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      Gumball Gizmo, interior detail.
      This page presents a short history of the Entertainment Bulk Vending Machine.

      It shows the explosion of the so called "Kinetic vendors" which have come out in the '90's.   This is all the information that we have.

      This page lists every one of these things we've seen.
    The Gumball Gizmo is the "Original Entertainment Vendor, or the Original Kinetic Gumball Machine."  We define "entertainment vendor" as a bulk vending machine with kinetic devices which deliver the product in a manner which is amusing and/or entertaining to the customer or passerby.

    The progression of new developments in this field is interesting. In a way, the bigger it gets, the more it becomes a "curious history," worth following in it's own right.

    The Gumball Gizmo was first seen in public on October 28, 1993, in Trolley Square Mall, Salt Lake City, Utah, and has been a smash hit. Gumball Gizmo was made by Bixworks Company and Gizmo Distributing in Beloit, Wisconsin. Bixworks went on to design several other machines, and the Gizmo Jr. came out, also being made by Bixworks then Gizmo Distributing, aka Allied Games in Beloit. Gizmo Jr., Gizmo Jr. detail., Other machines have sprung up and are listed below:

    1. The Wacky Bubble Gumball Factory, orig. by Everett-James Company, Utah. Global Gumballs, Inc.
      2. Wacky Bubble, Another view of Wacky,
    2. The Entertainer, by Jedcor Company, Salt Lake City. Marketed by West Coast Manufacturing Co.
      3. The Entertainer, The Entertainer detail,
    3. Waldo's Fun Factory, by Ross Mann, Kaysville, Utah, Marketed by Global Marketing International, LC.
    4. Oscar's Wild Ride, by Creative Coin Contraptions, Utah
      5. Oscar's Wild Ride, Oscar's Wild Ride detail,
    5. The Magician, O.K. Manufacturing, Salt Lake City, Utah
    6. The Gumball Park, Salt Lake City, Utah
    7. The Big Top Gumball, Big Top Gumballs, Inc.
    8. Gumbotron, > Gumbotron1, Gumbotron2, Gumbotron3, Gumbotron4, Gumbotron5, by JDP Distributing, Inc.
    9. The Great American Musical Gumball Machine
    10. Gumball Factory, Classic, Inc.
    Several other entertainment vendors may have come out from these same beginnings:
    1. Sharp Tooth, Premium Manufacturing. (A dinosaur eats, then "delivers" the gumball to the patron.)
    2. Mayoni's Big Top Mini Pinball. (You get to play the gumball, interactively. Do not believe claims of "the only interactive" machine from other companies.)
    3. Zipper, from A&A Parkway. (Simple but nice machine with a twisty ramp.)
    Here is a list of latest developments: (We will try to keep this list updated as much as possible.)
    1. The Wowie Zowie machine. By Global Gumballs. This machine appears to be a half-a-"Wacky Bubble" machine. (See above)
      2. A Blue Wowie Zowie, A Green Wowie Zowie, A Red Wowie Zowie,
    2. Good Time Vending Company machine,  Carson City, Nevada. This is a machine about the size of the other kinetic venders, and the product comes down into a little dump truck which then dumps it to the customer.
    3. Slam Dunk, by JP Distributing. This is an interactive basketball machine in which you get to shoot for a basket with your gumball. More proof that there is more than one interactive gumball machine.
    4. Kinetic Kid
    5. Gravitron
    Other independant machines:
    1. Zig Zag Zoo, formerly known as Crazy Maze, Was in New York State, handmade (beautifully) by a guy who worked with George Rhoads originally.
    2. Gizmotron, Texas
    3. Zingo Sorry this link is long dead, Couer d'Alene, Idaho
      4. Zingo, Zingo,
    These are interesting machines. They are original ideas (as far as we know.)  Gizmotron is a small, single-motor-driven attachment-like machine, adding a fascinating reciprocating motion to the vending of rubber "superballs." The Zig Zag Zoo is especially elegant. It was made in the manner of a George Rhoads sculpture, and Mr. Rhoads is involved in a manner. George Rhoads is a famous kinetic sculptor working in upstate New York, along with a shop called Rock Stream Studios. His sculptures are great attractions at various places like malls and museums around the country. The Zig Zag Zoo gumball machine is in the Arnot mall in... Elmira, I think.  The Zingo machine came out at the end of 1997.  It is original in that it uses compressed air to zing the ball around, which sets it well apart from all the others.

    Other machines of note: (Probably having nothing to do with all of this.)

    1. The "Drop Zone" machine. This is a jawbreaker vender from A&A Parkway Company. You must open two parallel rods to cause the ball to roll toward the target, which may then award a prize. It's a tricky game of skill, based on the old "Moon Shot" game.
    2. George's Quarter Express, by Ross Mann. This is a Coin-Carnival type kinetic machine, which takes the quarter on a short ride, then triggers a cascading delivery of M&M's.
    3. Ross Mann's "Coin Carnival" machine. This is an entertainment diorama-style machine sort of like the Kineticon , which now vends candy at the end of the show in which the quarter goes for a series of rides. It first came out in the mid-80's.
      The so-called entertainment vendor would probably have sprung up on its own.  As we were developing the Gizmo, the "giant gumball" machines first started appearing. (We began development of the Gizmo in 1991. We first heard of the giant gumball machines after we began, and before our prototype debuted in 1993. Vending Times mentioned that they began to appear around 1989.) These machines were turning up in malls, and had a huge globe, about four feet or more in diameter. (We would be interested in hearing from the person claiming to be the originator of the idea.)

      At any rate, this giant gumball machine would have probably been all that was needed to start the whole thing off. Certainly the next step happened on its own, the spiral gumball machine. (Known as the "Twister", "Wizard", "UFO", Road Runner, etc.) There is a patent issued on this concept, and we know that, for example, O.K. Manufacturing in Salt Lake City builds quality machines of this type under license of the patent. It is logical to figure that machines would get more tricky, and at some point we would have arrived at the present situation. Quite possibly, machines like the Zig Zag Zoo would have kicked it off themselves.

      As soon as we debuted the Gumball Gizmo, people copied the idea directly.   Thus the recent proliferation.

    Following is a partial explanation of how some of the kinetic machines came up: (see above links for pictures of some of the machines)

    Wacky Bubble Gumball Factory- Created by the guys from Global Gumballs, Tim McCarty and John Sanchez.   From a videotape of the Gumball Gizmo, and some creative input from people, they were first to develop a competing machine.  We first saw  it new year's day, 1995, it was astonishing how fast they did it.

    Entertainer - Created by a business started by Jerry Moore, built in Salt Lake City Utah. This machine bears many similarities to the Gumball Gizmo, and indeed was copied in many ways.  Vending Times now has ads which show West Coast Manufacturing listing the Entertainer as one of their products.

    Oscar's Wild Ride - This is a machine by Creative Coin Concepts. It was designed by a Mr. Ross Mann, a kinetic artist in Utah. It debuted in 1995.  This machine is substantially different from the Gumball Gizmo and incorporates many unique ideas. It is simpler in design, materials, and execution, as well as attention to detail, than the Gumball Gizmo.

    Waldo's Fun Factory- Created by Ross Mann, from Kaysville, Utah. Ross broke with the above company and is pursuing the building and operation of this machine (similar to the Oscar's Wild Ride machine) in various locations around Utah, and perhaps elsewhere. Waldo's Fun Factory uses a plastic ball in place of the vended gumball, which addresses the reliability issue. (Misshapen gumballs are a notorious problem with kinetic gumball machines, Gumball Gizmo included.) At the end of the cycle in Waldo's, you get a "magical color change," where the plastic ball is switched for an actual gumball, which the customer receives. The "color change" technique can be a little odd if your gumball happens to be the color of the plastic ball. (The machine has a soundtrack which announces the color change.) But it's better than stuck gumballs. Ross previously built a machine similar to the Kineticon (entertaining display case-type machine) called the Coin Carnival, before working on the above two machines. Update 2/14/97 - The January 25 issue of Vending Times (p. 96) has an article about the Waldo's Fun Factory machine, and the company which will market it.  (4th paragraph) "The first novelty coin-op gumball machine, the "Gumball Gizmo," was introduced in Salt Lake City almost three and one-half years ago, noted Richard M. Astle, Global's founder and currently manager. Customer response was "phenomenal," but only two firms have been developing the machines for longer than two years or so."

    The Magician - This is a kinetic machine by the guys at O.K. Manufacturing. They were interested in the Gumball Gizmo from the beginning. The Magician is under continuing development, and from pictures seems different from the Gumball Gizmo. O.K. Manufacturing is very successful in building and selling spiral-type gumball machines of high quality, and they are a competitive distributor of Leaf products for the bulk industry. Their spiral machines may be found at Sam's Club warehouse stores. Some early units have appeared in various locations in the Salt Lake Area - late 1996. They are also marketing a machine called "Circus Circus", which appears to be a version of the Big Top Gumball machine, as seen in Vending Times, Jan. 25 issue.

    Gumbotron - This machine is our worst nightmare come true. It is virtually an exact duplicate of the Gumball Gizmo. Of course it has differences, but the intricate mechanical course of our Gizmo has basically been copied down to the very motors we specified on our machine. Don't even ask us about this one.  Just don't confuse it with Gumball Gizmo.

    Big Top Gumball - We don't know much about this company, although we did happen to see one of their machines in the Stratosphere Casino, (the new one with the big tower) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The machine was in the internal mall that is in there. It seems that O.K. Manufacturing is producing a version of the Big Top Gumball machine, called the Circus Circus machine. The Big Top Gumball machine has suspended miniature animals with red glowing eyes.

    The Great American Musical Gumball Machine - We know less of this company, although we saw material on them in Vending Times. (1996)  Simple in design, gravity-fed.

    Gumball Factory - We think Gumball Factory came out to try to catch the entertainment vendor bandwagon. Also seen in Vending Times, 1996. In fact, all of the above have had some mention in Vending Times.

    Gumball Park - This machine came out of Utah, I've observed that it has a cannon which "shoots" a gumball. Into a character's mouth, maybe. (Which wins you another gumball.) IF you "time" it correctly. (There is a swinging obstacle.) And if the (fixed) cannon is capable of hitting anywhere near the mouth. Which it isn't. On the one time I played it, it shot four inches above the target. And I was worried about timing.

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