bridge to Beverly.These are photos from my September 4, 2004 visit to the Salem Willows Park (Salem, MA) and Funworld (Nashua, NH). They are a part of the Canobie Lake Park Information Archive.
The thumbnail photos on this page and the full-sized photos to which they link are dedicated to the Public Domain. Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting
I arrived at the Willows at 9:45am. Things were still closed, so
I took a walk along the shore. I think that it was low tide, since a
lot of shell-covered land was exposed. From the beach, you can look
across the water and see the
bridge to Beverly.
The Willows has some mechanical games. They have
basketball game
(manufacturer unknown);
Big
Twin rifle game, Computer Games Inc., Norwell Mass.;
Official Baseball, Williams;
and 
Sea
Wolf, Sega.
They also have other coin-operated amusements.
The 
Drinker-Tinker is an old-school version of the metal
loop/wire game (manufacturer unknown). The idea is that you are
supposed to see how drunk you are by how well you play the game.
The 
Metal-Typer allows you to make an engraved medallion
(Standard Metal Typer Inc.).
Musical Monkeys is just an amusement where
mechanical monkeys move while music plays (manufacturer unknown). I
also have
a closeup of the mechanical
monkeys and
another closeup of the monkeys.
The Willows has two Mutoscopes from the International Mutoscope Reel
Co. These have the original, hand-powered cranks. One film was
Howling
Hot-Dogs and Backyard Serenade double feature with Felix the Cat
(IMR 7713). The other is
Drunken
Outrage (IMR 7531).
Peppy the Musical Clown, Williams, allows you to control a
marionette clown while music plays.
The 
Relax-a-lator is a machine that promises an
"Oscillo-massage", but really it's just a vibrating foot massager.
There are similar sit-down machines at the Big E.
There is a simple mechanical 
scale, made by the Watling Scale Co.
There are a number of love and fortune telling machines. The 
Kiss-O-Meter measures kissability (Exhibit Supply Co.,
copyright 1945).
Also from the Exhibit Supply Co is the 
Love Tester.
On a similar note, there is a 
Test Your Love machine, manufacturer unknown.
Finally, there are two fortune telling machines. A 
fortune teller, which was not labeled (but which I
believe is a "Lucky Lady" from Coin Concepts, Inc.) seemed to be a new
breed of machine, but it failed to give me a paper fortune.
The classic 
Zoltan (Prophetron) communicates via a telephone. It
told me some stuff, but I don't know whether it really, truly works--
I'll let you know whether I wake up Big.
The Willows also had a Penny Press, and I made a "Salem Willows" coin souvenir. There was a carousel and other flat rides, but I mainly ignored them. By the time I left, at around noon, more people were heading towards the Salem area. The streets are very narrow, confusing, and often, one-way. If you ever go to Salem, I advise that you park as soon as possible and just walk to where you want to go. Because it was a holiday weekend, I didn't stick around to visit the other tourist spots in Salem. I think that I'll make a visit sometime in late September, during the low season between Summer and Halloween.
After a brief lunch at the South East Asia Restaurant's lunch buffet, and a brief Halo session at Chip's E-Cafe, I headed to Nashua and Funworld, to finish up my roll of film.
First of all Mad Wave Motion Theater now has two new films. Toy Coaster is a simulation of a ride on a toy roller coaster. Arctic Fury is a ride down a bobsled-like run. I rode both, as well as the slot-car film that I didn't get to ride the last time I was there. I still think that the Haunted Mine is the best one.
I took some pictures of the two-story 
Carousel, including some shots of the
decorative detail,
the 
interior, and the
organ.
I took a picture of the 
Himalaya, and also the Orient Express dragon coaster. I have
pictures of the rundown 
lighting and a not-very-good one of the
train.
There were two machines which I saw, but I did not get pictures of (because I ran out of film). One was a Lucky Lady fortune telling machine by (or sold by) Coin Concepts, Inc. The fortune cards say "Bay-Tek, Inc.". The other was a Cool Gunman by Namco, where you and an opponent use guns to shoot a can towards each other's goals.
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