Slot Stories of Yesteryear

[Jono777]

Well here it is a thread as suggested by osulle and hopefully contributed to by more than VWM and myself and hopefully a welcome break from 'IR ate my balance again' or 'So 'n' so won't pay'

Any stories welcome covering 'Gambling Adventures' and 'Gambling Tales' from days gone by, could include Secret Fruit machine 'systems' - out of the ordinary 'occurrences' whilst having a cheeky punt, close shaves whilst 'bashing' a locals 'territory' BUT nothing illegal or dodgy, no strimmers, hopper fiddlers,tools just skill and knowledge.

Now I've started it was gonna get the ball rolling but me bloody minds gone blank got plenty to tell so will have a break and update later.

 

[Dinahnana]

OK here is my contribution. My first gambling experience was on a trip to Vegas something like 6 years ago. Had no clue about slots or anything. Did some research and all the advice sites told you the loosest machines were near the main walkways. So I went to the Mirage I think and found the machine nearest the entrance plopped $20 into one of the penny machines (triple hot 7s or something like that) played on minimum bets. This $20 lasted me the entire day. I was up around $140 at one point but ended up losing it all but I didn't care because I had a great time and got pretty drunk on the free beer. So for $20 and tips for the waitress I was entertained for an entire day and got hammered to boot. In the end I found the only difference in sitting near the main walkways and in a corner is the speed of service from the waitresses.

I also visited a casino at a dog track near where I used to live and sat down at a machine. I got a very dirty look from the old lady sitting next to me. She informed me that was her machine since she liked to play 3 machines at once. The machine I sat on was empty with no money in it so I told her that I didn't see her name on it (very cheeky I know). Anyway she did bully me off the machine. Twas then I learned that Grannies can be mean and are not to be messed with

 

[vinylweatherman]

Well here it is a thread as suggested by osulle and hopefully contributed to by more than VWM and myself and hopefully a welcome break from 'IR ate my balance again' or 'So 'n' so won't pay'

Any stories welcome covering 'Gambling Adventures' and 'Gambling Tales' from days gone by, could include Secret Fruit machine 'systems' - out of the ordinary 'occurrences' whilst having a cheeky punt, close shaves whilst 'bashing' a locals 'territory' BUT nothing illegal or dodgy, no strimmers, hopper fiddlers,tools just skill and knowledge.

Now I've started it was gonna get the ball rolling but me bloody minds gone blank got plenty to tell so will have a break and update later.

Quite, I often did rather well at their sites. Often better stocked with machines than the smaller operators. Moto also had a decent number of machines, but Roadchef tended to have the best food & drink.

The highly regarded Westmorland services, a family run business with a single site in Tebay for a long while had better prices, food, and drink, but the machines were often crap. All 10p £4/£5, no decent jackpots. They now have another site which I have not yet visited since they took over.

 

[Jono777]

Well spotted - no link intended either

Just a quickie to add, will post more detailed and interesting stories as they come to this cloudy mind of mine.

I recall a visit in my much younger days to Hilton Park services, they'd just updated to £3/£6 payouts and we had a small earner on a machine called 'fairground' (bunches of balloons were the feature trigger)

So they had this machine and a sister machine called 'Circus' or similar and we'd made about £50 between the 2, costing no more than £10 to buzz up. Making profit from the 'Tame the lion' and 'Target practice' features

This is where the idiot in me came out and we proceeded to chuck our 'hard earned' profit into a Barcrest machine 'Viva Las Vegas' if I remember the name correctly (little piles of coins/chips triggered feature)

Machine was 'boxing' first £ but nowt, nowt nowt, down to the last quid I said to my mate, hold the machine, back in a bit and walked to the on site shop with this £1.

Upon returning very shortly after he asked why I was tucking into a Galaxy chocolate with our last quid, I responded by saying 'No one is having my money' as I fed part chewed Galaxy into the coin and token coin slots

 

[vinylweatherman]

Well spotted - no link intended either

Just a quickie to add, will post more detailed and interesting stories as they come to this cloudy mind of mine.

I recall a visit in my much younger days to Hilton Park services, they'd just updated to £3/£6 payouts and we had a small earner on a machine called 'fairground' (bunches of balloons were the feature trigger)

So they had this machine and a sister machine called 'Circus' or similar and we'd made about £50 between the 2, costing no more than £10 to buzz up. Making profit from the 'Tame the lion' and 'Target practice' features

This is where the idiot in me came out and we proceeded to chuck our 'hard earned' profit into a Barcrest machine 'Viva Las Vegas' if I remember the name correctly (little piles of coins/chips triggered feature)

Machine was 'boxing' first £ but nowt, nowt nowt, down to the last quid I said to my mate, hold the machine, back in a bit and walked to the on site shop with this £1.

Upon returning very shortly after he asked why I was tucking into a Galaxy chocolate with our last quid, I responded by saying 'No one is having my money' as I fed part chewed Galaxy into the coin and token coin slots

That was YOU

You had to force those until they gave favourable features, but they also had a streak. Prior to the streak, it suddenly started losing gambles on 12-9 and 4-1 this was a "tell". In normal play, such gambles would usually win, so it was striking when a few would consecutively lose. This "tell" worked across quite a range of Barcrests. The jackpot was NOT the best thing to go for, there was usually a top feature just before that was a better option because of it's capacity to repeat, which the £6 jackpot could not. With Viva though, the top feature was right at the end of the trail, and usually paid at least the jackpot.

I was obviously not there that day as you found the Viva las vegas "boxing".

I have always wondered what happened to cause the permanent closure of the footbridge at Hilton Park, it was bloody inconvenient It was more complex than a simple loop around at the next junction. I usually looped all the way round to Frankley and back instead, site of the last remaining doable Pie Factory that everyone else thought was chipped

Fortunately, the melting point of Galaxy is low enough that in a hot machine the inconvenience is temporary.

 

[Jono777]

had a feeling you'd open the next post with exactly those words

Think the best features on Viva were 'Cash Attack' (part of the final row on feature board) and the little 'cashino' bottom right, on a good day could pay into the £30's/£40's and continue streaking after.

Fortunately for me/us we lived within 5 miles of Hilton and knew the staff/trade entrances on Dark Lane so once they'd closed they bridge it wasn't a problem (did panic a bit on occasions the one side due to the little onsite police station)

Been thinking about that 'Spider' dude and another memory came back, I think the once some 'less patient' or more idiotic 'make a raisers' had busted open the 'Ridge Racer' and although the coins were visible you'd need a 3 year old's arm to reach through, there he was virtually horizontal trying to squeeze his hand through the twisted metal in a vain attempt to grab the loot

We'd also gone there the one night (not to play the bandits, for some food after a heavy, late night out) and one of our crowd said that the 'Luck be your lady tonight' 10p pusher was doing his head in.

His plan was to tilt it over really fast with one of us on each corner so that the 'safety' would not have time to realise and the 10p's would all come crashing into the trays.

As I was a bit of a 'don't want any trouble' type person I made my excuses, something along the lines of '8 pints and 28 pisses' and left them too it. As I walked off I heard the most almighty clanking and crashing of coins, returning to discover that the mercury switches (or however it works) were indeed 'fast enough' and they'd not even ended up with a single 10p, although the 'shelves' were now empty

 

[vinylweatherman]

Sites have tightened up on the trade entrances now, only possible on foot if you know where they are.

 

[Jono777]

Those are the two!! - Amazing the things I forgot about for machines I spent so long on!

Thought of another short one for tonight...

During our Barcrest £15 JP's 'era (not long before they were upped to £25) we were either emptying or C/L a machine called 'Lotta Luck'



These were that popular they were as common as maybe 1 in 5 pubs, we developed a strategy called 'checking' (lot of thought went into that one ) where my gaming buddy, the driver or I would go into the pubs in the area to see if the machine was there, thinking back, also made up all sorts of BS for the benefit of the bar staff etc.
If the machine was there a trip to the loo for a quick text or 'shall we have a drink after all' etc etc.

From this strategy we then built up 'routes' which we'd do a different one each day but only visit each individual route maybe once a week or once a fortnight depending on the amount of machines in that town/city. Closer to home ones also got 'bashed' more often.

One Sunday lunch we were in Telford in a pub call the Champion Jockey (I think!) walked in, nice and quiet, only a young girl serving, 2-3 punters at bar, perfect scenario for a hassle free raise.

I was into the Lotta Luck for about £20 (usually cost about £25 on average to get it flying for a return of anything between £80 and £125 (max hopper balance)) *not counting IOU's

Suddenly I hear this stern voice 'OI - Leave some in for my customers this week will ya!' turning around to see the stockiest barman I'd ever laid eyes on!

Feeling brave I replied 'We are your customers' as I held up my pint, this was met with a grunt and he walked off, I then turned my attention back to the machine.

After about 10 minutes, I was read to 'withdraw' from my machine which was at bursting point, my mate then returned from loo or fag (cant recall) and basically said, 'Get what you can, we got to get out of here'
Unknown to me the bar manager / gaffer had been 'rounding up the lads' who were now all glaring at me sat with beers at the bar.
Panicky and loss of concentration I accidentally took a JP which I did not want (needed centre streak) this then repeated (which kills machine quick but got me into small profit but stopped chance of an 'empty')
Grabbing about £35 in coins I dropped em in my pocket and we headed for the door (driver had slipped out and headed for car) Then sheer panic stepped in as these locals stood to follow us!!

I have never been so grateful for the gaffer also calling the Police who were outside waiting. They did a search of our persons in the car park, obviously revealing nothing as we did not rely on gadgets etc and after they were 'content' sent us on our way and help avoid a potential 'kicking'

Needless to say that pub was straight off our list and at that point we called it a day and got tanked up instead!

 

[Dinahnana]

Those are the two!! - Amazing the things I forgot about for machines I spent so long on!

Thought of another short one for tonight...

During our Barcrest £15 JP's 'era (not long before they were upped to £25) we were either emptying or C/L a machine called 'Lotta Luck'

View attachment 54883

These were that popular they were as common as maybe 1 in 5 pubs, we developed a strategy called 'checking' (lot of thought went into that one ) where my gaming buddy, the driver or I would go into the pubs in the area to see if the machine was there, thinking back, also made up all sorts of BS for the benefit of the bar staff etc.
If the machine was there a trip to the loo for a quick text or 'shall we have a drink after all' etc etc.

From this strategy we then built up 'routes' which we'd do a different one each day but only visit each individual route maybe once a week or once a fortnight depending on the amount of machines in that town/city. Closer to home ones also got 'bashed' more often.

One Sunday lunch we were in Telford in a pub call the Champion Jockey (I think!) walked in, nice and quiet, only a young girl serving, 2-3 punters at bar, perfect scenario for a hassle free raise.

I was into the Lotta Luck for about £20 (usually cost about £25 on average to get it flying for a return of anything between £80 and £125 (max hopper balance)) *not counting IOU's

Suddenly I hear this stern voice 'OI - Leave some in for my customers this week will ya!' turning around to see the stockiest barman I'd ever laid eyes on!

Feeling brave I replied 'We are your customers' as I held up my pint, this was met with a grunt and he walked off, I then turned my attention back to the machine.

After about 10 minutes, I was read to 'withdraw' from my machine which was at bursting point, my mate then returned from loo or fag (cant recall) and basically said, 'Get what you can, we got to get out of here'
Unknown to me the bar manager / gaffer had been 'rounding up the lads' who were now all glaring at me sat with beers at the bar.
Panicky and loss of concentration I accidentally took a JP which I did not want (needed centre streak) this then repeated (which kills machine quick but got me into small profit but stopped chance of an 'empty')
Grabbing about £35 in coins I dropped em in my pocket and we headed for the door (driver had slipped out and headed for car) Then sheer panic stepped in as these locals stood to follow us!!

I have never been so grateful for the gaffer also calling the Police who were outside waiting. They did a search of our persons in the car park, obviously revealing nothing as we did not rely on gadgets etc and after they were 'content' sent us on our way and help avoid a potential 'kicking'

Needless to say that pub was straight off our list and at that point we called it a day and got tanked up instead!

Lucky the police were there otherwise I cringe as to what may have happened. I guess locals take their fruit machines very seriously.

 

[Jono777]

Yeah got a few 'twitchy bum' stories to tell

Loads of very profitable hassle free days too but they'd make boring posts

 

[Mabby2000]

Interesting thread!

I have a few stories too,
Used to visit pubs and arcades to rinse £4.80/£6/£8 machines.

I had an arcade, all cash jackpots up to £10 when I started in '98 then £15 jackpots in the same year.

I have been out of the arcade game for nearly 14 years now.
Such a shame that these days arcades going bust left right centre....
Cheers!

 

[vinylweatherman]

Off with your head!

Lotta Luck was a clone of the better known "Jackpoteers", which were everywhere. It had a few "steals" as well as the centre streak. If you knocked back a few streaks and then went for it you could about empty it. I tended to go after the "steals". "Reel Roulette" was one, landing on it a second time made it "super", and it may then be possible to take the nudges and bring a jackpot symbol onto the reels, which was easy to get with super reel roulette. What annoyed me was the number of badly maintained Jackpoteers that were around, missing lights, dead buttons, etc. I even emailed Welcome Break HQ over the abysmal state of their Jackpoteers at Fleet Easbound

 

[Mabby2000]

Lotta Luck was a clone of the better known "Jackpoteers", which were everywhere. It had a few "steals" as well as the centre streak. If you knocked back a few streaks and then went for it you could about empty it. I tended to go after the "steals". "Reel Roulette" was one, landing on it a second time made it "super", and it may then be possible to take the nudges and bring a jackpot symbol onto the reels, which was easy to get with super reel roulette. What annoyed me was the number of badly maintained Jackpoteers that were around, missing lights, dead buttons, etc. I even emailed Welcome Break HQ over the abysmal state of their Jackpoteers at Fleet Easbound

I remember playing a £15 version of these in a bar opposite the pier in Weston super mare and emptied it!

 

[Dinahnana]

Lotta Luck was a clone of the better known "Jackpoteers", which were everywhere. It had a few "steals" as well as the centre streak. If you knocked back a few streaks and then went for it you could about empty it. I tended to go after the "steals". "Reel Roulette" was one, landing on it a second time made it "super", and it may then be possible to take the nudges and bring a jackpot symbol onto the reels, which was easy to get with super reel roulette. What annoyed me was the number of badly maintained Jackpoteers that were around, missing lights, dead buttons, etc. I even emailed Welcome Break HQ over the abysmal state of their Jackpoteers at Fleet Easbound

So did they ever get back to you?

 

[Casino2014man]

LOL Welcomebreak..

These places used to be so poorly maintained.. stinky, nasty holes

 

[vinylweatherman]

So did they ever get back to you?

They DID!

An apology, but the Jackpoteers was still a mess. However, things did look up after they changed the machines for newer models.

Things seem to have improved now, but they ARE asking for £1, even £2 per play. It's all £500 jackpots and Deal or no Deal clones - I REALLY need an emptier for this, they are everywhere! If not an emptier, a method for a quick "steal" will do.

I am looking into it, and analysing the patterns. They seem to block the DOND feature for a long time, so this seems to be one sign to look out for. DOND blocked - probably too early to force. It would be interesting also if some prizes were "prepaid" and didn't knock back the machine when taken. However, it seems that if a decent DOND is won, the machine gets knocked back sharply and blocks the DOND feature for some while. If DOND is blocked, the prizes in the feature tend to be limited to under £10.

It's possible to shorten the odds on those DOND machines with the "double DOND" possibility, but only if ALL THE DAMN BULBS WORK, which isn't always the case

The prize box is selected upon feature entry, but is hidden from view. Now, if there was a way to see what was there, it would be possible to "steal" a big prize before the machine was really wanting to pay one. I have heard rumours that this might be possible, but they may be referring to machines with double DOND.

If I seem to disappear for a few days, I am probably out "doing some further research"

 

[dunover]

They DID!

An apology, but the Jackpoteers was still a mess. However, things did look up after they changed the machines for newer models.

Things seem to have improved now, but they ARE asking for £1, even £2 per play. It's all £500 jackpots and Deal or no Deal clones - I REALLY need an emptier for this, they are everywhere! If not an emptier, a method for a quick "steal" will do.

I am looking into it, and analysing the patterns. They seem to block the DOND feature for a long time, so this seems to be one sign to look out for. DOND blocked - probably too early to force. It would be interesting also if some prizes were "prepaid" and didn't knock back the machine when taken. However, it seems that if a decent DOND is won, the machine gets knocked back sharply and blocks the DOND feature for some while. If DOND is blocked, the prizes in the feature tend to be limited to under £10.

It's possible to shorten the odds on those DOND machines with the "double DOND" possibility, but only if ALL THE DAMN BULBS WORK, which isn't always the case

The prize box is selected upon feature entry, but is hidden from view. Now, if there was a way to see what was there, it would be possible to "steal" a big prize before the machine was really wanting to pay one. I have heard rumours that this might be possible, but they may be referring to machines with double DOND.

If I seem to disappear for a few days, I am probably out "doing some further research"

Chopley knows how to force the DonDs. I think. As for the hidden value I have heard this can be viewed not with one of those ultra-bright green laser pointers but a BLUE one which are less common, but go across the UV range. Apparently the hidden number appears greyish behind the glass. Having not put a coin in a slot for nearly a decade, I'm not really up on this scene now.

 

[Jono777]

Nice one for the Lotta Luck and Jackpoteer's pics VWM, had quick nosey on Google but didn't find those!

We came across numerous 'damaged' versions of these but got that used to them the odd missing bulb wasn't really a problem, although it was ironic how many 'Barcrest Man' buttons didn't work to slow the skills down etc.

On the occasions where we drawn a couple of spectators they'd comment along the lines of 'How on earth can you do that skill challenge level 4', or 'Stroll On, never seen that before'.
I'd deliberately press random buttons or collect something that I would not usually collect, just to try and mix it up a bit and throw then off the scent.

The only time I recall contacting the services to 'chase something up' was when we'd emptied the Reno Reels (one of the first video screen based AWP's) and built up an IOU.



Think it was only for around £30, despite several return visits and the odd phone call, it took months to get it. They did mess up tho, sending a cheque for the shortfall and about a week later a phone call asking me to come to the services to collect. When I got there there was a money bag full of silver tokens waiting for me to the same value - Cool I'll use these to empty it again I thought, only to discover that it had been re-chipped

 

[kidgloves]

Ace coin red lines machines....practically secured my student days financially from them and other things.
Monte Carlo, Reno Reels, I'd give anything to relive those days.

 

[JackTenOff]

A friend of mine used to believe if you hit the spin button on a fruitie at a certain angle and speed it's more likely to payout

 

[Jono777]

A friend of mine used to believe if you hit the spin button on a fruitie at a certain angle and speed it's more likely to payout

Oh dear! - sounds like your buddy was one of the players we used to rely on

 

[Jono777]

Ace coin red lines machines....practically secured my student days financially from them and other things.
Monte Carlo, Reno Reels, I'd give anything to relive those days.

Oh hell yeah! - Was 'minted' in those days, never had a problem getting out of bed in the morning either then just immaturity made me not 'respect' the money as I should have done.

If anything 'came out' nowadays I'd never be at home until I'd milked it dry or they were all totally re-chipped etc.
I'd also make sure that at the end I'd plenty to 'show for it' other than beer and fags

 

[kidgloves]

Deal or no Deal boxes can be read either by learning the markings at the sides of the reels which are fairly consistent for certain boxes. You get an even better edge by knowing the reel stops off by heart and following the spin so you know roughly which area it stops in then reading the markings at the side of the reels. Pretty much nails the box straight away before the first offer, but needs a lot of practice. Most guys who do it now have been doing it for years.

 

[Jono777]

I've discussed this when 'talking fruit machines' with my mate a handful of times in the past.

Although it is definately an advantage to know whats 'Hiding behind the mirror' IMHO I don't think its that much of an advantage. (Maybe I'm comparing it too closely to software 'faults' of old)

However I'm sure even if you know for example there's £20/£25 in the box (on say a £70 or £100 JP machine) the machine when removing the boxes can, despite you 'inside knowledge' remove mostly 'reds' and therefore the offers won't be any better what you have anyway (I do not truly believe ever that the removal of boxes is random, no way!)

The cost to activate the DOND feature is rarely cheap these days and once 'collected' its usually costly before you get another DOND feature so all in all pretty pointless IMO.

NOW if there was a 'system' of knowing whats in the box AND making the machine offer you the DOND feature every 'board' then I wouldn't even finish typi..........

 

[Jono777]

Remember these...

Forgive the image quality (best I could find)

These were among the very, very first emptier's I ever came across (was probably about 20 years young and at the start of my gaming career )



Once started could empty these without even spinning the reels!!