William PietriSep 15, 2025
One of the fun/annoying things about starting a pinball museum is the number of historical rabbit holes that I get caught up in. Today it's how this 1936 pinball machine led me to what looks like an MLM scheme from the 1920s and 1930s. A scam that still works today! 🧵
Show threadWilliam PietriSep 15, 2025
Bally's Carom was part of the wave of pinball-ish machines that started in 1931, but they quickly veered into what at the time was legal ambiguity, but today is clearly seen as a gambling machine. Here's the Carom schematic, which makes clear that the operator can set the payout odds. Gambling! 100% gambling! 2/
Show threadWilliam PietriSep 15, 2025
Now once I get this restored, I want people to be able to play it and get the same experience they would in 1936. But I don't want to get arrested, and I don't want people walking off with the proceeds. So I started searching for nickel-sized brass tokens. That led me to a bunch of vintage options on eBay, including this. 3/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/177261258488
Show threadWilliam PietriSep 15, 2025
To a modern eye, that's super jarring. A swastika of all things! But the swastika is a symbol used in many cultures around the world, often symbolizing good luck. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika 4/
Swastika - Wikipedia

Show threadWilliam PietriSep 15, 2025
At a guess, this particular use was part of a wave of orientalism in the west during the 1920s that gave us things like the famous Graumann's Chinese Theater in LA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauman%27s_Chinese_Theatre 5/
Grauman's Chinese Theatre - Wikipedia

Show threadWilliam PietriSep 15, 2025
Anyhow, this got me digging. "Health-O" turns out to be The Health-O Quality Products company, a 20s and 30s company from Cincinnati that promised you riches. Here's an ad from 1926. https://www.ebay.com/itm/197646018281 6/
Show threadWilliam PietriSep 15, 2025
This is exactly the same scam that Amway is running today. You, a perfect novice, can be in business for yourself pronto making big money. 7/
Show threadWilliam Pietri
They advertised quite a bit. Here's a full-page ad from "Western Story Magazine" in 1930. It's such a good example of this kind of manipulation. Our distance from it makes it easier to see how suspicious it is, but I'm sure it was very effective at the time. 8/
https://www.electronicsandbooks.com/edt/manual/Old%20Pulp%20Magazines/!%20new/Western%20Story%20Magazine%20-%2025%20February%201930.pdf
Sep 15, 2025 at 1:21pmWeb
Show threadWilliam PietriSep 15, 2025
They must have been huge, as even today you can find collections of their recruiting pitches on eBay. 9/ https://www.ebay.com/itm/226150641687
Show threadWilliam PietriSep 15, 2025
They even used took advantage of the 1930s craze for jigsaw puzzles to rope in housewives. 10/ https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/jigsaw-puzzle-how-helen-s-dreams-came-true-health-o-quality-products-co/tgGbfadXPBEOtA
Jigsaw puzzle:How Helen's Dreams Came True - Health-O Quality Products Co. - Google Arts & Culture

Around 1760, English mapmaker John Spilsbury pasted one of his maps to a board, cut around the borders, and created the first jigsaw puzzle. The idea caugh...

Google Arts & Culture
Show threadWilliam PietriSep 15, 2025

Alas, I'm out of time to look into what happened to them. They were big enough that they apparently had a whole multi-story building that they were proud of. But presumably they blew up in the Great Depression. Most scams are pretty delicate, and collapse easily during downturns.

A good lesson to remember as we see a lot of get-rich-quick offers like cryptocurrencies hoovering up the dumb money while promising financial independence, just like Health-O did back in the day.

11/11

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154689095213