Unique hobby turns into successful business

Posted: Nov. 28, 2011

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Kelly Smith

ROOMS OF FUN - Antique juke boxes, slot machines and pin ball games line the walls of Fred Weigels lower level recreation room in his City of Delafield lake shore home

Kelly Smith

ROOMS OF FUN - Antique juke boxes, slot machines and pin ball games line the walls of Fred Weigels lower level recreation room in his City of Delafield lake shore home

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Fred Weigel cannot explain how or why he got hooked on collecting antique slot machines, jukeboxes, and other arcade machines. He turned the hobby into a very successful business and the antique machines he has collected over the years are in almost every nook and cranny of his expansive Nagawicka Lake home and displayed wall to wall in his downstairs recreation rooms.

"He likes that they are mechanical, the way they work, and he likes how they look, some of them are very ornate," explained his wife, Sue.

Weigel, 64, was working as a truck driver in Brookfield when he started collecting slot machines in 1970s.

First piece

"My first one was a penny slot. I was so fascinated by it that I decided I wanted to get another one that had each denomination, a nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, even silver dollar," he said.

"I was hooked. These were purely mechanical, no electricity, worked with springs and gears. The cast-iron fronts were ornate and colorful," he added.

There are generally two styles of slot machines - those that stand on a floor and those that sit on a table or bar top.

Weigel remembers discovering a bar-top machine in Iron Mountain, Mich. He brought it home, sat it on the kitchen counter, and a live mouse crawled out of it.

Before moving another antique slot machine he found near Green Bay, he had to carefully place a large plastic garbage bag over it because it was infested with bees.

From slot machines, he progressed to jukeboxes.

There is an antique Wurlitzer jukebox in his rec room that is more than 60 years old.

Among the 20 vinyl, 45 revolution per minutes records, in the jukebox is Carl Perkin's rendition of "Blue Suede Shoes" which he wrote and recorded in 1956 on the Sun record label. Elvis Presley launched his career by performing the song on several live television variety entertainment shows and later recorded it with RCA records.

"You could see the mechanism pick up the record, slide it out, then the whole turntable would rise up until the record met the needle arm. I would stare at it for hours while listening to old Doris Day and Perry Como records. I was also hooked on old jukeboxes," Weigel explained.

Precursor to video games

He also started collecting pinball and other arcade games. Included in his collection, is a baseball game that was popular in the 1950s and '60s and perhaps, was a precursor to the modern video game.

On the glass-encased game board were pinball holes adjacent to the nine baseball player field positions and spots in the outfield designated as a hits, singles, doubles, triples and home runs.

A pinball would eject from the pitchers mound and roll toward a baseball bat-shaped flipper. The player would use a lever or button to flip the ball into the playing field. If the pinball rolled into a hole adjacent to designated player position it was an out.

However, if it rolled into a hole designated as a hit, a base runner would appear and run the number of bases according to whether the hit was a single, double, triple or home run.

Before the advent of the Internet, Weigel relied on word of mouth and ads he would place in local newspapers around the Midwest to find the antique machines.

"People would call because they had one handed down from a relative or just wanted to ask questions. Many times they weren't sure if they wanted to sell, so I would overpay just to own it," he said.

Since the Internet, he said it is somewhat easier to find machines, but the prices have escalated.

Often, he would have to repair and refurbish the machines. He would strip the paint, clean and sometimes replate the aluminum and cast-iron machines. Sue would hand paint the machines with the original colors.

He obtained parts from local amusement machine companies including P and P Amusement whose owner sold the company to Weigel in 1985.

From hobby to business

During the past 25 years, the Weigels have purchased eight other amusement machine businesses and combined to them to create Wisconsin P&P Amusement. It is one of the state's largest amusement companies, supplying jukeboxes, dart boards, pool tables, and various other games to taverns and restaurants in the metro-Milwaukee area.

Antique gambling machines have become very valuable, according to Weigel, because they are hard to find. Some of the machines in his collection are nearly 115 years old.

Many of the machines from the late 1800s and early 1900s - which operated mechanically without electricity and sometimes also played music - have disappeared because they were confiscated during government raids on taverns and restaurants during the prohibition era.

After World War II, before television and video games, tavern and restaurant amusement games were part of Wisconsin's entertainment culture, particularly in rural and northern segments of the state where entertainment options were limited.

Weigel explained that some patrons would often go a tavern or restaurant to play the games in addition to drinking or eating.

However, the slot machines and other gambling games were in a "gray area" of the law, according to Weigel, because gambling was supposed to be illegal in Wisconsin.

"But, it was kind of like smoking pot. It was only enforced in certain circumstances," he explained.

Until 1978, it was a violation of federal law for a tavern or restaurant to posses gambling equipment. However, Wisconsin state law now permits a restaurant or tavern to display gambling equipment provided it is antique equipment - 25 years or older - and is used only for recreational purposes.

In addition to gambling and amusement machines, Weigel has also collected antique nickelodeons including one that nearly extends from the wall to ceiling in a study that is more than 100 years old.