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Punchboards were particularly popular during
the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. Although they are illegal to operate in many
states, you can still find punchboards being played today in some areas of
the country, particularly as fund-raisers for clubs and organizations.
Punchboards are also beginning to gain popularity in countries outside the
United States.
A punchboard generally consists of a square
piece of wood or cardboard in which hundreds or thousands of holes have been
drilled, and filled with slips of rolled or folded paper. Each slip of paper
has a number or combination of symbols printed on it. The holes are covered
with a foil or paper seal, which protects the corresponding slips.
Punchboards usually have a chart listing the combinations of numbers or
symbols that are considered winners, along with the prizes or cash amounts
that will be awarded to the winners.
Here's how the game works: A player pays the
punchboard's operator a set amount of money (usually a nickel, dime or
quarter) for a chance to use a metal stylus (or "punch") to break
the seal on the hole of his choice, and "punch" one of the slips of
paper out of the board. If the number or symbols found on the slip of paper
matches one of the pre-determined winning combinations, the player is awarded
the corresponding prize.
Punchboards normally feature cash prizes,
although they have also been used to advertise everything from shoe polish to
Coca-Cola.
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