Do you use coins or tokens to operate coin-op games you own?

[carolinamarcg]

Free play here. Would love to coin drop but it's just too much of a hassle.

I do have quarters for my toddler to drop into the pac cocktail.

 

[gregafree]

the industry doesn't make tokens that are quarter sized. The closest one in width is the .984, which is larger, but the thinnest of the choices, likely so the weight doesn't approach that of a quarter. So the one you are using .984 -is- the (almost) quarter sized token.

.882 (22mm)
.900 (22.9mm) x .068 @ 5.1g (1.7mm)
.955 (24.26mm) x 0.69 @ 5.6g – US Quarter
.984 (25mm) x .061 @5.3g (1.5mm) (some vendors go .984 x .060 instead)

@gregafree - so if you had to do it over again, you would go with what?

Given the industry doesn't make quarter-sized tokens, I'd go with .900 - basically the closest to a quarter but smaller. Figuring that it would be easiest to get those to work in most games without too much fuss.

 

[Marquee Mark]

I feel like for collectors the token vs quarter debate is mainly about nostalgia. The arcades I went to as a kid (Supercade in Plymouth Meeting Mall and the 7th Street Arcade on the OCNJ boardwalk) ran quarters so the feel and sound and smell of a handful of quarters is what takes me back to those days. If I had been someone that went to Aladdin's Castle or something, then tokens would be the magic.

I grew up with both and then eventually dollar bill acceptors. We had golf land tokens, Alladins castle tokens, Chuck E. Cheese tokens, Bullwinkles tokens, and quarters. Quarters is simply the path of least resistance.

However, I only use period correct quarters which are usually found in the machines I acquire. Essentially nothing after 2000

 

[ccie38296]

However, I only use period correct quarters which are usually found in the machines I acquire. Essentially nothing after 2000

Ok that's dedication to authenticity.

 

[lilypad19]

However, I only use period correct quarters which are usually found in the machines I acquire. Essentially nothing after 2000

Whoo. That's hard core.. I kinda like it.. Do I sort my quarter buckets now..

 

[Marquee Mark]

Whoo. That's hard core.. I kinda like it.. Do I sort my quarter buckets now..

No time like the present

 

[edelgiud]

I think I posted in a similar thread a year ago or something.
I like using quarters because there are custom sounds based on that which are cool and remind me of when I was in the arcade (most had quarters some had tokens).

 

[Shavenyak]

Absolutely! I run my home arcade on quarters and have a changer (which ironically has a "free play" button rigged up).

This is the way.

 

[Shavenyak]

However, I only use period correct quarters which are usually found in the machines I acquire. Essentially nothing after 2000

That's bad ass, dude. lol I've never thought about this. I'm gonna go there.

 

[AlexHorse]

There's also something authentic about watching the continue timer count down and realizing you're out of quarters and dashing over to the changer to try to get another quarter in time! Even guests appreciate that!

I keep a couple Canadian quarters mixed in the hopper of my change machine. Makes those games even more challenging trying to get it to coin up haha

 

[ccie38296]

I keep a couple Canadian quarters mixed in the hopper of my change machine. Makes those games even more challenging trying to get it to coin up haha

Haha, I've come across a few bad coins in machines I've picked up too, foreign ones or just janky quarters that never validate and always fall through. I leave them in the changer for the same reason.

I also have a HOU Class of '81 that had a $1 Sacagawea coin validator from the factory. When I got the machine I was going to change it out for a quarter mech and decided to leave it for authenticity and the annoyance of having one slot not work with quarters

 

[AlexHorse]

Haha, I've come across a few bad coins in machines I've picked up too, foreign ones or just janky quarters that never validate and always fall through. I leave them in the changer for the same reason.

I also have a HOU Class of '81 that had a $1 Sacagawea coin validator from the factory. When I got the machine I was going to change it out for a quarter mech and decided to leave it for authenticity and the annoyance of having one slot not work with quarters

I love it haha!

 

[gutz]

Haha, I've come across a few bad coins in machines I've picked up too, foreign ones or just janky quarters that never validate and always fall through. I leave them in the changer for the same reason.

I also have a HOU Class of '81 that had a $1 Sacagawea coin validator from the factory. When I got the machine I was going to change it out for a quarter mech and decided to leave it for authenticity and the annoyance of having one slot not work with quarters

I similarly have SBA coin mechs in my center slots on early SS pinballs, but no SBA coins

 

[Marquee Mark]

I keep a couple Canadian quarters mixed in the hopper of my change machine. Makes those games even more challenging trying to get it to coin up haha

Oh i'm doing this!!! thank you!! Those sneaky Canucks, eh?

 

[Arcadenut]

I keep a couple Canadian quarters mixed in the hopper of my change machine. Makes those games even more challenging trying to get it to coin up haha

Not if you had my Any Coin mechs installed

 

[Marquee Mark]

Not if you had my Any Coin mechs installed

But that's the point!

 

[andrewb]

I'd be interested to see exactly how these work, I was unaware of their existence

There's really nothing to it. Almost literally.

A regular coin mech has a discriminating mechanism that measures the coin to verify if it's valid or not, and rejects ones that aren't valid.

The AnyCoin removes all of that, and is basically just a plastic slot that funnels whatever is inserted into the slot, so it hits the coin switch.

 

[fleckopolis]

I similarly have SBA coin mechs in my center slots on early SS pinballs, but no SBA coins

yep. I remember getting the SBA's from the attendant at Funway Freeway so I could get more plays, mostly on pinballs
My Xenon

 

[treborlicec]

I have about 30 of these that I can make someone a deal on. I ran tokens in my gameroom for years, but stopped, so they are avaialbe.

Any Coin V3.2! replacement Arcade Coin Mechs!

Replacement arcade coin mech for home use.

www.arcadeplastics.com