Advice for a new player

Glyn1972 · Post by **Glyn1972** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:57 pm

Hi all.
I've been a quiz addict for ages but have only just started playing quiz machines and so far with no real luck.
Any hints and tips would be well recieved or pointers to helpful threads.
Off now to run a quiz in the New Inns in Staffs. now and maybe have a punt on Monopoly.
Looking forward to your responses.

rogerthymes · Post by **rogerthymes** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:54 pm

Don't bother. You've missed the boat.

dmac · Post by **dmac** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:50 am

WaterGate · Post by **WaterGate** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:55 am

As normal for this forum, nobody actually answers anybodys questions but pops in their own opinion fuelled, tangental crytic response. This thread will turn into the macbeth game soon!

I enjoy playing quiz machines. The more I play the better I get. That's all I can suggest I'm afraid.

QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:16 am

Pick 1 game. Stick to it. Just make sure you pick the right one. Then its simply a question of practice. Don't expect miracles in the first few months.

Monopoly isn't it by the way.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:18 am

WaterGate wrote:As normal for this forum, nobody actually answers anybodys questions but pops in their own opinion fuelled, tangental crytic response.

Fair comment but as ever the problem is how on earth do you condense 1/5/10/20 years of experience and know-how into a few simple comments on a forum like this? It's like someone asking 'I need to learn to swim - can anyone help?' - you'd need to know:

- have they ever swum?
- are they scared of water?
- what facilities do they have access to?
- can they afford private lessons?
- what level do they want to attain?

The same applies to seemingly simple questions like this:

- how long have they been playing machines?
- what games do they currently play?
- how do they choose those games?
- what other quizzing do they do?
- what level are their basic skills in speed reading and recall? (some of the best quizzers I know are hopeless on machines for this very reason, although of course they would improve with practice)
- what do they do as a job/read/watch/listen to?
- how many hours are they prepared to put in?
- can they travel and if so how far?
- what in the end do they want to achieve? - enjoyment, beer money, a full time job?

My best advice is to do something because you enjoy it and if you find you are getting better at it through hard work and practice then all the better. Stick to a small number of games and if you are not improving over time then choose some other games, or a different activity altogether. Finally the best advice of all is DO NOT expect to get rich doing this - the number of people that can make even a reasonable income (when compared to a decent full time job) is minimal and (in my opinion) the SWP environment is at a low ebb currently and unless things change it will only become more unfriendly to serious players.

Glyn1972 · Post by **Glyn1972** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:31 pm

Thanks for that

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:37 pm

No problem. Hopefully my reply didn't come across as too grouchy (it's an affliction of mine when posting on here) but we've been asked a similar question a lot and the key message is that 99% of any success you have will be down to sheer hard work, both in terms of getting better and in terms of learning how to spot which games are worth playing and when. As long as you don't have unrealistic expectations you will hopefully find it an enjoyable diversion.

If however I find you have been playing DOND Big Reds or any game involving Bingo or Spot the Difference, I will hunt you down...

dmac · Post by **dmac** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:37 pm

BigEd · Post by **BigEd** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:04 pm

I only play for fun, and as I have said many times, I have never made a profit. Having read on here what the Pros can, and do, do (cool, Nil, etc) I take my hat off to them, and hope not to play a machine that they have been on before hand.

I would suggest that you should do your homework:

1) Play lots of games, and learn the difference
2) Avoid all word games unless you are "Mr Dictionary"
3) See if you can learn to tell if a game is in a happy mood
4) Read old posts
5) Learn who are the Pro players, who are the AWP players looking for software errors, and who play just for fun.
6) Ask informed questions, and get known
7) PM a pro who might point you in the right direction, rather than ask them to tell the world what games are easy to beat.

I've done 1 - 5
not 6
possibly 7

rogerthymes · Post by **rogerthymes** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:56 pm

BigEd wrote:I only play for fun, and as I have said many times, I have never made a profit. Having read on here what the Pros can, and do, do (cool, Nil, etc) I take my hat off to them, and hope not to play a machine that they have been on before hand.

I would suggest that you should do your homework:

1) Play lots of games, and learn the difference
2) Avoid all word games unless you are "Mr Dictionary"
3) See if you can learn to tell if a game is in a happy mood
4) Read old posts
5) Learn who are the Pro players, who are the AWP players looking for software errors, and who play just for fun.
6) Ask informed questions, and get known
7) PM a pro who might point you in the right direction, rather than ask them to tell the world what games are easy to beat.

I've done 1 - 5
not 6
possibly 7

3. Is the best one there. I mean some things are obvious like if you start with DOND and its asking for 99000 then you're most probably wasting your time.
Or on the paragons there's an easy game where you can double your money straight off if it offers the prize after just one round.
Or if Bully is looking for 801 with only two try agains for comfort.
etc etc etc

ZAX · Post by **ZAX** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:29 pm

Glyn1972 wrote:Hi all.
I've been a quiz addict for ages but have only just started playing quiz machines and so far with no real luck.
Any hints and tips would be well recieved or pointers to helpful threads.
Off now to run a quiz in the New Inns in Staffs. now and maybe have a punt on Monopoly.
Looking forward to your responses.

I think some good answers to you here, and it is inadvertently instructional that you should pick Monopoly as your example. So the first question you should be asking yourself now is- which Monopoly? They all play differently. I'm presuming you mean hot property, the latest version. But even then, you have to ask again- which iteration? Is it the original one, where you choose your piece at the start, the revised version where you don't choose and the target score jumps about through 5000-6000 giving you at least some inkling on how it is playing, or the latest version where the target score is little indicator of throughput?

If it's the first version then you'll find the target score will not move from game to game- the closer to 5000 the better and more chance you have of winning. The second tell is you get easy questions the first two times round. The third of course is the cashpot- if it's going up and up money is going through=more chance of you winning. And so on.

I won't bore you with the other versions and their differences, and I think this is all self-evident anyway really. I just want to show you it is not about luck really. I find Monopoly a complete bore, but if you can suffer the tedious nature of it, you can screw a few quid out of it. I know people are still punting away at it. Just check the high scores.

ob · Post by ob » Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:24 pm

Nil Satis wrote:No problem. Hopefully my reply didn't come across as too grouchy (it's an affliction of mine when posting on here) but we've been asked a similar question a lot and the key message is that 99% of any success you have will be down to sheer hard work, both in terms of getting better and in terms of learning how to spot which games are worth playing and when. As long as you don't have unrealistic expectations you will hopefully find it an enjoyable diversion.

If however I find you have been playing DOND Big Reds or any game involving Bingo or Spot the Difference, I will hunt you down...

Had the tenner loads on big reds!!! It seems pretty fair to me, had £10 and £4 more than the other boxes and I must have played the game thousands of times just with the odd quid or two if I'm finishing a drink/in town!

Certainly seems to be on a higher payout than the standard 30% that most quiz machines are set to.

QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:34 am

It is a higher payout. But since you can't collect most of the payouts, it's actually a lower payout.

Atrocious piece of tat, and one for the plebs. New players won't thank you for encouraging them to play this.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 12:10 pm

QuizMaster wrote:Atrocious piece of tat

I think QuizMaster is being too kind.

Even if we accept your claim that Big Reds has a higher payout than other SWPs - let's say 50% - that still means that it keeps 50p for every pound it takes. As there is no virtually no skill involved (apart from the trivial one of getting the three qualifying questions), that means that you are still losing 50p in every pound you put in - as you say yourself you've played the game 'thousands of times' to be able to win the tenner 'loads', which I am sure is a much smaller number than 'thousands'. Besides, as QM points out, the actual payout level of the game is skewed by the fact that you can't collect individual minor prizes.

By all means play the game if you enjoy it but please don't confuse it with anything worthwhile.

Fruit Machine Chat

Advice for a new player

Advice for a new player

Re: Advice for a new player