage Coin Machines" which read "For Russ Jensen - You and I are each other's greatest fans".
That concludes my review of Dick Bueschel's illustrious coin-op writing career, but it's not really over. About a year or so prior to his illness, Dick began still another massive book writing project. He decided to do another book for his good friends Bill and Roseanna Harris' Royal Bell Ltd. The book was to cover two related forms of coin-operated machines - the jukebox and coin-operated automatic musical instrument. The title of this work was to be "Let The Other Guy Play It"
When I was once told by Dick about this project, I told him that years ago I was interested in mechanical musical instruments (not coin-operated, but player pianos) and that I had saved bulletins from an organization I belonged to then called "Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors Association" (AMICA) which dealt with both coin-op and non-coin-op instruments. I subsequently loaned this literature to Dick which he copied and returned to me later.
Dick was deeply into this project when his illness forced him to finally stop working on it prior to its completion. Well, I have been told by Roseanna that there is a good chance this book may eventually be published because Roseanna, with the possible help of Dick's daughter Stacey Bueschel McDonald, will attempt to finish Dick's last writing project (other than the Encyclopedia of Pinball series - more about that next). Anyway, if all goes well, this long awaited book many come out and Dick's name will once again be listed as the author of a newly published coin-op book!
There was also another book that Dick was finishing up prior to his having to quit due to his illness. That book he was doing for Pete Movesian's Coin-Op Classics Books, was titled "Keeney Super Bells", and included detailed technical information on that series of console slot machines. I contacted Pete and he informed me that he is putting the finishing touches on that book and expects it to be published later this year.
Also, as I explained earlier, Dick was also heavily involved with his projected six volume "Encyclopedia of Pinball" series. When it appeared that his illness would not let him complete that ambitious project, Dick began making preparations for the series to continue. He started working closely with his old friend (who was also involved with the publication of the first two volumes of the series) Gordon Hasse, grooming him to continue the series in the event of his death.
Dick had already pretty much planned in detail the next volume (Volume 3) of the series, as well as "mapping out" what should be in the rest of the volumes as well. At the time I am writing this Gordon has "picked up the helm" and is working hard on preparing Volume 3 of the series. Gordon himself readily admits he has "no illusions of replacing Dick Bueschel", but I am sure he will do an admirable job and that in future years the entire series will be completed in the "great Dick Bueschel tradition"!
That ends my tribute to that wonderful human being and fabulous author Richard M. Bueschel. He already is sorely missed by many, many coin machine hobbyists, and certainly by me! Who will answer the many questions which continually arise concerning antique coin-ops and their history? This will have to be done by a variety of people now that there is not "one major source" of this type of information! We all miss you Dick - and always will! Bye, bye good buddy!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I have tried to compile as complete a bibliography of Dick's coin-op books as I could. I believe it is fairly accurate, but with such a prolific author it's hard to say for sure. In addition to his coin-op books, Dick in the past has also written a few books on other subjects including World War II Japanese Aircraft, Communist Chinese Aircraft, and even saloon and bar goods, which I have not listed.
The information contained in the bibliography was compiled mostly from advertisements in various coin-op magazines over the years, and I even checked the Library of Congress website on the Internet. The books are listed by publisher and in a somewhat chronological sequence. While some of the books listed are now out of print, many of them are still available from such sources as Coin Slot Books, Royal Bell Ltd., and Silverball Amusements.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF COIN-OP BOOKS BY RICHARD M. BUESCHEL
From - COIN SLOT BOOKS (HARRIS)
SLOT MACHINE SERIES
Slots 1: An Illustrated Price Guide to 100 Most Collectible
Slot Machines, Volume 1
Slots 1: An Illustrated Price Guide to 100 Most Collectible
Slot Machines, Volume 1 - "Revised"
Slots 2: An Illustrated Price Guide to 100 Most Collectible
Slot Machines, Volume 2- 150 pgs
Slots 3: An Illustrated Price Guide to 100 Most Collectible
Slot Machines, Volume 3 - 142 pgs
TRADE STIMULATOR SERIES
Trade 1: Illustrated Historical Guide to 100 Most
Collectable Trade Stimulators, Volume 1 - 122 pgs
Trade 1: Illustrated Historical Guide to 100 Most
Collectable Trade Stimulators, Volume 1 - "Revised"
Trade 2: Illustrated Historical Guide to 100 Most
Collectable Trade Stimulators, Volume 2
COIN SLOT GUIDES
CS Guide No. 1 (Mills BLACK CHERRY, GOLDEN FALLS
and JEWELL machines)
CS Guide No. 2 (Jennings CHIEF)
CS Guide No. 3 (Caille SUPERIOR, SUPERIOR JACKPOT
and SILENT SPHINX)
CS Guide No. 4 (Pace DELUXE, ALL-STAR COMET and COMET)
CS Guide No. 5 (Jennings CLUB CHIEF and STANDARD CHIEF)
CS Guide No. 6 ( Mills 21 Bell "7-7-7")
CS Guide No. 7 (Pace PACES RACES)
CS Guide No. 8 (Mills SILENT War Eagle)
CS Guide No. 9 (Watling ROL-A-TOP and TREASURY)
CS Guide No. 10 (Evans GALLOPING DOMINOS, BANG TAILS
and LUCKY STAR)
CS Guide No. 11 (AC Novelty MULTI-BELL)
CS Guide No. 12 (Mills DEWEY and CHICAGO)
CS Guide No. 13 (Mills VEST POCKET)
CS Guide No. 14 (Coin Devices MAJESTIC, Auto Bell THUNDERCHIEF
and corresponding HIGHTOP models)
CS Guide No. 15 (Mills MYSTERY "Blue Front")
CS Guide No. 16 (Baker BAKERS PACERS)
CS Guide No. 17 (Mills 1926-1931 Gooseneck OPERATOR BELL,
COUNTER O.K. and FRONT O.K.)
CS Guide No. 18 (Schall STAR)
CS Guide No. 19 (Groetchen COLUMBIA)
CS Guide No. 20 (Mills Bell-O-Matic FOUR CROWN and STANDARD
HIGHTOP)
CS Guide No. 21 (Sittman & Pitt/Monarch/Reliance/Mills/Caille
MODEL/RELIANCE/VICTOR/ DRAW POKER/FLORADORA)
CS Guide No. 22 (Yale, YALE WONDER CLOCK)
CS Guide No. 23 (CHICAGO RIDGE, OOM PAUL and AMERICAN BEAUTY)
CS Guide No. 24 (Mills 1918-1925 OPERATOR BELL,
COUNTER O.K. VENDOR and FRONT O.K.)
CS Guide No. 25 (Buckley CRISS CROSS and JACKPOT BELLE)
CS Guide No. 26 (Evans LUCKY LUCRE and CASINO BELLS)
CS Guide No. 27 (Buckley DIGGER)
CS Guide No. 28 (Canda/Mills/Caille PERFECTION/UPRIGHT)
CS Guide No. 29 (Mills LIBERTY BELL/OPERATOR BELL)
CS Guide No. 30 (Evans, EVANS RACES and EVANS LONG SHOT RACES)
CS Guide No. 31 (Jennings TODAY)
CS Guide No. 32 (Buckley POINTMAKER/SAFARI)
CS Guide No. 33 (Keeney SUPER BELL)
CS Guide No. 34 (SUPERIOR RACES)
From - COIN SLOT BOOKS (HOFLIN)
SLOT MACHINE SERIES
Slots 1: An Illustrated Price Guide to 100 Most Collectible Slot
Machines, Volume 1 - "10th Anniversary Edition - 165 pgs
Slots 4: An Illustrated Price Guide to 100 Most
Collectible Slot Machines, Volume 4 - 150 pgs
Jennings Slot Machines 1906-1990 (2 Volume Set - Hard & Soft
bound) Illustrated Historical, Maintenance and Repair Guide to Jennings Mechanical and Electromechanical 3-Reel Bell Machines.. - 800 pgs
TRADE STIMULATOR SERIES
Trade 2: Illustrated Historical Guide to 100 Most Collectable
Trade Stimulators, Volume 2 - "Revised Edition"
PINBALL SERIES
Pinball 1: Illustrated Historical Guide to Pinball Machines,
Volume 1 - 246 pgs
ARCADE SERIES
Arcade 1: Illustrated Historical Guide to Arcade Machines,
Volume 1, - 304pgs
From - COIN-OP CLASSICS BOOKS
MILLS CONSOLES - service information for 39 models - 120 pgs
PAYOUT DICE MACHINES - Service information for 15 models
- 116 pgs
BIG HEAD LOLLIPOP SCALES - Illustrated History of Big Head Scales
- Reproduces Original Advertising Materials - 236 pgs
ARCADE SPORTS GAMES - Collector's Book of 15 of the Most
Popular Sports Games - 270 pgs
PROBABLY TO BE PUBLISHED
KEENEY SUPER BELLS - Illustrated History Of Large Floor Model
Console Bell Slot Machines - Photographs and Reproductions
Of Original Advertising and Manuals
From - SCHIFFER PUBLISHING
COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO VINTAGE COIN MACHINES - 220 pgs
GUIDE TO VINTAGE TRADE STIMULATORS & COUNTER GAMES
With Price Guide
From WORDMARQUE DESIGN ASSOCIATES
COIN-OPS ON LOCATION - with Eric Hatchell
From ROYAL BELL LTD.
LEMONS, CHERRIES, AND BELL-FRUIT GUM - Illustrated
History of Automatic Payout Slot machines - 329 pgs
PROBABLY TO BE PUBLISHED
LET THE OTHER GUY PLAY IT - Covering jukeboxes and
coin-op mechanical musical instruments
From SILVERBALL AMUSEMENTS
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PINBALL - VOLUME 1 - History of Pinball
Through 1934, plus 100 collectable pinball games
from all eras. - 253 pgs
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PINBALL - VOLUME 2 - History of Pinball
1934 - 1936, plus 100 collectable pinball games
from all eras. - 252 pgs