Le Roulis
About This Machine
Le Roulis is a pure mechanical, coin-operated table-top game manufactured by Compagnie Industrielle Des appareils Automatiques (CIDA) of Paris, France, circa 1933. It is a "square machine" with an unusual physical design: rather than using flippers or plungers, players incline the entire cabinet using two handles on the front to guide the ball, which sits on a ball-joint mounted stand stabilized by four springs.
For 25 centimes, a player received six balls, released by pushing a knob beneath the coin slot to drop them into the ball trough. Balls were then raised one at a time via an elevator and shot into play, with players tilting the whole cabinet to steer each ball toward one of several 1000-point score pockets while avoiding other holes along the way.
This "tilt the whole cabinet" mechanism is a distinctive design that predates later variations on the idea, such as International Mutoscope's 1956 electro-mechanical 'Rock 'N Roll The Crazy Maze' and Williams' 1983 solid-state 'Rat Race', both of which also used tilting playfields. Little further information survives about Le Roulis' designer or original cabinet stand, though the example known today is mounted on a later, non-factory wooden stand built by a previous owner.
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Technical Details
- Notable Features:
- 6 balls for 25 centimes. Square Machine. Inserting a coin into the slot allows the knob beneath it to be pushed inward to release all played balls to the ball trough. After shooting a ball into play, the player uses two handles on the front of the cabinet to incline the playfield (actually inclining the entire cabinet) to maneuver the ball towards the 1000-point score pockets. The cabinet is mounted to its stand on a ball joint to allow for this flexible movement, and four springs are attached to the bottom of the cabinet for stability. The cabinet measures 61 cm long, 56 cm wide, 21 cm high in the front, and 26 cm high in the back.