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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 มี.ค. 2019
- UPDATE: In 2019, the Fascination Parlor was hit by storms, and the building didn't survive. The games have been stored, and hopefully it'll reopen somewhere at some point! • On Nantasket Beach in the seaside town of Hull, Massachusetts, sits the last play-for-cash Fascination Parlor in the world. It's a century-old arcade game, made of relays that click and buzz. There are a few other parlors left in the world: but this is the only one where you're playing for actual money.
More about the Paragon Boardwalk: www.paragonboardwalk.com/
Edited by Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin)
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UPDATE: In 2019, the Fascination Parlor was hit by storms, and the building didn't survive. The games have been stored, and hopefully it'll reopen somewhere at some point!
ok that a turn
RIP
ah, massive shame, hope everyone is ok
A day ago update! Shame about the parlor though...
nah, the storms didn't wreck the building, that was actually just construction. They've been remodeling that area for a while now. Now there's an outdoor restaurant and New Zealand ice cream there. ( I know because I live here)
The problem with Fascination is that you eventually run out of Tom’s money
You deserve way more likes for this comment, Maxwell! :D
you made me laugh i thank you
That’s gold right there
It's like you almost can't be a carnival operator without being a bit cheeky. Lovely manoeuvre taking both bills there. Wonder if Tom would have noticed if it was a 20 or 100 note. Could be a scene from Hustle
@BLAIR M Schirmer state laws are responsible for that not the US Congress
British equivalents of Hull like, for example, Hull
And of Boston like, for example... not Boston.
@@TamzinHadasa Or Boston, Lincolnshire. Not quite coastal though
But hull in the UK is somewhere no one wants to go 😂 I've been there I know lmao
Hull bois represent
Spent a week there one afternoon...
2:39 I thought the goal was to light up the whole board, not to make space invaders pixel art.
Well spotted
pixel art of space invaders? holy cow...
BAAAA HA HA HA that is too perfect!
That is always the real goal actually
Tom: "I'm in Hull. A small seaside town near Boston..."
Me: "What? No it's not"
Tom: "...in the United States"
Me: "Doh!"
Looks just as depressing as the real Hull.
@@Jono1982 "..the real Hull"
I love it. Like the one near Boston is an audio-animatronic facsimile of the one in England.
On the nerd front, isn't Hull (the English one) where Kathy Nightingale ended up in 1920 in the Doctor Who episode, "Blink"?
Just saying hello from Hull, Quebec, Canada! ;)
@@christalbot210 Well technically it is the real Hull since it was named that hundreds of years before the US one was even founded.
You can tell it isn't the UK Hull
No rubbish
Damn $2, your production value getting a bit too high
64-player before computers.
Battle royale 100 years ago
Not liking the comment just so it keeps 64 likes
Like Bingo, the easiest way to get your grandmother to swear
@@harveyh9034 Currently the comment has 256 likes
@@ThatSilentGuy Curently the comment has 436 likes
I love that. So technically simple and the gambling element will add so much to it. I also noticed that unlike the British Kentucky Derby style game the balls can't roll back, so if one sticks somewhere you have to whack it with another ball. That's almost an accidental feature, since you have to get that ball back into play to remain competitive.
The biggest electrical issue those machines will have is dirty contacts. That will affect things like latching or registering a win properly. It would be so easy to renovate a machine with new relays or even make an electronic version with extra features and sounds.
bigclivedotcom Clive 🙌
Having worked on lifts with similar relays another, but related, problem would be getting spare parts for the relays. They’re probably not made anymore for the most part or there’s maybe a small manufacturer doing limited production.
But, but... The old hardware and nostalgia that comes from it. That's why I don't like the idea of modernization of these games.
@@AssassinAgent If the technical issues with worn contacts affect the game adversely, like failing to register a win then it could damage the popularity of the game. The players don't care about the vintage relays in the back. Just that the game is playable and fun.
@@bigclivedotcom I wonder if one could build in a backup system of detection, so that the false negative problem gets sorted, but done in a way that the old hardware remains in operation for historical/coolness purposes. I do think there's always bound to be some people who care about the technical or historical aspects, and they might even help drive traffic, but I imagine a few false negatives or a quite inopportune one could really put a bad taste in a person's mouth.
When I was in high school, I used to work in an arcade that had a couple of machines just like this, and unlike the other games, no one knew quite what to call them, as they had no name plate anywhere on the machine. They were so old they would break down constantly and I would be the one to fix them. In spite of their constant issues, I developed a certain fondness for them the same way you might develop a fondness for a piece of junk car you have to work on constantly just to keep running. One day the owner got tired of them and had them taken outside and set by the dumpster, where they promptly got rained on and damaged beyond repair. Kind of broke my heart when I drove into work that day and saw these 40-50 year old machines sitting out there, so out of place in the parking lot next to these mid-2000s cars. Anyways, thanks for the video, at least now I know what they were called.
Sir, this is an Arby's
Damn! Should've replaced the relays with more modern circuits to improve reliability! Either use modern relays or just replace the whole shebang with transistor circuits.
2:50. Of course Tom's lights had to be an incredible symmetrical space invader. 😀
Huh. I guess hull does freeze over after all.
+
I've seen freezing similar to that on the Nantucket side of Yarmouth
It sure does! (It also gets badly flooded in a Nor'easter)
@@burdizdawurd1516Official And I've seen it frozen like that up near Revere. Frozen ocean water is really cool to see.
😆
This genuinely looks really fun! It's almost like a skill version of bingo?
Extreme bingo connect five
They are a lot of fun, even when playing them for stuffed animals instead of cash. I have fond memories of playing this game on machines like this at Circus Circus in Reno.
@@FryGuy1013 It's Bingo 99, they made Bingo into a battle royale before video games existed
OrangeC7 *Bingo 64
This was exactly my thought!
Did you get one dollar back?
the people need to know
@Agent J If you are playing against the house, the house cut becomes, well, let's say potentially more than the normal cut.
Doesn't seem like it. Classic masshole move.
Masshole probably stole his identity too. 🤣
You have 999 likes. I’m not gonna like.
That really looks like a lot of fun to play in large groups
Oh what memories... I grew up in this tiny town from 1988 to 1994. Your video brought back so many good memories. Thanks, Tom! Keep up the great work!
You could call Tom's channel a "Fascination Parlor" of sorts
Medium D Speaks *fascinaton
@@EssOneFive No, it's fascination.
Parlour 😜
It looked like Tom had some genuine fun with this one. I also really liked the bets were so low so it keeps that competiveness and good sportsmanship alive together.
I live in Boston and have never heard of this. definitely checking it out this summer
same (but not 18 yet :( can't go for another 2 years)
I wish I knew when Tom was in Mass.
@@chriskraus Are you a nutjob?
SAME dude, I'm totally going this summer
@@burdizdawurd1516Official well you really couldn't have predicted what the summer would look like in 2020 but I'm curious, were you able to go?
I bought an arcade game from the arcade next door to this fascination parlor, small world. As soon as I saw "last play for cash fascination" I immediately knew where this was.
It's like an internet cafe but without internet.
So a café?
Dont think people outside of america know what those are. It's a quasi legal gambling in states that strictly regulate gambling. You play on a computer and win a cash equivalent. All 3 in my town got busted. Also there were three in my 2.5 square mile town.
@@SassyP17 What what are? If you're referring to Internet Cafe --- That's just a place that generally has internet (duh), and usually computers where people can come in and use the internet. Sometimes food and drink I guess but not necessarily. Gambling is certainly not a given. Much less common these days with cellphones and such. As for gambling. MA doesn't have as strict laws as some other places for gambling, but it's different still if you have an entertainment license such as this place does.
@@SassyP17Café is very commonly used outside of America. I have never heard of it used for a gambling site. It is similar to a coffee shop, although usually fancier, typically serving cappuccino etc., instead of just coffee. Starbucks is a well-known example.
What the hell are you talkin about weeb?
I’m in hull... more bitter words were never spoken in England
It's never dull in 'ull, as they say.
I had heard that Slough was just as bad. I think I recall Tom doing a video there.
Hull's been renovated a bit now though. You have to cross the water to Grimsby or Scunthorpe these days if you want to experience abject depression.
I'm in Blackpool
"I'm not in Hull! Stop sayin' Hull!"
"It is so bitterly cold here that the ocean foam has frozen"
Yep, sounds about right. Welcome to the Northeast in winter. It's even worse if you go inland.
So you also understand the -11 degree mornings when school somehow wasn't cancelled but the bus wasn't warm yet.
Tom: “Argue about parlour/parlor”
Comments: “Why the hell are you in Hull-ooooohhhhhhh”
Tom was scammed out of a dollar
Out of $2, actually
hustled, bamboozled if you will.
That's the house cut
@@moooseman3 50%. Nice cut
200 pence*
This and the old Bar Billiards video have to be two of my all-time favorite Tom Scott videos
So you have a singular fascination with Tom Scott putting balls in holes. Good to know!
This looks like a lot a of fun. So much that I've added it onto my list of places to visit on my (currently entirely hypothetical) road trip in the USA.
parking during the summer is at least $10 or more, depending how many spots are left
Tom: "I'm in Hull."
Me: "Oh no you poor soul whatever did you do wrong to end up there?"
That is really interesting. I live a few miles from Hull and have gone to this beach many times and have walked past this place on a few occasions. I might make a stop next time I am over.
Grew up going to Nantasket with the family. I've sat in that exact parlor. Brings back some great memories from back when Paragon Park was still a going concern.
Who needs cash when you have chuck E cheese coins
That's like saying who needs actual food when you can have recycled pizza
@@An_Actual_Ditto it's a joke
Eric Silver so is w1ndy's comment
You here...!
Chuck e cheese coins? I thought it was a bitcoin I got sold...
This arcade is a 5 min walk down the street from me! didnt even know there was so much history right there. Thanks for visiting this humble seaside town!
"do you have 3 balls"... a bit personal
Butt-head: "Testes, testes... one, two... three?"
Thanks for visiting my small corner of the globe, Tom. I grew up south of Boston, probably half an hour from Nantasket. And yet I had no idea this existed! I'm definitely checking it out!
Same! Moved 5 minutes down the road and never had a clue
Tom has been to Hull and back, more than once
Audie Murphy.... RIP
I never thought I needed to visit a seaside town that looked like a British one on the other side of the world, in a place called "Hull" no less, but my god that looks like a lot of fun.
It looks nicer in the summer.
I play this when I go to the arcade in Seaside Oregon. Classic
What?! There's one in Seaside? Sweet!!
As english isn't my mother language, I'm always fascinated when brits and americans just keep on talking with each other in their respective accents without the urge to meet halfway.
How would they meet halfway?? 😂
“I’m in Hull...”
Why on earth would you go there
“...in the united states”
Oh okay that is significantly far away from the bad Hull.
great comment bradley
@@garret1317 Good reply Garret.
@@LetsGoGetThem Adequate response, Devix.
What’s bad about Hull? :(
@@oz_jones Splendid retort, Jones.
I grew up near a seaside resort on the S Wales coast, so had access to many other resorts. I also lived in student digs next door (well, about 4 doors down) from Morecambe Amusement Park or whatever it called itself. Main memory of there was being woken on a Sunday morning by the awful recording of a seal barking...
Anyway, I saw those games you showed and it took me back to a great childhood. I played that game you did! Usually against my dad or little sister. It was crazy and great fun! I won't go into the reasons now, but I'll never (probably) be able to go to my 'home resort' again, but instead of bringing back sad memories, this brought back so many happy ones. We'd save our coppers for the summer and so would our parents. We'd start the summer with a huge bag of pennies and tuppences and would play till our hearts' content at the various arcades, as well as being treated to rides (Dad's excuse to go on a roller coaster!).
Holidays away were rare, but we didn't care, we had miles of sandy beaches - many of them hidden from the tourists because it was a good walk over the dunes and unless you knew where you were going, you could easily get lost back then (it's greened over now, which is quite weird!). So many hours swimming and playing at the penny arcades.
I think this is my favourite video of yours. Each is interesting, there isn't a dud, but this one has left me smiling. And there are definitely onions around somewhere... Thank you x
I grew up going to Nantasket beach in Hull. They also have a 100+ year old carousel complete with calliope music. Rides are like $2 or so. Had a friend that worked there years ago so I got to go "back stage " and see the amazing mechanical works making it all go
Very 19th century jules Verne feel to it
This game looks fun as hell!!! I could see this making a comeback at arcades; I'd certainly try it.
I know who Tom reminds me of. James May. And that’s a good thing.
I love Tom Scott's coverage of all kinds of fascinating places & things, whether European or American. There's a lot of beauty throughout the US and it's fun to see a foreigner bringing light to little-known treasures both here and elsewhere. Thanks for doing what you do, Tom.
I absolutely love Fascination! There's a parlor at the coast here and I always have to visit it when I'm there. It's not play for cash, but thankfully that means I have fond memories going there with my grandparents.
I'd love to see the Tech Diff crew play something like this
Touring the world playing various traditional arcade and pub games seems a bit higher budget than sitting in a kitchen (or studio, these days) and doing a panel show...
...But it would be such a good watch...
so tom lost $2 there
Hull has a ton of cool history. It was a playland for New Englanders in the 19th century and all the way until the amusement park closed in the 1980's. Loved going there as a kid to play games
They have this is Seaside, OR (but not for cash, as said) and I love playing it.
The city of Seaside in Oregon has the same one
How do you find all these places?
I think they email him and tell him hey if you are ever near my town come over to my business and I'll give you a tour you can film.
If I had to guess...Atlas Obscura.
@@TheGoodWario Great website
Last year I visited a flipper museum in Schwerin, Germany, and played all the flippers with different themes, 18 years after I played its digital equivalent in Windows 2000.
The happiness you feel when you're rewatching old vids from a TH-camr you like and the algorithm serves up one you missed.
There’s one like this in Knoebles in Pennsylvania.
Theassassin kLng good to know! I’ve been meaning to schlep out to Knoeble’s for forever, never seem to get ‘round to it, this will give me incentive (only 2 hour drive, vs 5.5 for Hull). It’s still free admission to the park, right?
From Massachusetts. Never heard of it. Unreal. I want to go!
I worked on a Fascination Parlor as a maintenance technician at an amusement park in the 80s. All of the machines are interconnected. The holes have open contact fingers in them to detect a passing ball. Whe that happens, open contact relays associated with that hole are closed. When the right combination of relays is set for the pattern your playing, a win relay is activated which sets off the win alarm, lights up the winning table’s top light to show the winning table and the rest of the tables go dark. When this happens there’s a very satisfying “clack” heard throughout the parlor as all those set replays reset. All of these relays were open to the air, not sealed. The contacts on these relays needed frequent cleaning and replacing (all soldered in, no sockets). I don’t recall exactly, but each table had about 35 relays, a combination of 2 pole and 3 pole relays. The parlor had about 40 tables, as I recall. They were both a nightmare to keep working and yet a joy to work on. Fun to play, too.
Great story. Reminds me of seaside arcades, just as video games were being introduced, where many of the arcade games were highly mechanical with, what I can imagine, lots of chunky wires and basic circuits :)
Tom Scott
I hope you all enjoyed this video! Fascinating machines.
Posted 17 years ago.
Fascinating story about playing with balls.
And borrowing money to gamble and not repaying it
Now you've said that, I keep hearing Eddie Waring's voice in my head saying "It's an up and under."
Where's the mind bleach? The visual image accompanying Eddie saying that, about Tom's three balls that he's playing with, is very disconcerting.
broooo i grew going to nantasket beach walking by this!
I remember seeing a Fascination parlor at an amusement park my family used to go to (probably either Conneaught park or Kennywood). I never got to play because I was too young, but this brought back memories of hearing the bells and the shouts inside. Thanks Tom!
damn you are rolling out quality videos after quality videos close together lately
Tom, you should look into Knoebels. It is a park in Pennsylvania that is free to get into, and they have a lot of these machines. -A friendly Pennsylvanian
I do believe that you play for money at this place.
yes, you do pay to play, but you get tickets that can be redeemed for prizes now.
I genuinely had a smile on my face throughout that whole story...thanks, Tom
Reminds me a lot of a game they had when i went to Circus Circus as a kid.
Every time I've done gambling I was just bored, but I must admit, that game looks like it might actually be fun. Sort of like skee-ball.
Did Chas pay back the dollar?
This is an important question
House needs it's cut :)
I saw this in r/Boston and as a British seaside native living in the US I have to agree there is just something about seaside towns in Massachusetts that can feel so much like home. And I mean beyond them all sharing the same names. I'll have to head out to Hull on the commuter rail soon
Loved playing Fascination at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio in my teens when my family went on our annual trip. Thanks for bringing back those fun memories!
Couldn't tell you why: I read this title 4 times in a row and every time it was Fornication Parlor. And needless to say, I wanted to find out what the hell that was.
But it sure wouldn't be the last one where you play for cash.
Hold on a second, there's a quirky arcade about an hour's drive from my house? I know what I'm doing this summer!
If you're an hour from Hull and you are a fan of quirky arcades, you should also go up to the Funspot Arcade in New Hampshire (at Weirs Beach). It is a heaven of retro cabinets.
I can walk there 8)
Rhode Island and Massachusetts are really into having old amusement things. There are so many old carousels and things of that nature in the bistate area and we really like preserving them.
Love Tom Scott, never had any idea that he has a video from my home town. Awesome.
God I can’t believe you came to Massachusetts, and I missed it completely
ikr
If bingo and connect-five had a child
I appreciate all of your videos, but this one in particular. My folks would take my siblings and I to Nantasket Beach as kids. Paragon Park was an amusement park that closed in 1984. I remember that Fascination location well.
That would be so fun to go in on a busy day and just bet a dollar. If you lose, you had a ton of fun, and the dollar is well spent. If you win, you could potentially win 20 bucks. Cool concept!
pinned by Tom Scott 2 weeks ago...
Someone has been keeping ahead of schedule.
Good ol Hull, whatever country
This is a very cool looking game. Simple, but elegantly so, with the kind of physical interactivity video games don't give.
And I love that this parlor still uses vintage "things that go clunk and buzz" machines. Don't really need more than that for this kind of game, and so long as you keep the contacts clean and the insulation intact, well...
Such other arcades as are still running here in the US might want to look into getting some Fascination machines, whether old or new. That "interactivity home video games can't properly replicate" aspect is one of the things that still pulls people to arcades, after all.
I haven't even gone here or played this but just watching you play has given me an addiction that I need to satisfy.
So does the place serve beer?
I feel like this guy needs a couple of Bar Billiards machines tucked into a corner of that parlour :)
I have family near Hull, and I visit there often. I never knew what the Fascination parlor was until this video popped up in my feed and I randomly clicked on it, (as a part of a Tom Scott binge) and finally learned what this place really is. Thank you Tom, I'll have to check this out this summer.
Are they still open? I'm seeing non-conclusive evidence they're permanently closed, and no evidence to the contrary.
The light switches are simple enough for me, but the fact that the bell rings when they're all lit, or when any line is completely lit, that is amazing.
A schematic for the wiring of this would be amazing
It would be fairly simple. It's mostly the same diagram repeated for each playing position.
TOM WAS IN MY STATE AND I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT? AAAAAA
I used to work the midway at a theme park, we had a similar game to this called Roll-A-Ball. Instead of bingo, it was a race between little racecars and getting the ball in certain holes made the car go faster. Winning a 12 player game (or beating a cumulative 10 other players over a number of games) got you the the 2 foot tall t-rex or whatever massive prizes were available.
Same electronics and such though
I love the sort of old nostalgia that these places give off.
I wonder where that place got it’s name from?🤔
Kingston.
@@bdf2718
Plymouth?
Damn I live there... wish I knew you’d be around
Same
Same
In Hull Ma there is a really cool carousel the Paragon Carousel is one of less and 100 remaining Grand carousels remaining in the US it I went there with my Grandma during the summer when I was a kid and it is still fun to go there today. Hull is a really cool town with the remains of the Paragon amusement park a bit of which you see before Tom entered the Parlor.
As a Massachusetts Resident that lives quite far from all this cool stuff, let it be known Fascination Parlor is now on my list of Places of "How have I not visited this yet!", in my own state!
So this is Fascination Parlor: Battle Royale?
No, because until the end all players are in
OG battle royal game
Bingo skee ball royale
Holy cow! This is the most British looking American seaside place I've ever seen. Love it.
this is fantastic. I love the feel of classic pinball machines and this has the same sort of feel to it I think.
Only the OG epic gamers will remember this
only 17 views? TOM
same here? gotta love decentralised counting!
17 is the new 301
I worked at one of these parlors in Sylvan Beach, NY. Very fun, still popular last time I visited.
In Boston, absolutely gonna check this out. Thanks, Tom!