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Here's a puzzler... Just wondered what the purpose of early Watling RAT Reel Stop Levers being separated? They had 2 directly behind the payout discs, and then had a bar leading across the back of the mech with a hook end that was for stopping the 1st reel. I notice of later RAT they then put all 3 reel stop levers togther behind the pay discs. Can anyone explain what the reasoning was behind having the lonesome one stopping the 1st reel only. It seemed over-engineered, when having all 3 together was so simple!

Thanks

Hi Mark
I also live in London and am a newbie to slot machines. This has to be a case of De-Ja-Vu as I asked my friend Stephane the same question yesterday. I understand that the absence of the third reel stop on the early Rats prevented a jackpot payout. I am sure that Stephane will provide a much more detailed answer. Glad to hear that there is another Watling collector in London. Best, Lol

Hi Guys

I think that you talk about this :
That was on the first model




With a wheel and some holes on it for to be able to add some bugs like this:


And you have this second version : (some model later and hard to find)


That was an option , original parts propose from Watling for be able to add easily some bugs on the first reel and be able to change the statistics !

Hi LOL , How are you since this long time ?
Stephane

Hi Mark and Laurence
Another watling fan in the UK here lol
I have met Mark and about to meet you Laurence when you pick up your eBay purchase.
Please see my post about my Baker revamp in aftermarket console.
I also posed this first reel indexing question and subsequently found my revamp to be Buckley.
You never stop learning, this forum is great with some very knowlegable contributers.
We are very lucky in this respect!!!
Cheers

Ingenious! So Watling made it easy for operators to alter the odds by bugging 1st reel so certain symbols were never stopped at! You do learn something every day!
Thanks to all who gave me the answer and especially Watlingboy who gave a detailed history, thanks. I can now sleep in peace knowing the answer!

Good to see others in UK loving the Watling... A classic!

For information to the collectors in the U.K. firstly any information Watlingboy gives you, you can take to the bank, he is the most knowledable about Watling, also remember Tom Watling was a Scotsman, lastly The Bell-Fruit Manufacturing Co, Ltd bought the watling tooling and built their fruit machine, "The Three Alike" using the Watling Mechanism's . You can read the article I published on Bell-Fruit Manufacturing by going to www.coin-opcommunity.co.uk and in the search box type Freddy Bailey you can read more than 35 of my articles.

Freddy Bailey

Also thank you stephane helping to explain the compulsary skill on my Bird RAT.