Comments on: What is it? Game 87

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:58:51 +0000

Randall IS the greatest! A few of these really made me chuckle (magic finger, disappointment/amusement box). Bwahahaha!

Congrats to Shrike who guessed right, though he posted a URL since there’s no prize I guess it really doesn’t matter …

Good of Admiral Ackbar to make an appearance!

By: Moon

Moon — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:09:24 +0000

Geez, Randal, if that isn’t it, you’re the greatest BSer EVER!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:25:17 +0000

The first piggy bank ever created.

By: Admiral Ackbar

Admiral Ackbar — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:04:44 +0000

It’s a trap!!

By: Shrike

Shrike — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:57:26 +0000

Apologies for posting the URL.. I missed that

By: Shrike

Shrike — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:55:20 +0000

This is one of the first coin operated machines, called an honor box, circa 1800s I think. It was used at pubs. Someone would put a coin in, pull on a lever, and a drawer with tobacco would pull out. You would take your fair share of tobacco and push the drawer back in. The coin is kept in a compartment.

By: Fadhil

Fadhil — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:05:58 +0000

Its a donation box

By: Brent

Brent — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:02:11 +0000

A movie theater ticket puncher.

By: AJ

AJ — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:44:11 +0000

It’s a parrot training box.

Insert a baby parrot inside on its back, secured with tiny leather straps. Close the lid to place the bird in solitary confinement.

At feeding time, if needed, press the button to lower a soft brush over the parrot’s face to wake him up. Then say “Polly want a cracker?” and insert a cracker through the feeding slot and let go when you feel the bird grab the other end of the cracker.

You eventually train the bird to say “Polly want a cracker?” without your saying it yourself, and without using the button.

Because parrots are highly intelligent animals that require near-constant mental stimulation, the box is most effective if you leave the bird inside for several weeks until he is insane and readily repeats “Polly want a cracker?” with an incessant nervousness in his voice.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:29:52 +0000

It’s a 1981 prototype cellular telephone.

By: Adam Mcneish

Adam Mcneish — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:19:54 +0000

Admission / carnival ticket dispenser. One ticket per button push.

By: uggabooga

uggabooga — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:02:26 +0000

Ballot box.

By: lordunger

lordunger — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:49:38 +0000

Whatever it is (piggybank?), it is on a marble surface.

By: Ryan H

Ryan H — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:14:43 +0000

Clearly this is a Steampunk Ghostbusters trap.

By: aoabernathy

aoabernathy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:48:10 +0000

It’s Al Gore’s famed “lock box” that all the social security money would have gone into. Clearly it’s not being used.

By: TeaFizz

TeaFizz — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:14:11 +0000

Damn… Mother Mary beat me to it

By: TeaFizz

TeaFizz — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:13:34 +0000

I think that’s what the internet’s inventor would refer to as a “lock-box”

By: Christophe

Christophe — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:05:15 +0000

It’s a trumpet. Blow through the hole, and press the button.

By: Mother Mary

Mother Mary — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:39:59 +0000

it’s a lock box for votes.

By: Guybrush Threepwood

Guybrush Threepwood — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:19:51 +0000

It’s a golden metal box with a handle. And a slot. And a thingie by its side.

By: Bobby the K

Bobby the K — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:12:56 +0000

I think it’s a fare box for transit use. This way when their route is done the operators could just take the fares with them when a new driver comes on.

By: Riggy

Riggy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:12:24 +0000

isn’t that the thing they trapped ghosts in in Ghostbusters?

By: Scott-O

Scott-O — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:35:26 +0000

Oprah’s new lunch box?

By: Murat Tunal?

Murat Tunal? — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:22:07 +0000

This is a shoe shine stand actually shoe shine boys still using it in Turkey. (Of course wooden ones)

By: chris m

chris m — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:03:20 +0000

skee ball game coin box

By: freakoid9000

freakoid9000 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:53:03 +0000

its a coin operated snuff box… money in… snuff out… used to stand on shop counters…

By: Corinne

Corinne — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:25:47 +0000

Steampunk payphone.

By: name taken

name taken — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:23:04 +0000

You are clearly mistaken. It’s a bannana

By: Leif

Leif — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:13:22 +0000

It’s obviously a monkey.

By: lisa goodeill

lisa goodeill — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:11:27 +0000

it’s a disappointment/amusement box. They were designed to disappoint slow-witted children who eagerly insert coins and push the button. When nothing happens and the children cry, the cruel adults are amused. All in all, nice way to piss away an otherwise boring afternoon in Victorian times

By: Screen Sleuth

Screen Sleuth — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:50:28 +0000

The new briefcase prototype for Deal or No Deal? Gosh this could be cool. Those rail-skinny models wouldn’t be able to open them, but they were always pointless anyway.

By: Nigel

Nigel — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:39:34 +0000

It’s for miners to put their token in as they go down the pit.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:36:42 +0000

An early prototype for the “magic Fingers” bed massage

By: Missy

Missy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:23:36 +0000

Bus fare collection box.

By: MichaelDTY

MichaelDTY — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:35:47 +0000

it’s the first lunch box ever created.

By: Zachary Lewis

Zachary Lewis — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:35:26 +0000

It’s the top of a newspaper stand. Put the coin in, the back (not shown) unlocks so you can open it and get a newspaper.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:28:30 +0000

Drop box for a gambling table for the house rake off. the slotted opening sits flush with a slot in the table top.

By: votemom

votemom — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:15:01 +0000

yes, shoe shine thingy.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:11:12 +0000

Arcade coin box.

By: Roger G.

Roger G. — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:24:01 +0000

It’s a box to collect nickels on a bus, or more likely, a trolley car.

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:11:32 +0000

It’s a coin-operated torture box. You stick an appendage of your choice in one end, drop in a coin, and watch the magic happen!

By: chris

chris — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:11:31 +0000

Schrodeinger’s Box

By: Evan

Evan — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:03:44 +0000

First one got it right, shoe shine box.

By: uptonty

uptonty — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:03:00 +0000

it’s an indulgence box … you used to be able to pay your way into heaven in the Catholic church

By: jugsi

jugsi — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:59:27 +0000

i guess it’s something to sharp knifes. insert the blade and….taram!!!

By: Randall

Randall — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:52:29 +0000

This is a circa 1914 biscuit voucher validator. The British Expeditionary Force in France maintained a high standard of accounts even in the forward positions, and between mass suicide charges against german machine guns would ‘brew up’ tea and munch on ‘knackers’. Each surviving soldier was issued 1 and 1/3 tins of tea biscuits each day and on receipt had to sign and cancel a 2 inch by 3 inch papercard vouchsafe using this device.

It was common conjecture at the time that if such diligence was applied to other aspects of the military endeavor, the horrendous losses of the conflict (World War One for you post 1980 high school graduates) may have been avoided.

By: JohnP

JohnP — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:52:02 +0000

A piggy bank!
if pigs were box-shaped and made of metal

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:44:45 +0000

Solitary confinement for a law breaking hamster.

By: LightningCrash

LightningCrash — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:38:02 +0000

It is a way to remind me not to use Google Image search when I’m searching for variations of “coin slot.”

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:12:00 +0000

Money box. Like a rake box at a poker table. A percentage of each pot in poker is “raked” to the house. The dealer places the raked chips in a locked box that is periodically taken away and replaced with an empty one.