Penny Arcade
There has been a few possible "Penny Arcades" at Olentangy Park:
- Penny Arcade (Colonnade) - Opened in 1904 in the Colonnade
- Penny Arcade (Midway) - Opened in 1910, burned down in the 1911 Midway Fire
- Arcadia - Opened in 1909
- Automatic Vaudeville - Opened in 1909, burned down in the 1911 Midway Fire
At least one was still in operation in 1933.[1]
The Penny Arcades had coin-operated games and early-film devices such as Kinetoscopes, Mutoscopes, etc. The average trolley park arcade in 1906 had about 15 mutoscopes and 18 phonographs along the walls, with a perfume machine, a stick candy dispenser, a gum dispenser, a scale, a punching bag, a "test your strength" hand gripper and lifter games, a mechanical fortune teller, a postcard machine, an engraving machine, other games around the room.[2] A cashier was generally front and center with view machines and gum dispensers near them. Many featured a piano with snacks and card dispensers nearby. The cashiers were able to provide pennies in change for the machines. A size of the building suggested in 1906 was 40 feet square with free-flowing air.[3]
References
- ↑ "Glimpse into the Penny Arcade." Columbus Journal Dispatch. Aug. 20, 1933. Page 7-D.
- ↑ Wilk, Stephen R. Lost Wonderland: The Brief and Brilliant Life of Boston's Million Dollar Amusement Park. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2020. Pages 67-69.
- ↑ "The Construction and Operation of Penny Arcades for Service in Railway Parks." The Street Railway Journal. March 24, 1906. Vol. 27. No. 12. Pages 470-471. Accessed through the Internet Archive.