Fruit Machine

[shaunparry]

Hi all

 

For our production of Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and F***ing we’ve been tasked with finding a working fruit machine that pays out its jackpot every time it’s used.

 

We’ve contacted a few local amusement hire companies and none of them are able, know how to or aren’t prepared to program their machines to pay out on each use.

 

I was hoping I might find someone on here that’s had a similar problem and found a solution.

 

Many thanks in advance for your help.

 

Shaun

[Junior8]

I would think it highly unlikely that any local firm would make such a thing for you as an actual device. The regulatory regime is very strict. Your best bet is probably to go direct to the manufacturers. Take a look at the Coin Slot website - which has a directory - http://totallygaming...t-international for some ideas of national companies you could approach. All the technical details of the regulatory regime can be obtained here http://www.gamblingc...-standards.aspx It's not clear what your requirement is but if it is for a Category A or B Jackpot machine I think the industry might well be reluctant to admit to any media organisation that they could fix the odds on such a device even if they have the ability. If it is simply for an effect I came across a mechanical fruit in a retro shop in Ferndown the other day which could easily be gutted and made into a prop. Otherwise I would simply try to buy the empty carcase of an AWP which still has the artwork in place and make it work with Leds for the flashing work and someone pouring money out of the slot.Or it should be quite easy, if you have the money, to get someone to make you a dummy on such a carcass which simply links the play button to a solenoid to spin the reels and then a coin dispenser - with no need for any other electronic guts at all.

[dbuckley]

Otherwise I would simply try to buy the empty carcase of an AWP which still has the artwork in place and make it work with Leds for the flashing work and someone pouring money out of the slot.

 

That would be exactly where I would start.

[Andrew Edwards]

OT but fruit machines odds are fixed in both senses of the word. They have to be to meet the standard of at least 70% (or 70 something) payout. One of the classic ways to always win on the bandits (especially 4 reel unlimited jackpot machines) was to try and lose deliberately. Eventually, the machine would reach some kind of 'I've not payed out enough' threshold and dump the entire contents of the payout hopper. There might be the odd win you couldn't avoid but you just kept going. You always got back at least what you had put in plus whatever was in there before you started. This could take several hundred quid on some the bigger machines in private clubs like working men's or sports clubs. I also saw it done on a ferry once. I never had the nerve (or the funds) to try it out. This bug has long since been fixed though. The other one was hoping that the service technician forgot to put the machine back from test mode so you could input the operator codes on the nudge buttons. Never found one having tried it for years...probably for the best.

[Junior8]

It used to be 70% but there is now no standard rtp. The odds however have to be stated on the machine. In the past the Commission was explicit in its aim of giving players a reasonable return while the estates got a return on investment.

[paulears]

The difficulty is finding somebody who can programme them. Most arcade tech cannot do this. The machines are level locked security wise and it's going to be difficult to find anyone willing to do it. Many arcade owners now destroy machines at the end of their life rather than sell them on, and there's a big internet trade in code cheat swapping. Old mechanical fruit machines averaged out very accurately on their odds, but electronic machines do it by programming, so what is being asked is perfectly possible, but you need a specialist. I checked yesterday with the ones who run arcades near my theatre. One person was suggested by everyone, but he said he would never do it because he wouldn't want people to think the machines are fixed. The public need to feel the results are random, when they're now designed to attract players by doing the jackpots at specific busy periods etc to encourage others. As he said, a big payout when the arcade is virtually empty is a waste.

[Jivemaster]

The old mechanical ones had a payout mechanism that was triggered by the wheel mechanism. So you could rig it to pay out every pull, but not the jackpot because that simply emptied the payout tube and once it was empty there was no money left to pay next pull.

 

Vegas machines supposedly pay out more often early in the week to get punters hooked, every programming is possible but getting a machine "fixed" will not be easy because no one wants a wildly different machine getting into the market where it could cost someone their profit or licence.

 

Long ago I knew a statistician for Bell Fruit, he had to prove and keep proving that their machines met the then payout regulations.

[paulears]

Thinking about it, maybe we're thinking too cleverly. The machines drop a bar into slots to stop the reels - I wonder if they have some failsafe that puts the machine into fail mode if the reels stop in the wrong place? I was thinking of simply filling the notches, so when the bars drop they can only drop into the winning slot? You could then simply wire the solenoids to one circuit, the motor drive to another, and the payout to another? spin, stop and payout?

[alistermorton]

I'm pretty sure that it will be easier in the long run, as has been suggested, to mock sometihng up than try to subvert a real machine (excuse the pun).

 

Some stepper motors to spin some reels, a cash hopper mechanism to dispense "coins", some flashing lights and some sounds, all controlled by your favourite micro controller. A props department could have a field day on a project like this.

[DrV]

A props department could have a field day on a project like this.

Can't wait for my AmDram group to want one - although as the venue is owned by a church I guess it will have to be a different show!

[Dave m]

Will anybody be able to see the wheels spin from FoH?

A big box with flashing lights -go button and coin slot - plastic tub inside that tips out cash with Sfx of payout? If you want moving reels stick in an lcd monitor

[J Pearce]

Bigclive is probably your man for this sort of thing, he's a bit busy in Edinburgh right now, but he's a big arcade games fan and if it could be done he'd know how to do it.

[Junior8]

The public need to feel the results are random, when they're now designed to attract players by doing the jackpots at specific busy periods etc to encourage others. As he said, a big payout when the arcade is virtually empty is a waste.

 

 

Interesting. When I covered - for Euroslot - one of the first Internet Kiosk trade shows at Newbury in 2000 the coin machine trade turned up in force as they could see the holy grail - one box that could change the game on offer according to perceived player patterns/time of day/ customer quality. The idea was for a chameleon pub machine that served different sectors through the day. (Back then of course all kiosks would do was work perfectly until the moment someone interacted with the touch screen at which point they froze while the underlying version of Windows re-booted itself. But you could see the future.) The trade were already talking about paying stakes by device through Blue Tooth - the first place I saw this being demonstrated - and other cashless methods. Hence the Gambling Act 2005...