Demise of the pub machine business.
Hardly anyone plays them around by me could be sitting in a packed boozer on a friday and saturday night and i would say about 2 people have a pop at the machine. Its also rare for me to walk into a pub and see someone else playing them no matter what time of day it is.
how about a greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray.
Exactly - i wouldnt say bell fruit\games media have ruined it - as a rule i never used to play them even from day one - as they wernt readable, rarely had streak pots, and were boring. These machines were suited to the 20 quid in 16 quid out jobby which was fine.jonnyg323 wrote:"This serves them right" - couldn't agree more. I've said it countless times, on several occasions on this site as well - fruit machines are no longer fun. Italian Job, DK, SBG, Homer's Meltdown, Pacman...these were wonderful machines we can enjoy. Games Media and Bell Fruit have ruined everything with constant cloning of appalling designs and I for one think this is very much simply "coming home to roost" for them.
Until machines regain their appeal, the business will decline - simple as.
The things we have lost are - progressive gameplay, frequent boards, and of course streak pots !
Neptunes\AR\Mnty Python\ Temple of treasure\PCB\ ohh and of course a P2 Lotta luck - all had excellent streak profiles. with the common - flash after jp, or worse, board after.
I cant think of one machine on the market atm which has the old flash after a jp to indicate a streak.
Barcrest seem to be releasing less, Red are no better, so i'm not sure where the future lies.
The pub industry is going through culture changes - as smelly smokers move out, new punters move in. This will evolve over a period of time - not over night. Providing prices and food are right - there is no reason why the pub trade cant continue, and make good profit.
The main trouble with the new machines is the 10-20 quid a board is 'too regular' - i went up to chesterfield recently - hit about 8-10 machines.. of which 9 cost me at least 10 quid for a board, offering either a 2 or 3 quid win. Hence i was down 80 quid - with around 5 mins on each machine of gameplay. Ok there is an argument - i could have been unlucky and caught it at the wrong time, or they may have just been 'done'. But the odds on getting on a machine now with any value is about 5%, and just not worth the risk !..who wants to stick in 60, and take out maybe 40. Hell i'd rather watch someone else play now days !
They should lower the JP back to £10 - £15. That way they can afford to give more skill features, streaks etc. £35 costs too much to save up for that is the reason for the feature entry costing £10+. If it went back to £15 then you could streak for 4 JP's and still pay out less than paying 2 JP's now. This would bring back the playablity.
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mr lugsy
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stopnstep is bang on the money,the era of 10-15 jpts was for me the most fun to play ,you used to like your odds with getting rpt chances, youd also see many jpts just roll in , youd be on the board for a few quid and even though you may still have lost you could get off these relatively cheaply if they werent paying. numbers then werent a blatant rip off ,id always be confident with 2 or 11 for the jpt.
I think it's very interesting to look at the decisions the companies have made.
Under the new laws, machines can have jackpots UP TO £35, right. So why are new machines never made with £15 or £25 JPs any more rather than just £5 or £35?
Companies who read this forum (and im sure someone from them does) should take note - you should recommence the £15 JPs ASAP. You'd get more players and we'd be far more positive.
Under the new laws, machines can have jackpots UP TO £35, right. So why are new machines never made with £15 or £25 JPs any more rather than just £5 or £35?
Companies who read this forum (and im sure someone from them does) should take note - you should recommence the £15 JPs ASAP. You'd get more players and we'd be far more positive.
Fruit machines now are better than ever. £10 Olympic Gold could take over £20 for a board. Viva Espagne could take £15 for a 40p duty free. On 70% you were shafted if that situation happenned. One thing that wasn't around with such prevalence was tooling. YOu'll get harder, softer, harder softer. It's like global warming. Mark my words in 10000 years time it'll be global cooling that we are worrying about. It'll be compulsory to have your gas fire on 24/7 and the fuel companies will be sponsoring us to burn their fuel. People will be aimlessly driving around, burning rubber, petrol will earn you £1.12 per litre. Drive to land's end and back several times and you'll get rich my friend. You'll need it though, a fridge licence will cost £4500/month. Pricey. Antibiotic resistance will develop to all the cases of food poisoning as fridges will be too expensive. Joker Poker can take £millions for a win and mugs still pump 'em. Nowt to do with tired old ideas. Since when has tired old ideas been a new idea in terms of fruit machines? Recycling, it's the name of the game......hold on....I've just got three red thingies.
mmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
"INVINCIBLE"
Ths pstng s nw nvncbl, dn't wrry. t jst mns t'll strt lndng n cnsnnts nly t bld p th cnsnnt pt t jckpt. pls rpt.
That's plus repeat, not please repeat. It didn't repeat as you might have guessed as the vowels are back, but hold on here's the next board.
mmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
"INVINCIBLE"
h! t's strkng
Y'll sn hv Rtrn f Th Bg Chs, lk 've sd. t'll cm arnd. Thn y'll mn it's t flt. Thn y'll hv bg GTW nd t'll b t rnd nd bsty fr y.
The biggest knock to the 'industry' is the old FOBT. Instant gratification with higher prizes and so much more diversity. Yep, the AWP games aren't perfect, I could do better, but blame the bookies for Pete's sake, not Bell Fruit!
mmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
"INVINCIBLE"
Ths pstng s nw nvncbl, dn't wrry. t jst mns t'll strt lndng n cnsnnts nly t bld p th cnsnnt pt t jckpt. pls rpt.
That's plus repeat, not please repeat. It didn't repeat as you might have guessed as the vowels are back, but hold on here's the next board.
mmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
"INVINCIBLE"
h! t's strkng
Y'll sn hv Rtrn f Th Bg Chs, lk 've sd. t'll cm arnd. Thn y'll mn it's t flt. Thn y'll hv bg GTW nd t'll b t rnd nd bsty fr y.
The biggest knock to the 'industry' is the old FOBT. Instant gratification with higher prizes and so much more diversity. Yep, the AWP games aren't perfect, I could do better, but blame the bookies for Pete's sake, not Bell Fruit!
You say 25p £15 jackpot machines played better. In ratio 50p £35 is not really that far of it. They should 'almost' play the same.
The main trouble is, in this day-in-age, it costs too much too live. People can't afford to spunk £5/£10 into a machine while they have their £100,000+ morgage, thier f**cking 115p a litre of petrol.
Went out for a meal tonight, I don't drink. Had a coke. £1 sodding 30!
If I was joe public i'd rather have a few spins on an online machine, play at a really low stake, sit there and have a smoke and spend practically sweet FA.
On a side note, I heard something along the lines of no streaks, repeats etc after sep 1st this year. Can't see that happening personally
The main trouble is, in this day-in-age, it costs too much too live. People can't afford to spunk £5/£10 into a machine while they have their £100,000+ morgage, thier f**cking 115p a litre of petrol.
Went out for a meal tonight, I don't drink. Had a coke. £1 sodding 30!
If I was joe public i'd rather have a few spins on an online machine, play at a really low stake, sit there and have a smoke and spend practically sweet FA.
On a side note, I heard something along the lines of no streaks, repeats etc after sep 1st this year. Can't see that happening personally
1.30 for a coke - you have it made mate..Down in London its 1.70-1.90...spa wrote:You say 25p £15 jackpot machines played better. In ratio 50p £35 is not really that far of it. They should 'almost' play the same.
The main trouble is, in this day-in-age, it costs too much too live. People can't afford to spunk £5/£10 into a machine while they have their £100,000+ morgage, thier f**cking 115p a litre of petrol.
Went out for a meal tonight, I don't drink. Had a coke. £1 sodding 30!
If I was joe public i'd rather have a few spins on an online machine, play at a really low stake, sit there and have a smoke and spend practically sweet FA.
On a side note, I heard something along the lines of no streaks, repeats etc after sep 1st this year. Can't see that happening personally
"ahhh look dont bother going in there its a bell fruit"
IMHO The best ever game which kept the general punters happy was 20p play, £4.80 jackpot. You could still get £30 streaks or more on some machines. Heres a novel thought to the greedy operators. TRY SETTING THE PERCENTAGES A BIT HIGHER ie 95%.
Example in business
Shop A Tescos sells 500 cans of Coke a day at 40p each (cost price 38p)
Profit = 500 x 2p = £10.00
Shop B Mr Patels corner shop sells 20 cans of Coke at 60p each (cost price 38p)
Profit = 20 x 22p = £4.40
Example in business
Shop A Tescos sells 500 cans of Coke a day at 40p each (cost price 38p)
Profit = 500 x 2p = £10.00
Shop B Mr Patels corner shop sells 20 cans of Coke at 60p each (cost price 38p)
Profit = 20 x 22p = £4.40
Poor example. The amount of people that shop in Tescos is far far higher than that in a corner shop - the can sales are not really linked to the lower price.harry3 wrote:IMHO The best ever game which kept the general punters happy was 20p play, £4.80 jackpot. You could still get £30 streaks or more on some machines. Heres a novel thought to the greedy operators. TRY SETTING THE PERCENTAGES A BIT HIGHER ie 95%.
Example in business
Shop A Tescos sells 500 cans of Coke a day at 40p each (cost price 38p)
Profit = 500 x 2p = £10.00
Shop B Mr Patels corner shop sells 20 cans of Coke at 60p each (cost price 38p)
Profit = 20 x 22p = £4.40
I'd imagine Mr Patel would be extremely happy with getting 44% of Tesco's profit for just 4% of their sales!
I don't think many people would specifically go to a different arcade because percentages were higher either. Unless it's a seaside town, arcades are populated mainly by addicts. What does %age mean to them? They'll never leave with a 'win' anyway! One way or another they will lose pretty much every penny they go in with. Higher percentage = longer time to lose money = longer time for arcade to make same profit.
It's uneconomical for arcades to offer higher percentages.
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mr lugsy
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:19 pm
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disagree ,when experimenting with higher and lower percentages over a short time takings in fact go up with higher settings ,this is put down to increased play due to larger runs and more repeats, players notice machines that pay out better and said machine gets more popular ,thus increasing turnover.
on the otherhand reducing the percentage ,although it does increase initial cashbox takings ,players soon tire of the meagre offerings,and therefore cashbox takings slide dramatically.
on the otherhand reducing the percentage ,although it does increase initial cashbox takings ,players soon tire of the meagre offerings,and therefore cashbox takings slide dramatically.
I agree higher %s should equal higher cashbox, most casual players play to extinction anyway so if they get a good game for their money , a few features and a few wins, they will still recycle their money till its all gone but will leave feeling satisfied they have had a bit of fun for their money and be more likely to play again.
I was in a Weatherspoons last night, busy Friday night, I was there from 7 till 11 and not once during that time were any of the 4 fruit machines played by anyone....that about sums up the market. The casual player has got sick of high stake games with no fun involved, beer change gone in seconds, machines raped by pros leaving the machine totally dead for days (or months in the case of DONDs). The fact is they have simply stopped playing now.
Incidently in the same pub the itbox was played pretty much constantly by a range of people putting in their 3 or 4 pounds , getting 10-15 mins entertainment from the games and leaving , losing but happy enough.
The Manus have lost the plot , the whole industry needs a good shake up or the game is dead.
Only addicts and PROs left playing.....
I was in a Weatherspoons last night, busy Friday night, I was there from 7 till 11 and not once during that time were any of the 4 fruit machines played by anyone....that about sums up the market. The casual player has got sick of high stake games with no fun involved, beer change gone in seconds, machines raped by pros leaving the machine totally dead for days (or months in the case of DONDs). The fact is they have simply stopped playing now.
Incidently in the same pub the itbox was played pretty much constantly by a range of people putting in their 3 or 4 pounds , getting 10-15 mins entertainment from the games and leaving , losing but happy enough.
The Manus have lost the plot , the whole industry needs a good shake up or the game is dead.
Only addicts and PROs left playing.....
on the %ages one, addicts will keep coming back if they win now and again, even if they lose it back in, they will do the same amount of money (ie. all their money) anyhow, so why does it matter if they do it in 1 hour or 5 hours?
Addicts mostly play £500's now anyhow or if they are very old, bar x, there isn't many hi-tech machine addicts, which is why there are very few hi-techs in arcades.
I often think hi-techs are kept ie.1/2 so that people who like hi-techs are encouraged to come in, and then after they finish with the 1/2 hitechs they hopefully move onto £500's for a "quick board on the irish" (yes we all know how costly that can be LOL), loads of "pro's" as such I know would be caught in this little trap...(including myself lol in years of old)
Addicts mostly play £500's now anyhow or if they are very old, bar x, there isn't many hi-tech machine addicts, which is why there are very few hi-techs in arcades.
I often think hi-techs are kept ie.1/2 so that people who like hi-techs are encouraged to come in, and then after they finish with the 1/2 hitechs they hopefully move onto £500's for a "quick board on the irish" (yes we all know how costly that can be LOL), loads of "pro's" as such I know would be caught in this little trap...(including myself lol in years of old)