Classic Arcade Machines: Viewers

There are some great arcade machines that are hard to find today. If you are lucky to find an arcade that has some older machines then some of these kinds of machines you may enjoy. Most of these machines are not video games but old mechanical games. With so few of these old kinds of machines surviving when you do find these machines they are often very popular. This article covers one popular kind of these rare to find arcade machines that you may not have had the chance to play before.

Viewers were some of the earliest arcade machines. Some of these can be as simple as viewing a single picture. Some have 3-D pictures and some even have short movies. Some of the pictures are even in color. The prices you will have to pay to use these machines will range from a penny which was the original cost to a quarter for machines that have been updated.

The problem with these machines is that you have no idea what you will get. There are many of these old viewer machines that offer risque images. Sometimes these are risque images would not be considered risque at all in modern times. Some times they update these machines so they do show nude pictures. Some of the old machines even showed nude woman. They even have some that are joke machines. The joke machines will trick you into thinking you will see something by claiming to have a woman's shower for instance and then you just get a picture of the shower but no woman in it. The problem with these machines is you do not know what you will get. If you really want to see nude pictures you might not but if you just want to see some pin-up pictures you might see something else you do not want to see.

Like the risque joke viewers there a other joke machines. One example is machines that tell you on the front that what you will see is horrifying, scary, or other things along those lines. Then when you pay a penny the lights will go on and you will see a mirror.

Some of the earliest of the machines only show a picture or two. These are disappointments. You should read everything they say to see if they mention anything that will give you a clue if it is a picture or a actual early film. Popular early pictures you might see include the San Fransisco Earthquake. Some times the early simple pictures are in 3D. If movies are in 3D they will say so but then you also know that they will only be pictures.

These are rare machines. A couple places you can find multiple viewer machines include the Penny Arcade at Disneyland. You can also find many viewer machines at Musee Mechanique at Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco. My personal favorite machines are ones that have early Charlie Chaplin films. These films are rare and you can not find them anywhere else even with DVDs that have all Chaplin's old shorts they do not include the viewer reels.

These viewing machines can be over 100 years old. These are historically important for being early movies as well as being the earliest form of arcade machines. If you get a chance to view them you should give them a try.