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1940s Arcade Machines

Long before the days of televisions and computers in homes across the United States, people would go to arcades, carnivals or fairs to play games on arcade machines -- either alone, or to compete with friends. These arcade machines were coin-operated -- typically around a penny per game -- and mostly consisted of strength tests, fortune telling and pinball, though there were also arcade machines that allowed users to gaze at pictures of semi-nude women.

Electricity Shocker Machine
- According to history website Pinball History (pinballhistory.com), numerous models of arcade machines made a game out of zapping users with electric shocks. The Electricity Shocker Machine was generally played between two people, who each held on to two silver knobs and absorbed continual shocks until one -- the "loser" -- let go of his knobs first. Pinball History states that these machines were first invented in the 1920s, used throughout the 1940s and '50s, and were abruptly taken off the market in the 1960s when people realized that the electric shocks could be harmful to those with medical conditions.
National Hunter
- In the 1980s, Nintendo produced the first "duck hunt" game that could be played at home using an orange plastic gun and a television screen. But before Nintendo, in the 1940s people played a variation of the duck hunt game called National Hunter. The National Hunter arcade machine is a long, rectangular box with a see-through lid, much like a pinball machine without legs. This box was placed on a table or stand, and had a toy gun whose neck was permanently ensconced at one end of the box. A player would grip the handle of the gun, and shoot pennies at rows of ducks under the plastic lid. "Winners" would receive gumballs from the machine, according to Pinball History.
Pinball Machine
- Many different types of pinball machines were popular in the 1940s. Pinball machine popularity peaked between 1948 and 1958 because pinball "flippers," or the two silver arms that move when you press buttons on either side of the machine, were invented in 1947, according to gaming retailer BMI Gaming. Prior to the invention of flippers, BMI Gaming states that in 1942 a New York mayor briefly outlawed pinball machines because he saw them as a form of gambling.
Strength Tester
- For a penny, arcade goers of the 1940s could test their brawn on various types of strength tester machines. According to Pinball History, one of these machines, the "Gottlieb Strength Tester," would test player strength in three ways: by squeezing a grip handle, and pushing or pulling two grips together and apart. Pinball History notes that strength tester arcade machines could generally be found in pubs, taverns and penny arcades.

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