Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
34 <strong>Silvio</strong> E. <strong>Petricciani</strong><br />
the plays on the clock each time the handle<br />
was pulled. And that worked out pretty good.<br />
It eliminated the rhythm players to a point.<br />
Then they got ideas where they could put<br />
magnets on there and stop the bar. See it’s got<br />
a little fan. So then we had to go to, instead<br />
<strong>of</strong> a steel fan, an aluminum little fan on the<br />
governor to go around, so that it couldn’t be<br />
stopped. But they went to the aluminum one,<br />
but they had little steel weights on there, and<br />
they could still stop the clock. So then we<br />
had to go to the stainless steel weights which<br />
[were] non-magnetized or lead weights and<br />
stainless steel reels to hold it on there. So we<br />
got that done. Then pretty soon they’d start<br />
drilling the machines. They have little drills<br />
that they put on, and they drill right through<br />
the center <strong>of</strong> the machine and then they put<br />
a little wire in there to stop the clock, or short<br />
out something and make the machine empty<br />
the hopper.<br />
So to combat that you put stainless sides<br />
inside <strong>of</strong> the case, but you don’t put them tight<br />
onto the case because they’ve got drills that’ll<br />
go through that. You leave the stainless steel<br />
loose, so when the drill hits it, the stainless<br />
steel’ll go that way and the drill will just go<br />
alongside.<br />
Then you have to put anti-stringing<br />
devices on the coin acceptors. What happens<br />
is they put a coin in there with a string, and<br />
then they get down and trip it and then they<br />
pull it back up again, you see, and trip it again,<br />
and pull it back up and trip it again. So now we<br />
have a string cutter on there, so when they put<br />
the coin they’ll get one play. And then when<br />
they pull it back up, this little knife comes out<br />
and cuts the string. But these are the things—<br />
the different things that people do to try to<br />
cheat a slot machine. So I guess that’s about<br />
it on slot machines. Anything else you want?<br />
What were your defenses against the spooners?<br />
Well, if we could catch them—and <strong>of</strong><br />
course those days are gone forever too—take<br />
them outside and beat the living hell out <strong>of</strong><br />
them, then arrest them and throw them in<br />
jail. That was the way you coped with them<br />
in those days. It was very effective.<br />
I’m sure it was.<br />
Yes, very effective. And now I’ve heard—<br />
I’ve never seen it done, but way back before<br />
my time, say, early twenties or so when they<br />
had gaming and stuff and somebody’d come<br />
in and try to cheat a “21” game or something,<br />
take them downstairs and put their fingers in<br />
a vice and break their fingers. It stopped it. It<br />
was the only thing they knew at the time to<br />
stop it, you know. But if you go back I think<br />
into history—I’m trying to remember now<br />
where I read about it—where if a person was<br />
a thief or something, they would mangle<br />
his hands or something and he was known<br />
then. He was known as a thief. That was his<br />
punishment. They would mangle his hands,<br />
so he could never use them for any sleight <strong>of</strong><br />
hand or legerdemain <strong>of</strong> any kind any more.<br />
But, you know, it’s like in the old days when<br />
they used to put them in the stockades, in the<br />
old stocks and so on for punishment. But that<br />
was their form <strong>of</strong> punishment in those days<br />
and it was accepted. And the thief knew that<br />
it he got caught, that was what was going to<br />
happen to him.<br />
Of course, you know catching them<br />
is one thing because they always had you<br />
pretty well pegged as to where you were<br />
and so on. Because when they’d use a spoon<br />
or something they’d have an accomplice<br />
watching out for anybody in authority in<br />
the place that might be coming around a<br />
post or something, and they’d, you know,<br />
they’d have a coat or something, hide the<br />
spoon right away and just play the machine