- and full color photos (including some quite racy "Stereo View Cards" from the 1950s)...this is a very desirable book...that any collector would be proud to own." AboutPinball.com

"This is the first ever book on the advent of the all-pervasive coin machine. Illustrated throughout in colour and black and white, Nic Costa reveals how the coin machine entered our world by ingenuity, invention and guile, from its origins in late Victorian society through to the twentieth century." Joyland Books

"I was recommended this book...when I started collecting just three years ago and how right... It gives a good insight into coin operated machines from the early years. Whilst it does have pictures, it is mostly text and, as such, deals with mainly the history side of mechanical machines. An absolute must buy, in my opinion."

This book has stood the test of time. Copies of the first edition have over the years regularly sold for many times the cover price. The full color book is once more in print. Since its original publication it has been cited in many academic papers and has since become the definitive work on the subject. It caused embarrassment to the huge American coin machine industry when it was first published in 1988- they were busy celebrating the centenary of the Juke Box in that year as an American invention whereas the book revealed that it was actually an earlier British invention. It awoke huge interest in Japan by giving them long sought answers as to the origins of the Pachinko machine (which at the time was consuming as much as a quarter of the gross domestic product in Japan). As a direct result of the book a new museum was established in the Japanese city of Kobe and for a short while the author became a national celebrity there. The book established many new facts and destroyed many of the myths that had arisen in the gaming industry during the 20th century. Originally an ancient Greek invention, the advent of the coin machine in the 19th century heralded a Victorian revolution which sought to establish a fully automated society.