Bally's Money Honey

The first electric machines were actually electromechanical. The reels spanned due the motor power and stopped by the solenoid brake. It wasn’t so hard to pull a handle as it was in mechanic slots, so many players thought that the prize could in some way depend upon the speed  the handle was pulled. Later, in the 1980s the electromechanic slots were replaced by the complete electronic slots with microprocessors. In such machines microprocessor controlled the certain position of each reel.

The machines continued to be developed, particularly with the introduction of Bally’s ‘Money Honey’ in 1963. Previously the payouts had come from tubes stacked with coins inside the machine. Money Honey’s innovation was to incorporate an electric hopper (developed for coin counting) which could hold much larger quantities of coins, making the payouts much more spectacular.

They say that this is the machine that changed Las Vegas.

Using an electric hopper this slot machine could return payouts of hundreds of coins instead of the twenty or so of the all mechanical models of just a few years before.  The Money Honey was in service throughout the mid-1960s and may still be found in the odd legion hall or seedy bar. This machine weighs close to 200-lbs, is fully operational and lights up. It reminds of the Operator Bell.  It has the look and feel of a bygone era...of gangsters and glitter.  It reeks of the illicit and will spice up much a movie set.