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These are the messages that have been posted on inthe00s over the past few years.
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Subject: real chicken in a machine quarter game
Written By: robbi on 07/14/10 at 9:11 pm
OK SO MY MOM TOOLD ME THAT BACK IN THE DAY LATE SIXTIES EARLY SEVENTIES THERE WAS MACHINES THAT HAD LIVE CHICKENS IN THEM THAT WHEN YOU WOULD PUT A QUARTER IN THE MACHINE HE WOULD DANCE ON A LITTLE PIANO AND FEED WOULD COME OUT SO YOU COULD FEED IT. ANONE REMEBER THIS OR IS MY MOM TOTALLY CRAZY??? PLEASE LET ME KNOW WE HAVE A BET!!!!
Subject: Re: real chicken in a machine quarter game
Written By: karen on 07/15/10 at 10:30 pm
according to this article Knot's Berry Farm (in California) had several machines
http://www.lessonsforpiano.org/is-it-possible-to-train-a-chicken-or-rooster-to-play-a-toy-piano/
and it is also mentioned in the wiki article about Knott's Berry Farm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knott's_Berry_Farm
Subject: Re: real chicken in a machine quarter game
Written By: zcrito on 07/21/10 at 11:56 am
I don't know about live chickens, but I caught a part of that television show "Pawn Stars" last week
where a guy was trying to sell a gumball machine with a fake chicken inside that moved and laid eggs (gumballs).
The machine they were looking at was from the late '70s or early '80s.
Subject: Re: real chicken in a machine quarter game
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 07/21/10 at 5:22 pm
Hey, if that chicken doesn't play Old McDonald Had a Farm when you drop your quarter in, you can exchange it for a credit towards next week's chicken salad!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/02/blossom.gif
Subject: Re: real chicken in a machine quarter game
Written By: Solomon G on 08/15/10 at 9:13 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUcTvhyof8I
Subject: Re: real chicken in a machine quarter game
Written By: stephan herrick on 08/16/10 at 7:49 pm
YES THIS IS TRUE.,
IN THE 60'S THEY HAD THEM ONLY IN PLACES THAT HAD A LOT OF PEOPLE THERE , THEY PLAY PIANO'S OR RING A BELL WHEN THE CHICKEN WOULD GO THIS THE CHICKEN FEED WOULD DROP OUT AND THE BIRD WOULD EAT THIS WAS TAKEN OFF THE MARKET BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE SAY ITS MEAN TO DO .IT COST A DIME TO PLAY IT .
Subject: Re: real chicken in a machine quarter game
Written By: sherry on 11/01/10 at 8:31 am
OK SO MY MOM TOOLD ME THAT BACK IN THE DAY LATE SIXTIES EARLY SEVENTIES THERE WAS MACHINES THAT HAD LIVE CHICKENS IN THEM THAT WHEN YOU WOULD PUT A QUARTER IN THE MACHINE HE WOULD DANCE ON A LITTLE PIANO AND FEED WOULD COME OUT SO YOU COULD FEED IT. ANONE REMEBER THIS OR IS MY MOM TOTALLY CRAZY??? PLEASE LET ME KNOW WE HAVE A BET!!!!
moms not crazy when i was a kid i use to vacation up in NH hampton/salisbury beach they had an old arcade and there was a machine not sure of price but had chickens and you played tic tac toe i think it was scented cause the chickens always won lol
Subject: Re: real chicken in a machine quarter game
Written By: Foo Bar on 11/01/10 at 10:16 pm
had chickens and you played tic tac toe
Coin-operated machines and Chickens playing Tic-Tac-Toe.
i think it was scented cause the chickens always won lol
A good guess - and essentially correct. It wasn't scent, but light. The chickens weren't actually trained to play the game. They were trained to peck on whichever square was next to a lighted button, and a computer flashed the light so the chicken could tell which square to peck. Alas, this (2002 LVRJ article) and this (Psych professor's commentary) are the only surviving links from the original discussion, but the stories are all consistent.
(A strange game. The only winning move was not to insert your quarter. *BWAAAAAK!* :)
For bonus points, can anyone find a picture of a "Bird Brain" coin-op machine? (With or without chicken?...)
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