4 replies to this topic

[tiltjlp]

Gropper's Popular Toy Game 2



Version: 2
Category: VP9 Bagatelle, Counter Top, and Trade Stimulator

Author(s): tiltjlp

Description:
Thanks to Neo for finding a better, but slightly different image. Thanks to druadic for his interest and help in adjusting some of the objects that my shaky hands had incorrectly placed. Both of you have helped make a good game better

Yes, that's what it was called. Made for VP9. It bogged down on my computer, but I think it should play OK. Made in Brooklyn, this probably was sold mostly in and around New York City.

My guess is that Gropper's Popular Toy Game was made anywhere between 1880 and 1920. While I have no real idea, I'm basing it on the end of the Civil War and WWI, and the crude nails that were used. But mostly the quaint name given to the game.

While it would be nice to think that Gropper's Popular Toy Game was made and sold to help improve race relations at a specific time in our country's growth, it was made to make money for the Gropper Company. Probably it would have been considered neutral for its time, so that it would sell to most any customer.

Being white, I won't guess how a black person would have viewed this game back then, or now. But it seems to me that the black men depicted are shown in a slightly better light than the white men are. As I try to respect everyone, I recreated this game because I found it interesting, and because it's a part of pinball history few if any of us have been aware of.

Again, thanks to Neo for finding a better, but slightly different image. Thanks to druadic for his interest and help in adjusting some of the objects that my shaky hands had incorrectly placed. Both of you have helped make a good game better. Neo’s image is missing for small scoring holes that were shown on the original image, which I’ve included, and so I have kept the four scoring kickers from the first version, which aren’t shown in the new version.

View File

Submitted by tiltjlp, on Jan 9 2011, 06:45 AM

Edited by tiltjlp, 10 January 2011 - 09:44 AM.

[faralos]

I am white and grew up in north New jersey. My grandmother came to the Passaic region in 1902. She owned a clothing store with her family here. (Amlickes) she employed many blacks who were very good seamstresses along with many Polish immigrants (my grandma' family being one of these families, (yeah I'm Polish; insert punch lines here___!) who had come with her and her family to Ellis Island at the turn of the century. anyways, the store let any of the seamstresses make anything they could with the leftovers from the bolts of cloth. these people were not rich, far from it, but they dressed well, since they had the supplies and the machines to make their own clothing. The Amlickes store outfitted most of north new jersey, west manhattan and numerous areas along the Hudson river. When passaic burned up in the famous fires (the 60's I think it was) our family lost the store, having no fire insurance (didn't exist at that time for the poorer store owners. hope that helps a bit!! and thanks for this local piece of history for me

Edited by faralos, 09 January 2011 - 11:51 AM.

[templarjh]

Very neat! Ipdb doesn't list this.

Couldn't help looking it up online a bit. There's not much information, but apparently "Rastus" isn't too far off from the n-word, so yeah, improved race relations aren't in the works here :/ Good reminder though that bagatelle existed well before Baffle Ball and Ballyhoo popularized it so much.

Oops one more edit: it has a script error in it that's so easy to fix I was able to do it myself, but just so you know... "expected end of line" error. Thanks very much for this!

Edited by templarjh, 09 January 2011 - 02:36 PM.

[tiltjlp]

Very neat! Ipdb doesn't list this.

Couldn't help looking it up online a bit. There's not much information, but apparently "Rastus" isn't too far off from the n-word, so yeah, improved race relations aren't in the works here :/ Good reminder though that bagatelle existed well before Baffle Ball and Ballyhoo popularized it so much.

Oops one more edit: it has a script error in it that's so easy to fix I was able to do it myself, but just so you know... "expected end of line" error. Thanks very much for this!

Thanks for the heads up on the script error, I'll check it out. My flipperless buddy druadic likes the game so much he's helped me do an update so it plays a bit smoother. I'll probably upload the improved version within a few days.

I am white and grew up in north New jersey. My grandmother came to the Passaic region in 1902. She owned a clothing store with her family here. (Amlickes) she employed many blacks who were very good seamstresses along with many Polish immigrants (my grandma' family being one of these families, (yeah I'm Polish; insert punch lines here___!) who had come with her and her family to Ellis Island at the turn of the century. anyways, the store let any of the seamstresses make anything they could with the leftovers from the bolts of cloth. these people were not rich, far from it, but they dressed well, since they had the supplies and the machines to make their own clothing. The Amlickes store outfitted most of north new jersey, west manhattan and numerous areas along the Hudson river. When passaic burned up in the famous fires (the 60's I think it was) our family lost the store, having no fire insurance (didn't exist at that time for the poorer store owners. hope that helps a bit!! and thanks for this local piece of history for me

Thanks for the information. It seems to me that in the past, meaning when I was younger, everyone, but especially poorer folks had a sense of pride about them that is missing nowadays. We were probably lower middle class ourselves, but my parents took pride in the fact we always had enough to eat, and that our clothes were clean and mended.

[tiltjlp]

For those who are interested, I've added the update. Thanks to Neo for finding a better, but slightly different image. Thanks to druadic for his interest and help in adjusting some of the objects that my shaky hands had incorrectly placed. Both of you have helped make a good game better. Neo’s image is missing four small scoring holes that were shown on the original image, which I’ve included, and so I have kept the four scoring kickers from the first version, which aren’t shown in the new version.