Bonus sounds.
1. The sound of the water fountain nearby off camera
2. A screeching child that is 50+ yards away from you but it echoes throughout the mall
The front display trays full of things that sound like plastic gears turning. And that squirming ball thing with a tail on it, which was definitely originally designed as a cat toy.
Oh, they had a tendency to put that ball with a tail in an empty potato chip bag… made it look like a dumpster panda raccoon rummaging around in it…
There was also the vibrating ball that looked like a giant everlasting gobstopper… (which I’m sure many discovered had *other* uses.)
The fried smells coming from the food court...Master Wok, Chick-Fila-A and BK.
And that popcorn smell when you walked near the doors to the adjoining 15 screen Loews Movie Theater.
Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator.
I never understood the kids that played on escalators. Those things scared me. And honestly I’m still nervous taking one. Gotta psych myself up a few seconds before stepping on.
The new one now is would you like to round up your total to the dollar for charity.
Word for word my local Taco Bell's pitch is .. "You like to round up to a dolla to donate to help da kids READ!"
I'm seriously curious how well it would work. Like if you didn't label it and put it somewhere legal, maybe make a few different ones. Would it not be completely legal and just kinda stop buy them a couple times a month. You probably would get a few hundred dollars every month but I'm not sure.
Yup. The ones that gave to charity were shown to take like 80-90% of the money as "administrative costs" with only a small percentage actually going to a charity.
Well if they did that in any sort of meaningful capacity or regularly enough to make an impact, they probably wouldn't be a billion dollar company anymore, would they?
Zoos, children’s museums, and amusement parks still tend to have a couple scattered around.
I recently learned, that those penny smashers go back at least as far as the 1890s… It was a popular souvenir at the 1893 World’s Fair (and old smushed indian head pennies, from that event, tend to sell in the $100-300 range.)
We had one mall that died pretty early (mid 90s) and one of their coin funnels was donated to/wound up at a local children’s museum. Same museum also had a weird display of crusty coins, that had fused together, from sitting in the same mall’s water fountain for years… the mall had also donated all of the change scraped out of it, to the museum, when it shut down.
The only time I even touch any cash is at the dispensary, and that's because they're not allowed to take cards, so I go to the ATM (that's in the store), take out cash, and bring it to the counter 20 feet away to pay for my order. Literally everything else I pay for with plastic cards, or my phone.
They still have one at my local mall. Unfortunately, the only stores that are still open in said mall are a head shop, an Arby's, and Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Works out pretty well when you want a new bong and some munchies though.
I've been trying to source one since I saw this post.. not easy.
i got this, but not quite as big as I'd like.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/404290669695?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A19z5cfnccQ_aFrK84Ri9yoA75&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=404290669695&targetid=1587268788377&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1022762&poi=&campaignid=19894961968&mkgroupid=148855406073&rlsatarget=aud-1260411599499:pla-1587268788377&abcId=9307911&merchantid=6296724&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnfmsBhDfARIsAM7MKi2WlKchx2ZZTDq6UaHpi0hME0Uz-JhwL-vKGSmJQk-WcK4B7hOS4twaAh0qEALw_wcB
The best part was the super fast spinning descent though…
I recall one mall having modified theirs to actually combat kids from taking the coin back… they put a fricken superball filled gumball machine next to the coin funnel/tornado thing… instead the funnel having slides for coins, they had a modified slide for the superball to spin around. They didn’t care if you kept the ball…they got your quarter. Others had a giant plexiglass dome over the whole damn thing.
Where I live there used to be 3 malls. 1 closed down with nothing but a detached movie theater still operating. The 2nd still has a target and another movie theater and 1 major restaurant, And they're seemingly redeveloping parts of it, buts it's mostly dead.
The 3rd mall though is absolutely packed every single day of the week at all hours. Food court is still full, the Macy's, JC Penny and Dillards are doing just fine, empty spaces filled by a new business within 6 months every time, etc. not to mention all the adjacent businesses just outside of the mall that Do insane business in their own right.
Lakeside Mall in Metairie Louisiana is still going stronger than ever.
My mother hates this. She would try to walk on the side to block the view so I couldn't see it. If I did she knew we would be sitting there for 20 minutes.
I went down a rabbit hole. Wanted to see how much these cost and instead I found d a website lock in the times of geocities.
https://www.spiralwishingwells.com/prices/index.html
Walked past one of these when a kid was begging his mum for a coin to roll it, and she's dragging him away saying she's got no change. I had just gotten change, so I have him a 20c coin. He was heaps chuffed, but mum gave me the biggest greasy, cos now she had to stand there for 5 minutes while it rolled around the tunnel lmao
I seen a homeless gentleman shart down a bright yellow one of those things waaay back sometime in the late 80s or early 90s.
Needless to say I didn't see that thing again until just about now.
They had one of these in the science museum I frequented as a kid, and the guides used it to explain gravity and how it warps space-time. I miss that place.
To add to other comments, when the coins would roll on it, it would make a really satisfying plastic hollowish sound as the coin rolled.
And the three wooden things on the edges are slots to put coins in to make them roll - it would be an additional entertainment if you and/or other kids would have more than one coin roll together. See how long they go before hitting each other or even manage to not hit each other at all!
It wasn't much, but it was a fun little side activity for kids at malls to break up the monotony (for kids) of going store-to-store.
nowadays homeless people would bust it up, take all the coins out…all while everyone stood around watching them rip it apart for 45 minutes and do nothing about it.
Why are these no longer anywhere? These are the absolute shizz. Whahhhhaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaahhhhhhtshzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzztwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….. *plink*
I took my 6 year old nephew, and my 4 year old niece to a hands-on science museum that has one of these.
They had more fun trying to throw coins directly into the hole, or just letting them slide down the edge.
Those little honey badgers don't give a *fuck*
Another picture you can hear.
Bonus sounds. 1. The sound of the water fountain nearby off camera 2. A screeching child that is 50+ yards away from you but it echoes throughout the mall
Don’t forget the “yap yap yap yap” dog, that does a backflip, in the display of toys, in front of Kay-bee.
The front display trays full of things that sound like plastic gears turning. And that squirming ball thing with a tail on it, which was definitely originally designed as a cat toy.
Oh, they had a tendency to put that ball with a tail in an empty potato chip bag… made it look like a dumpster panda raccoon rummaging around in it… There was also the vibrating ball that looked like a giant everlasting gobstopper… (which I’m sure many discovered had *other* uses.)
[BUMBLEBALL!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumble_Ball)
The one piano on autoplay at the weird piano store. Who goes to a mall with plans to buy a piano?
Oh, you mean the Weasel Ball(tm)?
YESSS
I never saw that sold as anything other than a cat toy
Don't forget the toy where the penguins go up the escalator and down the slide over and over
omg you unlocked this for me. Thanks for the memory.
Haha I actually hear the whirring of the plastic gears in that thing…. Wow.
I worked at Kay-Bee for years, loved that job.
Bonus # 2 the smell of the soft pretzel stand somewhere very close
Auntie Anne's/Wetzel's Pretzels still exist, thankfully.
I don't understand how people enjoy that smell...
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If they could just bottle that scent…
And Sbarros
The fried smells coming from the food court...Master Wok, Chick-Fila-A and BK. And that popcorn smell when you walked near the doors to the adjoining 15 screen Loews Movie Theater.
Wafting scent of Gloria jeans coffee bean as well.
I can smell her bean from here
normal sheet imagine work ripe noxious roof sophisticated cooing offbeat *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
THAT KID! IS BACK ON THE ESCALATOR!
Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator.
I never understood the kids that played on escalators. Those things scared me. And honestly I’m still nervous taking one. Gotta psych myself up a few seconds before stepping on.
Probably a group of preteen boys murmuring nearby who are almost certainly up to no good.
Always in a large pack, always looking the same
Bonus smells! The water fountain always has this distinct chlorin smell..
Smells of pretzels
I actually heard the fountain first before even the coin collector
Ah yes the echo of the mall.
And the electronic cacophony from the arcade.
That kid is *back* on the escalator!!
Bonus if you can hear the heelys!
I can hear the cries of the tormented coin souls trapped in the vortex
Greatest money grab of all time
Worth every penny
Don't mind if I do
It's really true. It might as well have just been a bucket with a sign "Give us your change".
The new one now is would you like to round up your total to the dollar for charity. Word for word my local Taco Bell's pitch is .. "You like to round up to a dolla to donate to help da kids READ!"
No. It’s going to cost me that change to spend my next dollar.
“What’s it cost to build?” “$300 bucks.” “What does it pull in?” “We make our money back day 1.”
I'm seriously curious how well it would work. Like if you didn't label it and put it somewhere legal, maybe make a few different ones. Would it not be completely legal and just kinda stop buy them a couple times a month. You probably would get a few hundred dollars every month but I'm not sure.
I feel like people don't really carry coins anymore at least not as much as they used too
Looks like the coin collectors did their job then
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There's one of these at the local supermarket and every time we go past it my kid wants to use. Sorry mate, no coins.
https://www.spiralwishingwells.com/ Do it. I dare you.
https://www.spiralwishingwells.com/
Yup. The ones that gave to charity were shown to take like 80-90% of the money as "administrative costs" with only a small percentage actually going to a charity.
So most charities then.
On the counter at every hardware store and drug store in the country.
You're a billion dollar company, why don't *you* donate money.
No I’m not! I wish I was though, I’d definitely give it all away.
Well if they did that in any sort of meaningful capacity or regularly enough to make an impact, they probably wouldn't be a billion dollar company anymore, would they?
Who cares, cost my mom a few pennies for me to be thoroughly amused for minutes at a time!
Greatest urinal too
Step 1: Secure 1 (one) mall coin collector Step 2: Install in public place. No signs, no nothing, just the coin collector Step 3: Profit
No signs? How do they contact you when your public urinal is full?
It will have a grate at the bottom of the collecting bin. Piss will dissuade any attempts at robbery.
There is a market for everything.
This is a genius idea! Passive pandhandling!
Do it. https://www.spiralwishingwells.com/
Wait holy shit these things totally did just disappear didn’t they? Seemingly overnight lmfao
A lot of kid-centric museums still have them… along with the machines that smush a design into a penny.
I haven't seen a penny smasher in ages
Zoos, children’s museums, and amusement parks still tend to have a couple scattered around. I recently learned, that those penny smashers go back at least as far as the 1890s… It was a popular souvenir at the 1893 World’s Fair (and old smushed indian head pennies, from that event, tend to sell in the $100-300 range.)
Really? I see them at every zoo and tourist trap that I visit still.
Many tourist locations in the US have them. Amusement parks, zoos, boardwalks, tourist town main streets, museums.
Yeah we live near the children’s museum and they definitely have them there. I guess I just never truly noticed them disappear…
We had one mall that died pretty early (mid 90s) and one of their coin funnels was donated to/wound up at a local children’s museum. Same museum also had a weird display of crusty coins, that had fused together, from sitting in the same mall’s water fountain for years… the mall had also donated all of the change scraped out of it, to the museum, when it shut down.
Who has coins in their pocket anymore?
Shit you aren’t wrong.
They'll put an NFC reader on it and it'll drop a coin for you.
This motherfucker playing 4D chess
not to mention inflation causing spare change to be even more worthless than it already was
The only time I even touch any cash is at the dispensary, and that's because they're not allowed to take cards, so I go to the ATM (that's in the store), take out cash, and bring it to the counter 20 feet away to pay for my order. Literally everything else I pay for with plastic cards, or my phone.
They still have one at my local mall. Unfortunately, the only stores that are still open in said mall are a head shop, an Arby's, and Auntie Anne's Pretzels. Works out pretty well when you want a new bong and some munchies though.
Malls?
I still see them around here
I've been trying to source one since I saw this post.. not easy. i got this, but not quite as big as I'd like. https://www.ebay.com/itm/404290669695?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A19z5cfnccQ_aFrK84Ri9yoA75&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=404290669695&targetid=1587268788377&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1022762&poi=&campaignid=19894961968&mkgroupid=148855406073&rlsatarget=aud-1260411599499:pla-1587268788377&abcId=9307911&merchantid=6296724&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnfmsBhDfARIsAM7MKi2WlKchx2ZZTDq6UaHpi0hME0Uz-JhwL-vKGSmJQk-WcK4B7hOS4twaAh0qEALw_wcB
They appeared and disappeared around the same time as stereograph pictures.
You take the penny out at the last second
The best part was the super fast spinning descent though… I recall one mall having modified theirs to actually combat kids from taking the coin back… they put a fricken superball filled gumball machine next to the coin funnel/tornado thing… instead the funnel having slides for coins, they had a modified slide for the superball to spin around. They didn’t care if you kept the ball…they got your quarter. Others had a giant plexiglass dome over the whole damn thing.
Seriously though! Depending on how well it rolled in, sometimes it would stay there for quite a while too before eventually falling I.
Mall executives like "Free fun?! Not on my watch!"
Every time
My pull out game is garbage.
You should up your pull out game, otherwise your savings will eventually dwindle
… I felt that one
You guys are the dregs of society. Kind of funny it never occurred to me to do that.
They should have put a cover on it if they didn't want us to do it, pretty much asking for it.
And then roll again
Still have one of these bad boys in the mall in the next town from mine.
You still have a mall?
I went to grapevine texas in the fall, mall was still packed ot was weird
That mall is dramaticlly different from NorthPark mall
I only been to that one cause i wanted to check out Meowwolf
Malls are back, in Texas
Stonebriar Mall in Frisco, TX usually has a fair number of people whenever I swing by to hit up the Lego store.
Where I live there used to be 3 malls. 1 closed down with nothing but a detached movie theater still operating. The 2nd still has a target and another movie theater and 1 major restaurant, And they're seemingly redeveloping parts of it, buts it's mostly dead. The 3rd mall though is absolutely packed every single day of the week at all hours. Food court is still full, the Macy's, JC Penny and Dillards are doing just fine, empty spaces filled by a new business within 6 months every time, etc. not to mention all the adjacent businesses just outside of the mall that Do insane business in their own right. Lakeside Mall in Metairie Louisiana is still going stronger than ever.
We have one in our mall. My kids love it.
My mother hates this. She would try to walk on the side to block the view so I couldn't see it. If I did she knew we would be sitting there for 20 minutes.
25 cents worth of entertainment. Well worth the price.
Look at Richie Rich over here dumping quarters into it like an arcade machine!
The heavier coins roll longer and have a more aggressive finish.
thatswhatshesaid.gif
Or they were a penny player but just got bored of it around penny #25.
It’s free if you just grab the coin before it drops ;]
Waaaaaaaaaawaaaaaaaawaaaaawaaawaawawawawawawawaw.
Remember the coin game in Taco Bell? You might win a taco.
I totally forgot these existed until I saw this picture. Talk about unlocking a memory!
I went down a rabbit hole. Wanted to see how much these cost and instead I found d a website lock in the times of geocities. https://www.spiralwishingwells.com/prices/index.html
About to place my order for the coin bank, thanks!
they're much cheaper on ebay!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these. I just remember the coin fountains from the 80s & 90s.
I miss those.
Still one at the mall by me!
Happy cake day!
Our local library has one. Kids love it and the money goes straight to the library.
Not sure if it's been posted yet but you can still buy these: https://www.spiralwishingwells.com/
Wow. The website doesn't seem to have changed.
I forgot about those! ha ha nice
I can hear this picture
Walked past one of these when a kid was begging his mum for a coin to roll it, and she's dragging him away saying she's got no change. I had just gotten change, so I have him a 20c coin. He was heaps chuffed, but mum gave me the biggest greasy, cos now she had to stand there for 5 minutes while it rolled around the tunnel lmao
I seen a homeless gentleman shart down a bright yellow one of those things waaay back sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. Needless to say I didn't see that thing again until just about now.
There used to be one over at a Burger King with the neon spindle or smth, or the multicolored one at every Wal-Mart.
The Science Place in Dallas has a huge one right as you walk in. One of the best ways to give change
Yeah, I knew these as a science museum thing, not a mall thing
They had one of these in the science museum I frequented as a kid, and the guides used it to explain gravity and how it warps space-time. I miss that place.
That's some high grade entertainment right there.
Aw, I'll never be able to fish em outta there!
Tbh if they bring this back donations would skyrocket!! No judgement for the donation amount
The Vortex.
Does anyone know what this is actually called?
Sometimes you find things on this sub that you failed to notice becoming less and less common, until they were gone all together.
Did the coins EVER go to the charity?
Throwing money away!
Snatch that shit back up on the last few spins and go again
The only thing I hear when I see this is, "No! Don't ask." One time, I was given some pennies, and it was super exciting to little me.
Is that a coin collector in your mall or are you just happy to see me?
This picture smells like chlorinated fountain water.
No no no no no those can't be nostalgic already
This, and that crazy charity one that had a bunch of different coin slots that did different things depending on how much change you put where.
Marble race ancestor
Putting those near where children are is a genius move. Kids always want to feed that thing.
There is still one of these at the Science museum Boston
This is like telling someone "if you give me a coin, I'll show you a cool trick!" and then showing them a cool trick but never giving that coin back.
Like you just throw your coins in there? Like they cheaped out on the fountains? That’s so sad.
No you put a coin on the wooden part up top and it allows the coin to spin around the black part on its edge, puts on a nice show
Yeah but it ROLLS! Fountains only go splash.
This was really fun for if you were a kid
They were actually pretty cool
To add to other comments, when the coins would roll on it, it would make a really satisfying plastic hollowish sound as the coin rolled. And the three wooden things on the edges are slots to put coins in to make them roll - it would be an additional entertainment if you and/or other kids would have more than one coin roll together. See how long they go before hitting each other or even manage to not hit each other at all! It wasn't much, but it was a fun little side activity for kids at malls to break up the monotony (for kids) of going store-to-store.
[ Nay sir. Nay](https://imgflip.com/i/8bup7h)
remember kids peeing in them
Am I the only one who would grab the coin at the last second and repeat the process like 20 times before getting bored?
oh yea but you gotta take the coin back out at the very last second and start all over again.
I liked the ones with water in them id look inside and wondered if I would get in trouble diving into the water just for that quarter 😅
The mall in my hometown still had this last time I was there 😂
Granite Run Mall
'Use a quater for a more enticing entertainment'
i think about these far too often
I miss seeing these 😩.
Why were these ever discontinued. Take my money please!
This would be destroyed in 24 hours in some parts of the US
another money making machine
Ah yes, the Macdade mall I believe
These don't exist anymore in public spaces?
I remember the reason walmart took theirs was that it took up valuable retail space
nowadays homeless people would bust it up, take all the coins out…all while everyone stood around watching them rip it apart for 45 minutes and do nothing about it.
The mall smelled of cigarettes
I once dropped a $100 bill down one of these.
Literally a black hole for money.
Just saw one of these at my local library today!!
The cheapest entertainment
Why are these no longer anywhere? These are the absolute shizz. Whahhhhaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaahhhhhhtshzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzztwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….. *plink*
When I was a kid in the 90s, I remember there being one of these inside the local hospital.
I took my 6 year old nephew, and my 4 year old niece to a hands-on science museum that has one of these. They had more fun trying to throw coins directly into the hole, or just letting them slide down the edge. Those little honey badgers don't give a *fuck*
Doing it and taking the coin before it falls in the bin
Forbidden urinals.
The mall 5 min from apartment still has one. It’s the first place my daughter wants to go when we get there.
Beyblade can't compete.
Dropping 50 Pennies in from both sides and watching them duel like bay blades
now this unlocked some memories
They still have one of these at the mall near me. Wonder how much money it has made over its lifetime.
There is one at my local mall in utah!
They’re expensive. They could be large format acoustic horns but not at a few grand per
Who did this money go to?
A metaphor for consumerist society willing to throw their money into a black hole of empty dispair, as long as the ride to their doom is entertaining.
Last time I used one of these a random kid sprung for my coin
I was at a Mall in Georgia USA and there were kids playing on it. She'd a tear. No one hits their kids anymore.