Year: made 1963, imported 1965
Company: Sidam
The Jaguar crane was released in Italy in 1963, according to this small mention in Billboard:
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| Billboard 1963-07-06 |
New Italian Crane
TURIN-A new crane grab-bag game, Jaguar, is being marketed by the Sidam Manufacturing Company of Turin. The game has an overhead crane duplicating to precise scale the moving overhead crane in industrial plants. Operation of the crane "provides a game of fascinating skill for adult and youngster alike-it offers all the thrills of operating a giant factory crane," according to promotional material. Sidam proposes to develop additional game equipment based upon actual industrial equipment found in this center of Italian heavy industry.
It was sold as a crane game for cigarettes, but allegedly a law was passed shortly afterwards limiting the sale of tobacco products, and that might explain why the game was heavily exported.
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| from ギャラクシアン創世記 －澤野和則 伝 |
●1965年7月:日本娯楽物産がロー
ゼン・エンタープライゼスと経営統合し『セガ・エンタープライゼス』誕生。
・同年:河井久雄が『マル三照会』(神戸)を創業。
・同年:ボウリングブーム起こる。人気は長く続き722年頃にピークを迎える。ピーク時は1~2時間待ちは当たり前、都心部の一等地では4~5時間の待ち時間が出る人気に。最盛期は3700施設以上あったといわれ、その待ち時間を快適に過ごしてもらう目的で付設されたのがゲームコーナー。レーンの軒先を借りた商売ながらも市場拡大の一因となった。
・同年:イタリア製のクレーンゲーム機『ジャガークレーン』が輸入されたのをきっかけに、その後、数年間に及ぶクレーンゲームブームが始まる。
Machine translation:
● July 1965: Nihon Goraku Bussan merged with Rosen Enterprises to form Sega Enterprises.
・In the same year, Hisao Kawai (河井 久雄) founded Marusan Shokai (マル三商会) (Kobe).
・The same year: Bowling boom occurred. Popularity continued for a long time, reaching its peak around 72. At its peak, it was common to wait 1~2 hours for a game, and in prime locations in the center of the city, the waiting time could be 4~5 hours. At its peak, there were more than 3,700 facilities, and game arcades were set up to make the waiting time more comfortable. The game corners were attached to the lanes to make the waiting time more comfortable for customers, and although the business was based on the eaves of the lanes, it contributed to the expansion of the market.
・The same year: The Italian-made crane game machine ``Jaguar Crane'' was imported, starting a crane game boom that lasted for several years.
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| Belgian Amusement Co arcade in Blankenberge Billboard 1965-04-10 I believe some of these are Jaguar cranes |
There is also a reference in a student paper from a Chinese university. 日本夾娃娃機的起源與發展 (The Origin and Development of Japanese Claw Machine) (PDF, archive) but that paper seems to just copy-and-paste paragraphs from websites. Like this one. (archive) I do not think these should be considered valid sources.
Sega duplicated the Jaguar design for their Skill Diga. I assume this is because of its proven success in Japan. Sega's machine is almost an exact copy, but Taito's has a slick design with angled panels and copies the Automatico Crane design. Please see: 1965 クレーンゲーム [クラウン602] (Crane Game [Crown 602]) by 太東 (Taito — Crown)
The Jaguar crane itself was similar to the design of the Hollycrane (USA). Let's line up all of these cranes:
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| 1948 Hollycrane by Como Industries |
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| 1963 Jaguar Gru [Jaguar Crane] by Sidam |
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| 1965 Skill Diga - スキル・ディガ by セガ (Sega) |
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| 1965 クレーンゲーム [クラウン602] (Crane Game [Crown 602]) by 太東 (Taito — Crown) |
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| from Automat # 2 [1963] |
I do not think Jaguar Crane was sold much in North America. In the magazines there I can only find one reference to it.
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| Cash Box 1964-12-26 |
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