Check out the 1888 V Nickel we won in an arcade game, grade opinions appreciated :)

MrsSpud had a conference in Myrtle Beach last week and took me with her for a little vacation . Down in the Pavilion area they have a bunch of arcades along the boardwalk. We went into one that had a number of old mechanical baseball machines and stuff like that. They also had machines where you put quarters in and little cranes move back and forth sometimes pushing them over the edge (you win the ones that fall over the edge). We played those for a while and avoided the Skeeball and other games that gave out coupons when you win. We figured that the coupons you exchange for prizes were just for the kiddies. That is until we saw that, besides the usual stuffed animals and plastic widgets, they also had coins in 2X2's in some of their prize cases. Most of the coins were low value coins like worn indian head and wheat cents for 500 coupons or Unc. 1964 Kennedies for 1000 coupons and slider Morgans and Peace Dollars for 2000 coupons. But then MrsSpud spotted a decent looking 1888 V Nickel for 1500 coupons. She pointed it out to me and I couldn't believe it, I thought it must be an 1883. But sure enough, it was an 1888. So we started playing the games that gave out coupons.

Most only gave out a few coupons at a time, until we found a rotating quarter machine that pushed coins off the edge of the turntable sometimes when you dropped the coins down a chute. Only it paid off in coupons rather than actual quarters like the other ones with the little cranes. It also had two holes in the turntable that, if you dropped the coin with just the right timing, a plastic scraper would push the coin near or into the hole. You got a jackpot bonus of 100s of coupons if the coin went down the hole. Well, me and MrsSpud figured out the timing thing and won the bonuses several times off all of the machines. About $60 later we left with the V nickel, an aluminum thermos coffee mug, a stuffed cow, a deck of cards and some smartees. Anybody care to give a grading opinion? Thanks for looking.