English Fruit Machines - Who used to play?

[PekoJPF]

This is a thread more of inquisition or storytelling as-is. I am interested in whether anyone did go out to the pubs etc. and have sessions on English fruit machines. They're a beast like no other, and honestly almost ended up eating me alive back in '12. The sessions' intensity we would have on them were unparalleled, with a fair few drunken all-nighters crawling the pubs. I did end up having a machine in the house at the time too, a 2006 Red Gaming model Lucky Devil, which was honestly on the cusp of Red being any good as a manufacturer. Still, they were good times. I ended up quitting gambling in late 2012, as it was getting beyond a leisurely activity. I was losing 100-200 quid on the regular, and having no FUN to show for it. However I do have some stories to share if anyone wanted to ever read one... Just pick, good or bad...!

I did have a play back at Christmas when I went home, but now I've got all sorts of priorities and responsibilities, I could keep things a lot more sensible. Had a great session in Mr. P's Classic Amusements, playing the best of 90s and early '00s machines.
So, does anyone else (or rather DID anyone else) venture out and have any UK fruit machine plays/sessions? As the things that started me on the whole slot/pachi interest, I'd be interested to share tales.

[Drunkenclam]

Hmmm. Apart from once owning a Barcrest lucky strike and a Homers Meltdown. Any other play would be a £3 limit at the local pub. If I got a £3 or £4 win. I'd collect and walk away, rather than gamble for a higher prize.

[hanabi]

I'm the same as Mr Clam above, small money player, only ever played for fun in seaside arcades and that was a few years ago now, prefer to own the machines and play them.

I do still have a few UK fruit machines in the garage, (Title list is on my profile I think) sold a few over the years but they are so big and heavy they are not easy to transport, so they are in the garage and the kids play them occasionally.

I also have 3 pinball tables in the dining room, once you could find pins in pubs and arcades but they are very hard to find, so home ownership is a necessity if you want to play those.

Same with pachinko and pachislos, whilst i'd love to go play in a real parlour in Japan for the experience, I also wouldn't want to lose too much money, so it's nice to have some to play with at home.

[stampeed valkyrie]

Quick Question.. what is a fruit machine? or are they called something else here in the USA?

[daverob]

Fruit machines are the English equivalent of slot machines. So named because traditionally the symbols on the reels were pictures of fruits, get three in a row and win a prize. Different fruits give bigger payouts.

They evolved into the machines that are more common today, with reels on the lower half of the machine, and a lit top glass with 'features' played on it, usually with flashing bulbs behind the glass, and a 'stop' button to stop the flashing bulbs on the best prize. The most common top glass game, was a simple chance ladder, where you have a small win on the reels, and it lights the prize value on the top glass, you can then collect, or gamble to stop the lamp flashing on the next prize up, and repeat the gamble all the way to the top jackpot. Later games could play board game style games on the top glass (think snakes and ladders, monopoly or similar), again played with blinking lights and a 'stop' button.

Usually found in pubs and amusement arcades. Low stake machines (5p, 10p stake , £5-£10 Jackpot) can be played by anyone (children included), higher stake/Jackpot machines were restricted to age 18+ venues.

Have largely been replaced with touchscreen LCD casino type machines, with virtual reels (or other casino games) on the lower screen and an upper screen advertising the games.

I never really played them much (apart from testing when I worked in the arcades), I always gravitated towards the pinball machines, as I could make my money last a lot longer that way!

[PekoJPF]

Pinball, when it was around, was the perfect pastime for me. We had a Batman Dark Knight table in our student bar. Was on £1 a play or £2 for 3 plays. I could easily make the 2 quid initial contribution last for 2 hours, and then pass the table to another person because I had to leave.

Seems everyone had the right idea on fruit machines here! If anyone is still doing the 3 quid limit, don't! Stay far away; The modern machines are borderline corrupt! I do miss the seaside arcades though....
£10 machines were illegal for under 18s, £5 were OK to play... but what machines would do is offer a 'Repeat Chance', much like a Renchan or Battle on a pachinko. You'd finish your Jackpot sequence, then it would flash up REPEAT? YES/NO on the display. If you hit YES, it took a credit, and you got another jackpot. Some machines could do this for 30 quid or so. Others would offer a series of wins - A Streak. They'd just take a credit every time you banked £5. Some machines would pay upwards of 50 quid. Golden Game could do £47, some Astra games could do over 50 pounds, albeit very rarely. Other machines would go on 'Runs' as we called them. Think 'ST' on pachinkos/slots. You would get a jackpot, then a few credits later another, rinse and repeat. £5 hi-techs could do this, some Deal or No Deal machines would go on runs for 70-100 quid...On £5 jackpot! Imagine being a kid walking in with a few pounds and hitting one of these... That's you hooked for good. Then you'll get the flipside, which is taking £10 plus to access the feature board, and any chance of a win. dangerous things.