Jennings Slot Machines. Jennings was founded in 1906 and became a leading manufacturer of slot machines in the United States they also manufactured other coin-operated machines, including pinball. Jennings Silver Moon. Jennings Standard Chief. Jennings Deer Scene. Jennings 1 Star Chief.
Owning a vintage slot machine is one of those fun yet daunting ideas. Many old school one-armed bandits are beautifully designed and instant conversation pieces. Plus slot fans who own a machine don’t ever have to worry about losing money to the house.
Charles August Fey, a Bavaria-born inventor, was living in San Francisco when he invented his first gambling machine in 1984. His games grew to be so popular at local bars, he quit his day job and opened a factory to start mass producing them, most notably the Liberty Bell machines in 1899. A lot of the functionality from that early game remained in place through much of the 20th century. Watch this video to see the seven mechanical actions set into motion when you pull back the bandit’s arm. The inner workings are probably a little more complex than you expect.
Given that a lot of old slot machines are hand built, it isn’t surprising that coins can get jammed on their way through the mechanism. Big warning: If your machine jams, don’t force the arm or you can break, twist or damage a part inside. Different models and makes tend to have common jam points. The Mills model shown in the above video can have coins stuck in the “elevator” section that displays the last five coins dropped into the machine. Getting the slot working again can be as simple as cleaning the gunk off of an old part. You just need to be smart when you’re disassembling and reassembling the machinery.
Okay, there are plenty of more places where a coin can get stuck and the above video demonstrates how to fix a variety of jams. It also explains how to disassemble the major parts of the machine and where common problem areas are.
Curious how an antique slot machine knows how much money a winner gets? This video shows the punch-card like communication that trips payouts and how. If you ever need to replace the reel symbols or calibrate the machine you’ll need to understand how these work. Even if you don’t ever plan on owning a machine, the metallic “circuitry” is interesting to see.
Want to own a modern slot machine? New ones have plenty more bells, whistles and dings, and also a lot more advanced parts. If you plan on getting one, you may want to have an idea of what’s inside. In addition to the classic reels, there are speakers, motherboards filled with programming chips and plenty of wires. Unless you have a way with a soldering iron you probably won’t try and fix it. But in case you do, here’s a clip from Discovery showing what’s inside.
Did you know newer slot machines are smart enough to test themselves when a problem happens? This video shows you the procedure for having the machine check its own system. The host’s desert dry delivery is also enough to make this vid worth a watch.
Ode D.Jennings Company
1874-1953 Logo
Ode Jennings was born in Kentucky in 1874. In his late 20's he went to work for the Mills Novelty Co where his natural engineering ability soon made him an expert on coin-operated machines. So much so he was given the task of running the Mills Spectatorium at the 1904 World Fair in St Louis . This was a massive building, partly designed by Thomas Edison , and featured (what was said at the time to be ) hundreds of Mills slot machines, it was the only free attraction at the worlds fair but probably made more money than any other. The building was brightly lit at night (Edison's contribution) and attracted a huge number of visitors.
The Mills Spectatorium at the 1904 worlds Fair,St Louis
Two years later in 1906 he left Mills(seemingly on good terms) and founded the Industry Novelty Co Inc whose business was refurbishing Mills machines.
By 1923 the company was called O.D.Jennings & Co and was doing very well despite a misguided attempt to revive the Garbell Typewriter Corp which he had bought out of liquidation, the attempt was a total disaster. In the same year, he was granted a US patent for an improved coin selecting device which could discard coins that were too small. In 1925 he invented and was granted a patent for an anti coin jamming device
In 1925 Ode bought a large house/farm in Schaumburg Illinois and like another country boy turned factory owner, Henry Ford, spent the rest of his life escaping from the factory whenever possible to be a part-time gentleman farmer breeding cattle and horses
By 1936 the company, was, like Mills, making a large range of slot machines in different styles, including a very unusual payout pin table called the Sportsman. This was more like a slot machine that a pin table
Ode Jennings died on 29th November 1953 at the age of 79 having personally run the company for 47 years. Having no children he left everything in trust to his wife on the proviso that it passed to the town and hospital on her death but she seems to have got round that as far as the company was concerned by setting up Jennings and Co in 1954 which purchased the assets of O.D.Jennings and Co from the estate of Ode Jennings.
Jennings Slot Machine Restoration Software
Jennings and Co were merged with theHershey Manufacturing Co in 1957 although 80% of Hershey's production was Jennings machines. By the early '60s Jennings was the top producer of slot machines in the US with 45% of total sales.
By the mid '60s with laws in the US cutting slot sales to a fraction American Machine and Science Co acquired the failing Jennings Co along with Bell-o-matic (the remains of the Mills Slot division) and merged them to become TJM Corp run by Tony and John Mills but a failure to come to grips with the new electromechanical slot machines Bally had grabbed the market with plus the failure of Mills to protect their business rights in Japan caused the company to close in the 1980s
Ode Jennings wife Jeannette died in 1963 and, as proposed in Ode's will, left the house and lands to the town and donated $500,000 to the local hospital for the building of the O.D.Jennings wing which opened in 1966.
A selection Of Jennings Machines
Most slot machine collectors want at least one Jennings machine in their collection. The early models are always interesting and the later ones are often considered THE classic mechanical slot machine. The Indian Chief figurehead is instantly recognisable even to those not involved in the history of slots. They were always well made with great build quality and the designs have stood the test of time. Here are just a few of Jenning's amazing machines.
For a more complete list click the green button at the top of the page
1920 5c Play 1925 25c Counter model
Dutch Boy Century
4 star Chief One star chief
Dixie Belle Dixie Belle
Century 'Bull Durham' Triple Jackpot
Peacock 'The Witch/Black cat'
Quality Mint Vendor Silver Club
BronzeChief Fortune teller gum Ball Vendor
The 'Little Duke'
The 'Little Duke' was an attempt at something new and did have considerable success. The totally new mech bares no resemblance to the standard Bandit mechs of the day and the machine is much sort after today
The Little duke inside the little Duke
'Little Duke' Patent 1933
Being totally new in design considerable effort was put into educating potential customers as to the Little Duke
Jennings produced a surprising number of different 'Golf Ball Vendors' The console on the left allowed the player to select which type of ball he wanted
Puritan Girl Trade Stim Triplex Chief
Fortune teller gum ball vendor Penny Play
Rockaway The Favorite
Club Consoles
Antique Jennings Slot Machine Parts
Jennings were always keen on console style machines, this was most likely due to there large upper-class market in clubs.These machines represent some of the most luxurious machines ever made
Cigarola Club console
Plain Case Club Console The Long Shot
Deluxe Club Console 'Prospector' Console
The low level 'Silver Moon' console was another unusual style that had some success
This silver moon boasts a rather ugly raised totalisator and gum vendor !!
The silver moon simply mounted the standard chief mech in a low case and the result was read from the top
The 1946 Challenger Console allowed the player to play 1 or 2 coins at different odds
Victory Chief Target Drop
Jennings made a big thing of this feature so perhaps they were the first to come up with it.
In 1939 Mills introduced the single cherry payout for the first time, Jennings had followed suit by 1941,
The Silver club (shown above) was one of the first to pay on a single cherry
Silver Chief Early silver chief
The 'Modern Vendor'
The very advanced but not very pretty 'Modern Vendor' which used some electronic parts was made in 1940 for use in states that didn't allow gambling but wasn't in production for very long.
The Sportsman Jennings always produced good quality
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In 1948/9 Jennings looked to produce the first of a range of machines that were
to become their most iconic and recognisable machines, Based on the
slightly earlier, more rounded design these had straighter crisper lines and
although many different variations followed they all retained the same basic look and shape.
The first was the 'solid front'
A Selection of the Classic later machines
Governor Tic-Tac-Toe
1946 Standard Chief 1947 Chinese Front
Prospector(Monte Carlo) Buckaroo 4 reeler
For me at least, its hard to find any make of slot machine that looks as good as the Jennings Standard
Prospector and its console-mounted brother. If you were told you couldn't win I would still play it
Constellation ( Nevada Club ) Sun Chief(closed front,ribbed)
Governor (light up front) Sun Chief (light up front)
Thanks to Paul Olsen for allowing us to use these two photos of his 'Buckaroos' the one on the left is labelled as a 'Midget Buckaroo'
Tikki Aku Aku Limited edition specially made for the Stardust Polynesian lounge in Las Vegas, by Slim Ewing at Ewing Enterprises. The machine pictured here has been very carefully restored to its original condition by the owner, Larry Zeidman, a leading collector and casino machine expert in the USA. and we thank him for letting us use the photos and providing the information on the machine. The Handle is the right 'ear' of the head
The Last Of the Jennings machines
The Galaxy
Some Galaxy's had UV tubes and florescent
reel strips which worked quite well
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The 400 Series (sometimes fitted with 'the Skill Stop' buttons) & 'The Olympic(?)'
in production in 1980
These 400's were found packed like this 30 years after they were made, they appear to have been well used before storage
(this photo and that of some of the 400/700* series courtesy of the owner of the machines John Spina)
The 400 /700 series was a valid attempt at a circuit board controlled hopper payout machine to meet the new market dominated by Bally but was unreliable and too late on the scene and marks the end of the line for Jennings named machines
700 series 400J
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This 400j and the 700 next to it clearly saw service in the big Vegas hotels
Operators Instruction Sheet (1960's)
company flyers