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Historic games of chance displayed in VC
May 4, 2008, 12:05 AM
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Long before Texas hold 'em was invented, many Nevada gambling houses offered card games with names like faro, monte and hazard. While no casino still deals any of those games, at Virginia City's Nevada Gambling Museum you can discover what they were all about.
The museum has one of the finest collections of rare and exotic gambling paraphernalia found anywhere in Nevada, including an authentic faro table, complete with an abacus used to keep score. The collection is culled from the personal collection of Angelo Petrini, owner of the nearby Delta Saloon,
The museum introduces the subject of gambling with a short but detailed history of traditional gaming among Nevada Indians, which largely involved something called "gambling sticks."
With the discovery of gold and silver in Nevada, miners, settlers and ranchers introduced other games of chance.
Of course, as other displays explain, along with these new games came new ways to cheat. The museum has a fascinating collection of ancient devices designed to give an edge to the user, including elaborate levers that place hidden cards up one's sleeve.
In the lavishly decorated main room, visitors will find antique roulette wheels, a re-creation of an 1870s poker room (using authentic cards, table, chips and whiskey bottle), an actual saloon bar and plenty of wall displays describing various games and gambling history.
The next room features an amazing collection of more than 100 antique slot machines. It quickly becomes obvious that during the 1930s and '40s - called the Golden Age of the Slot Machine - the construction of a slot machine was art. The machines on display include some of the most ornate and decorative ever built, such as classic Mills, Jennings and Bally's machines.
There is even a Polk slot machine that stands about chest high and is hand carved in the shape of a Western outlaw, complete with a mask. Players would actually pull on his arm to work the machine - a true "one-armed bandit."
The bandit slot machine is part of a series of unique life-size, carved figures crafted in the mid-20th century by Frank Polk. He built 92 of these full-figured machines for the Character Manufacturing Co., of Reno.
The slot machine room traces their evolution from the original Liberty Bell machine (invented by Charles Fey in San Francisco in 1899; his grandsons owned the now-defunct Liberty Belle Saloon and Restaurant in Reno) to the more modern computer chip-driven video poker machines.
Along the way, you can see early versions of slot machines, like a 1901 Mills Commercial machine, a 1904 Elk (also made by Fey) and a 1906 Mills Liberty Bell.
In the 1930s and '40s, slot machines had enameled metal faces and elaborate designs. Some of the more beautiful devices include the 1933 Mills Golden Bell, which had an enameled golden Roman head on the front, and the 1934 Mills Silent Bell War Eagle, with an elegant eagle image on the front.
There is a working, glass-enclosed slot machine that shows the inner workings of a typical slot machine. For once, you can pull the handle to see how the bandit robs without paying the price.
One of the best features of the museum is its presentation. Detailed and complete placards that provide interesting information are adjacent to each rare and unusual object. Considerable thought and work has gone into making this a small but thorough historic display.
The Nevada Gambling Museum is at 50 So. C Street in Virginia City, across from the Delta Saloon parking lot in the center of town. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call 775-847-9022.
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