Before I finally 'got wise' to AWPs in the middle of the £15 era (my most profitable phase was the £15/£25 jackpot era), I was a sad addict when it came to AWPs. From first playing a 777 Heaven in a pub in about 1991 (£4.80 token jackpot
) right through the £6, £8, £10 and then a chunk of the £15 eras, I absolutely didn't have a clue, and got hammered time after time after time. (Looking back now I realise
I was just going round filling the machines up for the clued-up players to empty.)
As such, when I did get my act together and start to make a decent wedge playing AWPs, I was all too aware of what it was like to be on the other side of the fence - therefore I would always try to give a heads-up to folks if I'd just hammered a machine or I knew it wasn't going to pay, I just didn't have it in me to sit there and watch someone get leathered, as I knew from my own past how much it could sting. (This wasn't always the case mind, there were a few local twats who I wouldn't give the time of day to, I was happy to watch them get shredded.)
It was funny sometimes though, with machines like Psycho Cash Beast and clones, whereby the method was to deliberately knock back jackpots time and time again, until the machine tipped over a certain point of 'happiness' (bonus starting at Taxi or higher on feature entry IIRC, along with something else that I forget) - folks would give 'advice' about how I was missing jackpots and suchlike, and I'd be like 'Oh right I see'.
Then you finally drop it onto the streak and it pays £100 or more and the same people are like, 'OK, what happened there....'
Thanks
I really liked the start of the 20p stake. It was more about the skill of the individual player, particularly when selecting those "skill climb" features and sucking the value out of the machine this way, rather than the brute force method that came along later. It seems the machines were well played in those days, and I got banned from quite a few places after getting spotted "doing a skill climb". I noticed they adjusted the speed according to how "happy" the machine was. By being able to get it even when very fast (machine not happy), it was possible to make a steady profit, albeit slowly.
I also liked the streaks with some of the games without skill features. It was easy to spot a Barcrest about to go, as it would be backing, and then would lose a few hi/lo gambles on "dead cert" numbers about a fiver before it opened itself up for the streak. Many players would quit when they got a 12 off 11 a couple of times on the trot, swearing under their breath. I would be on the machine in an instant, because this almost always meant the streak was less than a tenner away, and could go for £20 to £30 with some afters.
Best of all were the ACE machines, as they would not just give a very concise "set piece" streak for around £20 to £30, but would give a fair few jackpots afterwards, as well as a few before. I noticed they loved to pay tokens when happy, so finding one "backing" was not necessarily a good sign. They were also riddled with emptiers, so much so that even the rechips had new emptiers.
I just couldn't work them out fast enough, perhaps because I had a full time job and could not spend as much time playing as the "pro" (or addict), so didn't spot them till they became more widely known.
I was given the Payrise emptier by one of the regulars (not a "pro", he was always broke) in exchange for a lift to the next services. Not often you make £1000 for a 60 mile fare
I played the services mainly because I was routinely getting banned from arcades, and I thought a ban from the services unlikely because the staff there have no direct interest in the machines (often run as a concession). It was one occasions where the "jobsworth" attitude suited the player, as shop staff were not interested in looking for "pro" players to ban as one would find in an arcade.
I did, however, spot a "suit" watching me as I did a Payrise for a second time at Southwaite services, a new £6 version they put in to replace the £4.80 one I rinsed on the way north a couple of days prior. That lead to both being permanently switched off, even though I managed to "kill" the empty in time to stop the machine running dry. It didn't work on the other because of a token jam, so I could have had another £100 in tokens
I managed to work out the Rat Pack emptier, but when I tried it, I had to fetch more coins from the car. On my return, the engineer had the machine open. I asked what was wrong as it seemed OK 5 minutes ago, and he showed me a "chip" and said he had replaced it due to "problems with one of the features". I was mad as hell, but didn't want to show it
I had even had to pay the toll as this was the new "private" M6, somewhere I didn't expect to find so many "players".
It is a shame the AWP industry got greedy and went for much higher stakes and higher jackpots, changing the scene completely from "amusement" to "hardcore gambling". Even on 20p and especially the later 30p, I was asked for help by coach travellers who couldn't seem to get the game working. When I told them the cause was that it was no longer 10p/20p a play, they seemed shocked, and lost interest in playing.
I consider 1995 to be the year the "golden age" ended, and it became nearly all about forcing and insider information. Coupled with this, many casual players deserted the machines, and it became "pro vs pro".
I don't know what it's like now, but from the few services I have popped into recently, one would need a HUGE bankroll, and a liking for Noel Edmonds or £500 jackpot machines. One thing that would have been great in the earlier times is the "reverse note changers" I have seen cropping up, where players no longer have to waddle around with £200 (even £500) in coins after getting lucky (or knowing the emptier). Having that many coins was a dead giveaway that you were a "Player". It could also make you a target, and I did get robbed once (bastard got 5 years though, so I heard, grassed up by a staff member who helped me at the time, when he thought it was safe to venture back again).
Now if I went "on tour", I would wonder what I am missing out on with the online casinos.
I will have to do the old tour again, if only for a relaunch of my website. I designed it to be different from the usual affiliate sites by covering the old Motorway AWP scene as well as the modern online scene.
Now, what would be REALLY neat would be for webcams in the services gaming areas to go online like the traffic cameras, then "sharking" could be done remotely
