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