A token from the Boondocks

One of the minigolf tokens in my collection came from a visit to play the two miniature golf courses at Boondocks Fun Center in the town of Northglenn, Colorado, USA.

It was one of the arcade machine tokens in use at the fun center when I visited in March 2009.

Do you know of any minigolf courses that still have tokens when you win on the lucky last hole, or in use at attached arcades or fun centres?

Putt-Putt tokens from the USA

A look at some 1980's Putt-Putt tokens from the USA.

From the Crazy Golf Museum's collection.

The very first Putt-Putt Golf course was created by Don Clayton in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA back in 1954.

In the 1960's Putt-Putt franchises began opening outside of the US, in locations such as South Africa, Australia and Japan. There were also courses in the UK, the first of which opened in Sunderland in 1968. Others followed at Flamingo Land in Yorkshire and in Buxton, Derbyshire. However, information on these UK courses is limited.

Do you know of any courses that still have tokens?

The Novelty Automation amusement arcade in London

Revisiting the Novelty Automation amusement arcade in London.

On our way back from a trip down to London earlier this month we took a shortcut on our way to the station and noticed we were on the same road as the Novelty Automation amusement arcade. We hadn't visited since it first opened in 2015 so had to go in for a play on the madcap arcade games. The 1st of April was the perfect day to play.

The arcade games at Novelty Automation are from the mind of inventor Tim Hunkin. I enjoyed my game on i-Zombie. There's a nice surprise at the end of the game too!

We first discovered the crazy novelty automation games at the Under the Pier Show arcade on Southwold Pier in Suffolk in 2009.

I really liked My-Nuke when we played at Novelty Automation in 2015

It was brilliant to see some of my favourite games were still there, alongside some new additions.

i-Zombie 

Playing i-Zombie  

The Small Hadron Collider hadn't been installed on our last visit 

One of the games is a paparazzi drone simulator! 

Celeb snapping

Check out the Novelty Automation website for more information and opening times.

A token blog post

I'm a collector of all sorts of minigolf ephemera, items and merchandise and love finding tokens. My friend, rival and co-Curator at the Crazy Golf Museum has a BIG collection of miniature golf tokens and I've got a pretty sizeable selection of other machine and arcade tokens.

A selection of Putt-Putt tokens

It's always nice to find a course still using metal tokens / coins. Some have moved to plastic 'credit' cards, whereas others have always used paper tokens (of which I've got a few from my wins on the Lucky Last Hole).

I won this Free Game Pass by firing the cannon on the Lucky Last Hole on the very first course we visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Does your course still use tokens? If they do please get in touch and share any photos of them.

Related blog posts:
- Tokens
- A gift from Paradise
- Property of Machine
- Clacton Pier
- Minigolf collectables from the Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham
- Adventure Golf at The Pavilion Fun Park in Clacton-on-Sea

Link:
- Miniature Golf, Putt Putt and Crazy Golf tokens at the Crazy Golf Museum

Novelty Automation arcade in London

A visit to London's Novelty Automation arcade.

We recently visited the excellent Novelty Automation amusement arcade near Holborn in London.

A nice relaxing break

We had great fun playing the mad arcade games. My favourite was definitely My Nuke - a personal nuclear reactor!

Playing on my own personal nuclear reactor

After 'successfully' playing the My Nuke game I received a piece of edible nuclear waster

The arcade is full of home-made games machines built by enthusiasts. And very well built they are too. Games include Test Your Nerve, Pet or Meat?, Chiropodist, Is it art?, The Expressive Photobooth, Divorce, Money Laundering, Cycle Pong, Alien Probe, Microbreak, Instant Eclipse and Autofrisk.

Getting an Autofrisk!

They have some great merchandise for sale too. I picked up some nice badges and a keyring.

Emily visited the Chiropodist

You can find Novelty Automation at 1a Princeton Street, London, WC1R 4AX and it's a five minute walk from Holborn Tube Station.

Cycle Pong was out of order. We'll give this two player game a play next time

It's open Wednesday to Saturday and admission is free. Each of the games costs between £1 and £3 to play - each is token operated.

The Alien Probe is a game of precision. And surprise

And what marvelous tokens they are too.

Brilliant tokens

I'm looking forward to returning.

A reason to return

If you're ever visiting the East Anglian coast then I suggest you also visit Southwold Pier as it's home to the original Under the Pier Show.

I was far better at Test Your Nerve in London than in Southwold

There's also a FREE TOKEN offer running at the moment - check out the Novelty Automation website for more info!

 I won at DIVORCE

Links:
- Novelty Automation website
- Novelty Automation on Twitter
- The Under the Pier Show website

Related blog posts:
- Novelty Automation amusement arcade in London
- Under the Pier Show - Southwold
- Southwold
- Amusement Arcades
- Ephemera

Novelty Automation amusement arcade in London

An amusement arcade - with a twist - is opening in London!

The Novelty Automation amusement arcade features 16 intriguing, crazy and bizarre 'arcade' games. Believe me, they are certainly not what you'd expect to find in a seaside style amusement arcade!

Each of the games has been created by madcap inventor Tim Hunkin and the Novelty Automation arcade in London's Holborn area is twinned with the renowned Under the Pier Show seaside arcade in Southwold.

Back in 2009 we visited the Suffolk coastal resort and while walking on the very nice pier popped into the Under the Pier Show. We were amazed at the array of mad games to play, having a go on such wonders as Fly Drive and Mobility Masterclass.

A proper fly-ght simulator. Seated on the 'Fly Drive' arcade game at The Under the Pier Show in Southwold

The Novelty Automation can be found at 1a Princeton Street, London WC1R 4AX (nearest tube stations are Holborn and Chancery Lane) and will be open Wednesday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm (7pm on Thursday).

We're big fans of Amusement Arcades (aka The Buttons) - even going so far as holding Tat Challenge Tournaments - and so we can't wait to get along and have a play of the machines at the Novelty Automation arcade. Although I do remember the 'Test Your Nerve' game at the Under the Pier Show was bloomin' scary!

Testing my nerve on the worryingly interactive housebreaking simulator

Visit the links below for more on the Novelty Automation arcade.

Links:
- Novelty Automation website
- Novelty Automation on Twitter
- The Under the Pier Show website

Related blog posts:
- Under the Pier Show - Southwold
- Southwold
- Amusement Arcades