My friends and I operated the Dickson Nickelodeon, a pinball arcade/coffee shop in the basement of a dormitory at Cornell University. We had acquired 23 (very) used coin-operated machines: pinball machines, arcade games, vending machines, and a penny scale.

During the 16 weeks of the fall 1974 semester, I recorded the cash box receipts for each of the 17 working machines. I don't know why I retained those records; I wish I had kept all the machines instead.

Can you guess which games were the most popular?

My first vending machine, a used Northwestern Model 49, provided a steady income during my high school years. I did not realize at the time that the Model 49 introduced many bulk vending features common in today's machines.

The Star Money Maker inspired me to purchase my first gumball machine. This small book provides 53 pages of first-hand reports from youths who found clever ways to make money. What I didn't realize when I purchased the book in 1967, was that it had been published 60 years earlier!

Adventures with Vending Machines and Rack Merchandising, by an Old Time Vendor as told to Ray Burkett, teaches you how to find profitable locations for gum and candy vendors, penny scales, jukeboxes, nut machines, and other coin operated devices. This 110-page book provides insights into smalltime vending operations in mid-20th century America.