Classic/Vintage Fruit Machines

RichyJ75

Has been a very naughty boy ...
PABnonaccred
Joined
Apr 3, 2015
Location
Kent
Bit of a step away from online slots with this post, but I am just in the process of converting half my garage into a games room (games table, dartboard, fridge, TV and games console, etc) and will be getting a fruit machine out there. Biggest dilemma was which one and at what jackpot level. Since my kids may use it, I have opted for a low £5 jackpot payout and whilst looking at fruit machines, stumbled across a vintage amusement arcade just up the road to me which has the old style (1980's era) machines.

I have been chatting to the owner who is selling a modern style old machine (out of place in his arcade) and during our chat and from looking at his website, it has dawned on me how vastly different the industry has become in the last couple of decades. As Dave (arcade chap) has pointed out, in the 80's they were 'amusement arcades' - arcades there for amusement and enjoyment. You could go there with a fiver and spend ages playing on the fruit machines as generally they had high RTP and regular payouts at lower amounts, meaning many hours of 'amusement'. Nowadays with the £100 jackpot fruities, a £20 stake will be gone by the time you finish your first pint and not exactly there for 'amusement' as my boy (10 years old) quite rightly said - the machine looks too complicated with all the buttons and lights'.

This fact was strengthened from a recent family outing to a local caravan park with amusements. Loads of arcades and 100's of fruit machines, but my boy only wanted to play Eachway Nudger (1980's machine) which we found tucked away. Nice and simple and where the 'bonus round' was simply selecting nudges up or down on the reels! He loved it and won the jackpot a few times, walking away with a few quid profit.

So now my thought pattern has changed and will probably source an old machine for amusement out in the games room and am quite looking forward to it. I am sure it will bring back fond memories of my childhood in the amusements whilst on holiday. However, the chances of finding a Silver Ghost, Bar X or 20p Stepper machine seem quite bleak, but would be nice to find one with simple functions like 'Hold' and 'Nudge' instead of 200 bulbs flashing, LCD displays, deal or no deal buttons, etc!

So, what's your favourite old machine? This question is probably only applicable for people in their 40's! (ooops, just remembered another I used to love with black cherries or red cherries on the gamble .... damn, forgotten its name!)
 
Golden Steppa (not 20p stepper as previously thought), that's the one! Used to love this as a kid. So much enjoyment from it going up 20p at a time!!

golden steppa.jpg
 
25p golden game because I knew all the tricks, hold the one yellow bar in the middle, keep getting the golden x until you win the jackpot, was always smug sitting next to someone who didn't know the tricks of this machine a bit like playing oxo and knowing to wait for the nudges to go down on their own.
 
I 'lived' in the arcades in the 90's. Me and my best mate used to make a living (ok well beer and fag money) from using our knowledge, patience, great relationship with the owners and nativity of customers.

Some of my all time faves included..

Cash Force (BFM £4.80JP)
Sunset Boulevard (Barcrest £4.80JP)
Blue Moon (Barcrest £4.80JP)
Hi Point (BFM - the £2.40 repeater could go on forever lol!)
Screen Play (Maygay, could get the £3 repeater ever time from Find the Knight or Duck Shoot)
Viva Las Vegas / Road Hog (Barcrest £6 JP)
Big Banker / Big Bucks (JPM)
Reno Reels / Monte Carlo or Bust (BWB - £6 JP)

I could go on forever but my all time low tech classics had to be the Project Coin series, Double UP, Hit the Six, Sevens and Melons and the two beauties below in picture.

Untitled.png

I had a phase in my youger years on having full size fruities in my mom n dads garage at home. Originally had a £100 JP Club machine and Hit the Top (Barcrest £4 JP) - Later changed these to Silver Shadow (Barcrest £4 JP) and a slightly more modern club machine.

Since getting own family/house I've occasionally had the urge to get another one and always keep an eye open but not really pushed it or done much about it.

Would love a Barcrest 'Up n Over' or 'Lotto Luck' travelled the country emptying these beauties early 2000's and made a small fortune, all of which obviously got pissed up the wall and smoked away lol.
 
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There's so many classics you could go for.....

For comedy value there was spotted dick (original £15 JP not the remake). OK game, but some of the sound effects were pretty funny.

Thriller - absolutely awful game, but hilarious when you got a feature and then pressed start only to get a 2 which would land on zoom and then quite frequently on add again which put you onto LOSE hahaha

if you want something that required a bit of skill, you could go for Simpsons duff beer guide - virtually every feature on that apart from cherry surprise could pay jackpot depending on reel set ups etc...

or for the ultimate skill challenge get Arcadia - anyone remember trying to hit shoot 'em up????
 
The 80's and 90's were the best.
All the mpu3 barcrests were my favourites in the 80's.
What a machine Line Up was, so simple but enjoyable.
There is an anniverary edition out which plays almost exactly like it.
And also hard to believe Partytime has been out 16 years
 
Hi i still have one ( Bellfruit JPM )club machine grand slam one of the newer £500 jackpots , this changed over when they went to £1000 jackpots , still like the game many many hours of clocking the £250 which i could trigger for 3 jackpots back in the day :D:D
 
You wouldnt be on about Reelfruits would you Richy?

Yep, Reel Fruits at the bottom of Gabriels Hill !!

Not been in there yet, but am now eager to as 'Dave' sounds a nice chap and it looks a fun place to go.
 
Whereabouts is Mr P's? I know the owner of Reel Fruits has another store in Tonbridge, which I presume is along the same lines, namely classic slots.

And oh boy, this one brings back fond memories! I remember playing this if feeling adventurous and if my nan had just given us a bit more cash to play with!

grab the bank.jpg
 
Whereabouts is Mr P's? I know the owner of Reel Fruits has another store in Tonbridge, which I presume is along the same lines, namely classic slots.

And oh boy, this one brings back fond memories! I remember playing this if feeling adventurous and if my nan had just given us a bit more cash to play with!

View attachment 71253

When this came out, it let you do unlimited exchanges on the jackpot to try get unlimited nudges on the next play.
But then they chipped it to only let you have one go at it.

Yeah, thats the one in Tonbridge.

A couple of pics of the Line Up anniversary edition when i played it a couple of months ago.

And after not playing it for well over 20 years, I could still remember the reels

lu2.jpg

lu.jpg
 
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As I am Dutch,our oldie slots look a bit different from the UK ones with 6000 buttons on it.
Well see below my all time favourite oldie slot.
I could play this for hours with 50 quid and most of the times I would walk away with 150-200 quid.
Played this so much in my student years, hence my nickname.
Now y'all know where it comes from! :D:thumbsup:

Very straight forward slot with base game and top game which could pay very handsomely.

Used to have this slot in my house before moving to Ireland.
Nowadays you can still buy them for around €75.00-€125.00. Working with Euro coins and all.

0f616-lotus.jpg

You can also play this online and then it looks like this:

lotus-classic-jackpot-groot.jpg

:)
 
It amazes me how many were drawn into gambling at such a young age. It's a UK thing.....:eek2:


Probably down to all the amusement arcades at the beaches and caravan parks! That's where I was introduced to them - good old Seawick Holiday Park, next to Clacton-on-Sea! Endless fun down there, especially looking for dropped/unclaimed coins from the pusher machines!


And Line Up - I remember that one now having seen the picture! Great fun.
 
I see the next generation of Gamblers everytime i go to Brid.
I feel sorry for them only being able to play the rubbish which is out today.
Even the 10p £5 jackpots can be brutal as most of them save up for streaks.
I once put £16 in a 10p Partytime Arena before i got a win and the bloody thing didnt go up
 
how much entry will you charge and how much are beers )

i miss the online ones so much

i cant remember seeing any fruit machines in australia , but i used to gamble on these old 10c bally machines , my friend used to have one in his garage

bally.jpg
 
I must be older than most people on here lol

I used to love playing this

bellfruit.jpg

then along came this (with a few inbetween) I can still remember the reels on most of the old machines from this period :eek2:

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and this but with the big round buttons

bellfruit01.jpg
 
I remember them very well Colin.

And Carfield ones where you could either hold or nudge each reel up or down just one nudge.

Dransfield patented the nudge feature and Carfield was part of Dransfield.

I remember the 1p play Bellfruits with a 10p Jackpot, it just made a buzzing noise when you got nudges and you had to be quick as fuck before the buzzing stopped.
 
I remember them very well Colin.

And Carfield ones where you could either hold or nudge each reel up or down just one nudge.

Dransfield patented the nudge feature and Carfield was part of Dransfield.

I remember the 1p play Bellfruits with a 10p Jackpot, it just made a buzzing noise when you got nudges and you had to be quick as fuck before the buzzing stopped.

yep I remember those too :D

and I would LOVE to go here for a few hours.



:thumbsup:

Theres an arcade near me (down at Roker seafront for anyone from round here) that is ran by 2 old guys, probably in their 70's now, and still have quite a few machines from the 80's, and older
 
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and I would LOVE to go here for a few hours.




This place is 3 miles away from me and I always walked past it without venturing in! Now that I know what is in there, I will be popping in and checking it out. The owner (Dave) sounds a nice chap and i am looking at buying a fruity from him. Have been messaging him and am surprised at some of the other machines he has - proper blast from the past for me.
 
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