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Fruit machines are they worth having ?

Andy Hancock

Andy Hancock

Site Supporter
Joined
Mar 30, 2015
Messages
985
Location
Peterborough
Used to enjoy playing fruities back in the day . Thought about getting one for the games room but surely it's no fun trying to win your own money?
I'm sure some of you have one or have had one . Am I wrong ?
And if so where do you get one at forum prices and with forum type trusted sellers ?
 
I had a couple they soon got old and I sold them quick. Like you say winning your own money is rubbish
 
I had one many many moons ago (1980's) and it actually stopped me wasting my money in the pubs and cured my gambling addiction due to recognising the futility of it all.

I am hoping to kit my garage out as a den soonish and obviously this has set me on course for my first real pinball machine.
I am considering actually getting a fruit machine to put in there as well............................but not for me.

It will be set up and funded for visitors and anybody who happens to be there to play on and win/lose as they see fit which gives it an added dimension.

I remember the one I had in the 80's used to earn me a packet of cigarettes every day :cool:
 
Unlike pins most are junk and little interest in recent ones
However the 1% generally pre 2000 that are collectable can go insane money
Expect to pay £100 to £200 for a mediocre working game on new £1 coins
 
Years ago i picked up a pinball machine from an e-bay purchase, the guy had a bank of five of them lined up along a wall
I could not see the point of them then, still cannot see the point now
 
I've never really seen the point in owning your own fruit machine, unless there's some skill in achieving a goal on it.

They seem cheap enough though if you want to scratch that itch.
 
If a game has a big nostalgia factor for you then it’s great to own one - games like JPM’s RollerCoaster are the fruitie equivalent of Addam’s Family - they were everywhere and everyone remembers them fondly. It may be shallow and dated (flame suit on) but it means something to you so you make a place for it.

I’ve had a few games from my youth, got a 1995 JPM Monopoly 60th right now that is like new, and they’re not easy to find in that condition. It cost me £1,200 though! But it’s absolutely mint, and I hate ratty condition stuff like this. That’s got a lot going on and fairly unpredictable. I also have 2 Low-techs; a casino style Astra Ready to Roll and a rare Astra Bartop Classic Slot. Rare because the bartop concept was a flop and they skipped hundred of them, so only a handful (less than 6?) remain.

I find a lot of fruits games are very shallow in their coding, all except the 90’s JPM - they can catch you off guard and have loads of player secrets (skill stuff, little in-the-know tricks) to keep you on your toes. Anything after 2000 is ****e. Bigger jackpots killed the fun. The stake to top prize ratio should be low. 20p play with £6 or £8 jp is perfect. 30p/£10 at a push.

There are Facebook groups, Mark Baker (the markade) on eBay also sells almost everything he raids from FB marketplace, but he’s not cheap as that’s his ‘job’ now.

What machines do you remember playing?
 
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I remember playing monopoly as it happens . I'll have a look at others from the era and refresh my memory. Thanks for all the advice all
 
Oh.. don't think they are worth owning as such. Saying that the nostalgia is there but not in a good way, after working 40hrs a week blowing your YTS pay packet in the things made you rage like crazy. Same again the next week though 😂, well dangerous the fruit machines were.

@Monkeyboypaul that Rollercoaster was good, fast as hell at taking your money though.

Fun times in the local arcade back then though, anytime someone won a jackpot or big payout in tokens it was always... "can I have a couple oh tokens" At times you didn't want a jackpot win if it was busy 😂

This was a beauty, be great next to the original Indy Pin :)

image.jpeg
 
RetroHeed said:
Oh.. don't think they are worth owning as such. Saying that the nostalgia is there but not in a good way, after working 40hrs a week blowing your YTS pay packet in the things made you rage like crazy. Same again the next week though 😂, well dangerous the fruit machines were.

@Monkeyboypaul that Rollercoaster was good, fast as hell at taking your money though.

Fun times in the local arcade back then though, anytime someone won a jackpot or big payout in tokens it was always... "can I have a couple oh tokens" At times you didn't want a jackpot win if it was busy 😂

This was a beauty, be great next to the original Indy Pin :)

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Yeah I had that, got 1 off here actually, had about 3, but it’s not a theme that keeps me coming back.

JPM Big Bucks and JPM Big50 are the ones I’d love to own. Big Banker too. Sold Big Bucks about 10yrs ago for £60! Scrapped another. Had Big Banker too. Big50 has 3 known left in existence - 2 owned by Mr P’s arcade, the other by a guy up north who ain’t selling. Had a nice Sonic, but it was a poor clone of Rollercoaster.
 
RetroHeed said:
@Monkeyboypaul that Rollercoaster was good, fast as hell at taking your money though.
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If you knew what to look for you could tell if it was ready to pay a Jackpot. Spinning 1 or 12 on the number reel in regular play was the sign, if not then it’d take your cash and never offer it. Smaller wins maybe, but that was its signal… just Google “JPM Rollercoaster numbering”.

… if I knew then what I know now - so many games had empties it’s amazing they ever made money. Except off me!
 
😂 I remember everyone saying its's empty don't play that machine. On some we use to try peer through the glass to try see if the tubes were full. Best way was wait till the regulars came in and when they left, chucked the 10p change in we had from nudging the 10p falls machine. Man lots of memories coming back from those days, crazy times but brilliant 😂
 
Never seen the point!
Back in the day when I was 16/17 I used to meet a mate every Friday payday at our local arcade opposite the bus stop home.
I was an apprentice electrician earning £16:50 a week £8 of which was board and lodgings.
May mate was a mechanic and he earned a lot more than me at around £20 a week.
I would play all the latest arcade stuff like Asteroid deluxe, Tron etc etc. and once I got through about £1-2 I call it a night.
Week on week game times got longer and meant me spending much less each week until a new game arrived.
However my mate was hooked on the slotties!
Many a time he would ask me to pay his bus fare home after spending his whole weeks wages inc his mums board in the time I spent a quid.
It never taught him a lesson as he played them for as long as I remember god rest his soul.
However it taught me a valuable lesson to never ever play them so some good came out of it.
His name was Barry and his nickname was BAR how apt.
 
I've had loads of fruit machines through the years in my games room in fact I just sold my last 3 about 4 months ago and already I'm missing having one in it,as monkeyboy Paul says the sweet spot was the mid 80s early 90s anything after that are sh*t in my opinion.
I was a serious addict when I was younger done some stupid things to get money and got into a lot of trouble because of it so my advice on this to younger people is never start playing them in the first place.
The reason I've owned a good few is the nostalgia of it,the sounds, knowing the reels and hidden secrets and sometimes a true skill on certain machines.
When I've owned them I've played them as I would back in the day, come in from work or the pub and whatever change I have in my pocket I play them and collect and lose as I would have back then you would be surprised how much money is in the machine at the end of the year.
I don't even play a fruit machine in the wild now since owning some as you know the only winner is who owns the machine.
On another note all this talking about fruit machines if anybody on the forum is thinking of selling a nice 80s or very early 90s machine let me know.
Cheers Brian
 
The 3 mentioned above.
 

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I've got another casino style that's due to be scrapped - working perfectly and actually in great condition, but I have no space!
 

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Pharo said:
come in from work or the pub and whatever change I have in my pocket I play them
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I rarely come home with coins anymore - it's all contactless, pay with my phone.

I've had to make £1 coin withdrawals from the local post office just to have some copper to play with.

Confuses the local girl every time. "£50 in coins please"....."what's it for love, none of my business, just curious?".... "I want to float up and play my own Fruit machine..." "....OK...."
 
Monkeyboypaul said:
The 3 mentioned above.
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If EVER you want to pass on the Astra Bartop, or see another, please let me know!
In fact anything "bar top" :)

I'll see if i can dig out some pictures of mine.

I used to use mine as a piggy bank... Every day empty any loose change into them. If i won, put it back in. After 6 months had nearly a grand in there... didnt miss it and paid for my holiday that year!
 
Paul said:
I used to use mine as a piggy bank... Every day empty any loose change into them. If i won, put it back in. After 6 months had nearly a grand in there... didnt miss it and paid for my holiday that year!
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Reading this thread that was my only thinking why it would be worth having one at home, unless you're getting your mates round to fill it up for you.

Cant you adjust the payout settings to a certain percentage so that no matter how much you pay in you'll always loose/save money into it for a rainy day, even if you keep winning, so forcing you to save a bit, as long as you dont just empty it with the key.
 
Fantazia2 said:
Cant you adjust the payout settings to a certain percentage so that no matter how much you pay in you'll always loose/save money into it for a rainy day, even if you keep winning, so forcing you to save a bit, as long as you dont just empty it with the key.
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Yeah, you can buy an adjustable percentage key for £4 off ebay and then change it via dip switches from 70% through to 98%
 
Worth noting a 70% payout rate isn’t fun to play. 98% is way too generous, completely unlike what they would’ve been set to in arcades/pubs. Mid 80’s is about the right balance.
 
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I’ve had a few over the years and can only add that you are not gambling or playing a game of chance you are fighting an algorithm that can be manipulated by the the owner

You will see the repetition very quickly after buying it probably within a few days

Like others it was great for me at the time because I couldn’t go to the pub without playing the fruitie having one or two at home bored all the interest out of me so I stopped gambling (read as donating to the operators pension)

Pinball is a game of chance and skill so that appeased me even though by comparison much much more expensive to buy

HTH

MM
 
I hate fruit machines…
C200A62F-19F0-4AF1-8F71-C36BAC833695.png

I mostly like them as I “was” in the industry and been playing around with them since I was about 10 lol.
 
russdx1 said:
I mostly like them as I “was” in the industry and been playing around with them since I was about 10 lol.
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What did you do?

I got my first machine when i was about 13. Another at 16.

The artwork on some is fantastic, others just have Noel Edmonds on them 🤷‍♂️
 
Monkeyboypaul said:
What did you do?

I got my first machine when i was about 13. Another at 16.

The artwork on some is fantastic, others just have Noel Edmonds on them 🤷‍♂️
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I was fascinated with them when younger (all the lights and graphics etc..) and was quite heavily involved in the old school emulation scene, original plan was to go work for Barcrest, but went in a slightly different direction making online versions and casino slot machines and have been doing that for the past 20 years.

Yeah I had a Neptune's at 16 in my bed room followed by a old Eastenders and a Battle Axe and a few other random things lol

Impulse brand was my fav as you can see from the photo and i am working on making a replacement epoch board in my spare time from schematics as they are so hard to come by these days. One of my best friends was an artist from Red gaming he drew a lot of there crazy artwork and have seen loads of the concept stuff that never made it to production. Was some crazy **** lol
 
russdx1 said:
Impulse brand was my fav as you can see from the photo and i am working on making a replacement epoch board in my spare time from schematics as they are so hard to come by these days.
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♥️

Someone i think has already done this.... see them very occasionally on Ebay/some of the board. Why they havent carried on and filled the gap in the market i dont know... maybe someone has muttered "IP"... :(
 
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