It is an America Aladdin's Castle Arcade token and these are made of brass or copper-nickel. They are not worth very much unless in uncirculated condition. The well known online auction site usually has some listed for sale.
Sadly, not much. A quarter or less. I find more of these in bulk lots than Chuck E. Cheese tokens! Must be a kajillion of 'em out there! Back in the day, Aladdin's Castle was a video arcade in shopping malls. Aladdin's Castle Source: allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com "The largest of the Golden Age arcade chains by far was Aladdin’s Castle, which had 450 locations at its peak. Founded by Jules Millman, the chain had its origins in a company known as American Amusements Inc. After graduating from the University of Miami, Millman went to work for World Wide Distributing, a coin-op distributor in Chicago, where he noticed that operators seemed to making money “in spite of themselves” (Millman 1975). Though the games were certainly popular, most operators did not follow sound business practices and had no idea how to promote their games. In addition, coin-op games at the time were mostly located in the “undesirable parts of the city” and had something of a seedy reputation. Millman wanted to change that, and thought he knew how. His idea was to put games in a well-maintained location with a fulltime attendant and to aggressively promote them. Doing so, however, would require large locations, but the only ones that came to mind - large airports and military bases - were already taken by existing operators. Meanwhile, Millman’s uncle, who owned a discount store, had let him put five games at the store’s entrance where they were making over $100 a week. Realizing that retail stores represented a potentially lucrative and untapped location for coin-op games, Millman wondered how much money the games might make in in a dedicated location in an enclosed shopping mall, which were becoming increasingly popular. Millman visited mall after mall, only to be turned down flat every time. Then he found one that was having trouble finding tenants and talked them into letting him give his idea a try (Millman 1975). Instead of the typical dark, dirty coin-op game location, however, Millman created a family-friendly arcade where parents could take their kids. He installed carpeting and lighting, banned smoking and eating, and hired fulltime attendants. It was an instant success. Millman established a company called American Amusements that appears to have run a chain of arcades called Carousel Time[2]. To promote the idea, he established a marketing department, which began scanning newspapers looking for announcements of new shopping mall openings and trying to convince the often-reluctant owners to add an amusement arcade. It was a hard sell. Many at the time felt that arcades were hangouts for troublesome teens and hoodlums. The Carousel Time people made a novel suggestion – “You already have kids hanging out here in the mall. Why not give them a nice, well-policed place to have fun rather than having them prowl the aisles and other stores?” (RePlay 11/79) Convincing the mall owners, however, was only half the battle. The company then had to make their new arcades comply with local zoning laws, which could be quite restrictive in the early seventies. Nonetheless, the chain had expanded to around 30 locations by April 1974, when American Amusements was purchased by Bally, which merged it with Carousel Time, then already a Bally subsidiary. Bally then changed the name of the chain to Aladdin’s Castle, allegedly after the Aladdin's Castle funhouse at Riverview Park - a Chicago amusement park that operated from 1904 to 1967. By the end of the year, Aladdin’s Castle had 50 locations and by the end of the next, it had 75. In the post-Space Invaders boom, the company really began to take off, eventually becoming known as “the McDonald’s of the arcade business.” In 1980, it had 221 locations in 41 states that generated $38 million in revenue. By 1982, with fewer shopping malls being built, Aladdin’s Castle had peaked with 450 locations, counting its various subsidiaries (Pin Pan Alley, Pac-Man Palace, Bally’s Great Escape, and 55 Bally’s LeMans Fun Centers). After the video game industry crashed, Aladdin's Castle went into sharp decline. Bally closed 46 locations in 1984, 88 in 1985, and 47 in 1986 - though in terms of profitability, the chain had its best year yet in 1986. In 1989, Bally sold the chain and exited the arcade business entirely. In 1993, Aladdin’s Castle was sold to Namco, which merged it with Namco Operations to produce Namco Cybertainment."
Wow! I went to Aladdin's Castle when I was a mere tyke. I had forgotten about it and arcades in general. I used to have a few of those tokens, but I think they corroded over time. They probably weren't exactly made to last. Fun to see, but I'm guessing it probably has little value.
Most if not all of the ones I've seen appear to be brass. Though I've seen some stained and spotty ones, they mostly seem to stand the tests of time pretty well. The one thing this topic taught me is that Aladdin's Castle is a thing of the past. I hadn't realized they were no longer in business out there ... somewhere.
