Hardware, Humor, Sega Retro

Sega Boozometer: Possibly the greatest Sega-related thing ever

As the webmaster of a video game website, I tend to get a variety of real-life mail related to the site, but most of it is incredibly boring: server bills, webhosting quarterlies, boring books of documentation. However, once in a very rare while I will receive something so incredibly amazing my sheer joy can’t be held back. So wonderful that I feel I must tell the entire Internet. And today, my friends, I received something just that wonderful.

(Click for full size)

The Sega Boozometer is a bar game to “test sobriety”–the player inserts a nickel and attempts to move a ring on a handle along a curved rail without the ring actually touching the rail. If the player succeeds, they get their nickel back. It’s a simple enough game, but it doesn’t appear to have been a popular one–in all the research I have done online and off (including quite a few snoozefests of old books and magazines), I have never come across this machine before now. I’d probably place the machine as having been manufactured somewhere in the mid-60s, possibly as late as 1969-70, though I would think the vaguely racist drawing in the top-left corner would have been removed if it were later than that. Bear in mind that such illustrations were par for the course for the industry back then (Seeburg in particular had some very offensive stuff in the 40s), so this is no cause to run around and call Sega racist.

In any case, it’s a neat bit of Sega history that had been forgotten before now; if on the off-chance you own one of these machines (or do a Google search and find this page years later), contact this site, as I’m eager for actual photos of the machine. Until then, I’m definitely framing this ad and keeping it above my liquor cabinet.

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8 Comments

  • Reply

    That is AMAZING. I want one =P

  • Reply

    I’ve seen a machine like this, but it wasn’t Sega branded, nor was it sobriety themed. It may have even had the same design for the “course.”

  • Reply

    Even from the very beginning there was a connection between Sega and rings =P

  • Reply

    if it wasn’t for the face that I’m 18 years old and living in New Jersey, I would buy that, drink as much as I can, then play with that XD

  • Reply

    Cool!!! πŸ˜‰

  • Reply

    My grandma & grandpa owned this exact game. I played it many times as a kid. It gets really hard toward the end!

  • Reply

    I’ve got one ! I bought it today and i’m looking for more informations… I can send you pictures if you want πŸ˜‰ Sorry for my english… I come from Belgium.

  • Reply

    Hello Marjo! Your English is easy to understand, dont worry πŸ™‚ Congratulations on buying one! We would love to see pictures of your Boozometer. Can you upload them to the website Sega Retro? You must create an account first… then, go to this page: https://segaretro.org/Special:Upload

    Please give each file the name “Boozometer 1”, “Boozometer 2”, “Boozometer 3”, and onward. We will handle the files after that. Thank you very much for contributing Marjo! Let us know if you need any help πŸ™‚

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