Playing the Pokereno

Pokereno Conjoined Twin Separation

Due to space limitations (and the fact our Pokereno conjoined twins are missing a brain/circuit board) I decided to make the game into a single.

Here's the game after arriving home from the Bay Arcade. Its big, really big. 4' wide by 7'2" long. The two games operate separately and have no interaction between the games. The only thing they share is the center wall and a one-piece  backglass cabinet.

The head units are simple to remove. They come off similar to a pinball machine. A couple 5/8" bolts, 3 old-school quick disconnect pin connectors and one circuit board disconnect. 

The lower unit is mounted on a piece of plywood. The motor controls the slide unit that allows the previously played balls to drop into play when a coin is inserted. This board is held in with 5 sheetmetal screws and can be easily removed as all connectors are quick disconnect.

The upper and lower decks were attached from the bottom with drywall screws. At first, I thought they were "aftermarket" but there were also several drywall screws located in blind spots that would have needed to have been put there when the cabinet was originally assembled. The cabinet is primarily 3/4" plywood with a few particle board pieces inside the game. 

The end piece and back rails needed to be cut. The back rails would be easy to recreate, but if you wanted to make two machines you would lose the 1/2 the width of your saw blade on each front piece. I decided to cut mine at the full width so I have a scrap piece that is a full sawblade width (~3/16") too narrow to reuse.

The backglass cabinet is the big problem with this operation. I could have cut it down the middle but both resulting cabinets would have too narrow and each would have had a bad edge. The center rail is not a full double. I chose to section it and make one good cabinet. Measure 2x, cut once. 

Here is the cabinet sections mocked-up with the back glass. I used the inside dimension of 22 1/4". the glass is 22" and that left 1/8" on each side.

I took the two outside boards and sandwiched my fresh cut front and rear sections.

Reassembly was pretty simple as everything fit together, so the machines were truly twins.

I glued and Kreiged the head unit cabinet together and I put my reassembled head unit on and the bolts lined up perfectly. I also made some box legs from 5/8" plywood.

I added casters (which will be replaced with levelers) to make it a little easier to work on and move around. The play surface and ball drop lifts on and off to give access to the coin mech and ticket dispenser.

Seidel Amusement Machine Co.

This image is from the January 28, 1967 issue of Billboard Magazine. It shows Edward J. Seidel of Seidel Amusement Machine Co., Brooklyn NY. In the background, you can see the Twenty-One and Bing-O-Reno machines and they appear to be single-game cabinets. These have different cabinets than the sitdown version of the Pokereno game. The coin plunger on the Bing-O-Reno machine is on the face rather than the coin/token drop on the top of the Pokereno cabinet. Also this is prior to Seidel moving to Albuquerque NM.

After reaching out to a nephew of Edward, I've learned Edward's father was Julius Seidel who was the owner-operator of the world-famous Seidel Skee-Ball parlors on the boardwalks in Rockaway, Longbeach and Coney Island, NY.

I'm guessing our Pokereno twin was from the 60's or 70's. It's the old cabinet style but has a circuit board that looks original. The game is operational on one side but the other is missing the aforementioned circuit board.

If there is anyone out there who knows anything about the Seidel Pokereno machines? I'd love to get both sides of this operational and would appreciate any information and/or parts leads.

A Piece of the Balboa Fun Zone

On August 1st 2017 my grown daughter texted me from her home in Nashville, TN... "Daddy will you buy me a Pokereno machine?" and included a link to an OC Register article reporting that after 70 years of operation, the Bay Arcade at the Balboa Fun Zone in Newport Beach, CA was closing.

Since I happened to be enjoying a cold beverage at the Balboa Saloon at the time I received the text, I grabbed her mothers hand and we rushed next door to the Bay Arcade. Within 10 minutes we were the proud owners of this Bay Arcade Pokereno table.

I remember fondly taking my kids to the Bay arcade 25 years ago... before they were even in grade school. They were so small the Pokereno was the one game they could operate and it only cost a dime to play! They would sit on our laps and roll the rubber balls down the table. I believe my kids know the Poker hands today because of this game.