the.com/gumball machine
Capitalism's purest form: twenty-five cents of hope, one cent of actual gum.
means A coin-operated dispenser that drops a random gumball through a chute when you turn its crank or twist its knob.
from Coin-operated vending has roots in the late 1800s, when machines began dispensing gum and small goods on subway platforms and storefronts; the gumball machine's iconic big glass globe design became popular in the early 1900s as a cheap, visible way to display candy and invite a coin. 'Gumball' itself is just 'gum' plus 'ball,' describing the shape the candy was molded into to roll smoothly through the mechanism.
- origin
- first ones sold gum-coated candy-covered peanuts, 1907
- math problem
- estimating the count inside is a classic puzzle
- stuck gumball
- usually means a broken spring, not bad luck
- markup
- gum costs pennies, machine charges thousands of percent more