“Or they can drill ’em, stick in a wire, and pull down the trigger that releases the gold award. Or they can take a cup and slide it up through the pay slot. They play until they get a win, and the fingers start to work. Then they shove the cup up in the fingers. That keeps ’em from closing, and they can milk all the money that’s in the tube out through the pay cup.”
“What’s the tube?” I asked.
“Say, you don’t know much about slot machines, huh?”
“Not a thing.”
He looked at me, and seemed rather sheepish. He said, “I guess I stepped on my foot. No bad feelings over the sock I gave you?”
“Only my face is sore, not my feelings.”
“Say, guy, you’re all right. Here, let me show you something about a machine.”
Louie pointed to a workbench. A slot machine was sitting on this bench. It took him only a few moments to unlock the back, take it off, unfasten a couple of catches, and lift out the internal mechanism.
“Here you are,” he said.
“How does it work?”