Les Flčches

Les Flèches ('The Arrows'), manufactured by Magister of Arras, France in 1934, is a Pure Mechanical, single-player payout machine. After inserting a coin, players push a knob beneath the coin slot to release 10 balls for 25 centimes. The playfield includes three snap traps, and each playfield arrow pivots when struck by the ball before being pulled back into place by a small spring.

A ball landing in the winning hole lets the player pull a knob on the cabinet's right side to dispense a token, redeemable at the time for drinks or cigarettes at the value shown (25, 50, or 75 centimes, with higher values awarded less often). Operators loaded and tracked the token supply through a locked compartment at the rear of the cabinet. After 1934, these payout games became illegal in France outside licensed casinos, which reportedly discouraged ordinary bar owners from keeping them.

Two surviving examples of Les Flèches, with slightly different playfields and instruction cards, show no patent numbers or copyright dates, and neither offers clues as to which was made first. The art deco cabinet and leg styling is typical of French amusement machines of the 1930s, and the design reflects the ingenuity of early manufacturers working with purely mechanical components. Its compact dimensions — 115 cm long by 55 cm wide — make it a notable specimen for collectors of early French payout games.