Automatic Pleasures: History of the Coin Machine - Hardcover

Costa, Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1870703006 ISBN 13: 9781870703000

Publisher: Kevin Francis Publishing, 1988

Synopsis

This book has stood the test of time. Copies of the first edition have over the years regularly sold for many times the cover price. The full color book is once more in print. Since its original publication it has been cited in many academic papers and has since become the definitive work on the subject. It caused embarrassment to the huge American coin machine industry when it was first published in 1988- they were busy celebrating the centenary of the Juke Box in that year as an American invention whereas the book revealed that it was actually an earlier British invention. It awoke huge interest in Japan by giving them long sought answers as to the origins of the Pachinko machine (which at the time was consuming as much as a quarter of the gross domestic product in Japan). As a direct result of the book a new museum was established in the Japanese city of Kobe and for a short while the author became a national celebrity there. The book established many new facts and destroyed many of the myths that had arisen in the gaming industry during the 20th century. Originally an ancient Greek invention, the advent of the coin machine in the 19th century heralded a Victorian revolution which sought to establish a fully automated society.

Edition details

• Publisher: Kevin Francis Publishing
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1870703006
• ISBN 13: 9781870703000
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224