Fruit Machine Chat

Played on an ItBox - Issue 67.

Aside from Itbox Soccer I can't say I've had much success to report on sports-based quizzes... Until I played on this one today. Reached £5 on my first go, which by my standards is something to get ecstatic about.

No spoilers encountered up to £5, and even as far as the £4 mark I was asked "What is the name of Italy's top-flight football league?"

There are plenty of life-lines available, and also plenty of chances to obtain them on the way up the list. Didn't know what the "lock-in" feature did so pressed it after £2; I assume it locks in the just-passed figure so you can 'game over' in the game without worry of walking away money-less, which is an excellent idea. If this is the case, my £5 might have been £6 or more.

Learning the finalists and winners of tennis Grand Slam tournaments will probably help for when things get a bit tough, but with three subjects to choose from each time you've always got a chance to play to your strenghts.

All in all a cracker of a game. Can't wait to get back on it! Does anyone know what the jackpot is?

PS - Ivo Karlovic is 6'10"

When i played the only redeeming feature was seeing all the "john parrott is a..." names at the end.

Drpepper wrote:When i played the only redeeming feature was seeing all the "john parrott is a..." names at the end.

When I played the only redeeming feature was the ability to never play another game of this utter tosh.

xyz

I agree Hangman fan, my best effort is £6 on £1 play version. I think the 50p version is quite hard, I have top scored at 18 without winning anything before but the £1 play seems to like being won.

Olympic medal tables will help as well as tennis grand slam champs!

Good luck and hope you keep winning......

You are going to have to learn an awful lot of spoilers to get anywhere close to regular wins on this game - it won't ask you 'Who won the US Open in 1981?', it will ask 'Which of these Grand Slam finals didn't go to 5 sets?', which is a whole different level of knowledge. Similarly you don't need to know who won all the Football League Championships in the 80s, you need to know the win/lose/draw percentages of the 50 or so teams who appeared in Division One during that time.

The trouble with this game is that it turns so unfriendly so quickly that it will rapidly turn punters away. It's very similar to Rocket Money in that regard (given the look and feel of the score board I suspect they are made by the same company), although I accept it does offer slightly more low-hanging fruit than that one did.

Overall it's pretty pathetic that this is the best the machine companies can come up with for the second half of 2009.

Nil Satis wrote:You are going to have to learn an awful lot of spoilers to get anywhere close to regular wins on this game - it won't ask you 'Who won the US Open in 1981?', it will ask 'Which of these Grand Slam finals didn't go to 5 sets?', which is a whole different level of knowledge. Similarly you don't need to know who won all the Football League Championships in the 80s, you need to know the win/lose/draw percentages of the 50 or so teams who appeared in Division One during that time.

The trouble with this game is that it turns so unfriendly so quickly that it will rapidly turn punters away. It's very similar to Rocket Money in that regard (given the look and feel of the score board I suspect they are made by the same company), although I accept it does offer slightly more low-hanging fruit than that one did.

Overall it's pretty pathetic that this is the best the machine companies can come up with for the second half of 2009.

Not a bit of sour grapes there Nil coz u didnt get an invite to bellfruit lol

No.

I just genuinely think that 2009 has been a shocking year for new product from ALL the SWP companies - I can't think of a single game released in 2009 that I would miss if it disappeared overnight. John Parrott isn't even the worst of them, although that isn't saying much...

I'd miss Pub Quiz.

Indeed, but you are indirectly confirming what I said - "games released in 2009"; Pub Quiz must be at least 3 years old surely. The most recent of my favourite games is IIRC 18 months old.

As I've said on here a few times, the best anecdotal evidence I have that it's not just me being a grumpy old sod (for a change :wink is the infrequency with which I now have to wait to get on a machine and the lack of play I am witnessing across all recent games. Releasing games as tight as the John Parrott game will discourage punters just as quickly as it will more experienced players.

I like Eliminator, which even I can win on when the wind is in the right direction.

Crystal Maze seems popular, but I just can't do that bloody pipe and paint game, so for that reason alone I hate it.

xyz

dmac wrote:It's not tight at all, it just gives out prizes without any notice and without much effort being required. Then, once it has paid out what it has decided it can afford, it kills you with spoilers.

Maybe there's a geographical difference here, or maybe you are just phenomenally good at Sports questions (in which case fair play to you), but that behaviour you describe has occurred much earlier than £5-£10 on about 95% of the machines I've seen in the South East, often before you even get to the first £2 prize, and yet there has been nothing in either the high scores table or the state of similar games on the same machines to indicate someone has blown the John Parrott game away, again in around 95% of cases - I have seen occasional scores above say 25 which would indicate someone has recently won a decent prize.

All you can do is judge a game on the way you witness it at first hand, and I cover enough pubs in enough locations for this not to have been a snap judgement based on one or two games. By all means take any money you can out of the John Parrott game but don't expect it to last any longer than Rocket Money (and for the same reasons).

Nil Satis wrote:

dmac wrote:It's not tight at all, it just gives out prizes without any notice and without much effort being required. Then, once it has paid out what it has decided it can afford, it kills you with spoilers.

Maybe there's a geographical difference here, or maybe you are just phenomenally good at Sports questions (in which case fair play to you), but that behaviour you describe has occurred much earlier than £5-£10 on about 95% of the machines I've seen in the South East, often before you even get to the first £2 prize, and yet there has been nothing in either the high scores table or the state of similar games on the same machines to indicate someone has blown the John Parrott game away, again in around 95% of cases - I have seen occasional scores above say 25 which would indicate someone has recently won a decent prize.

All you can do is judge a game on the way you witness it at first hand, and I cover enough pubs in enough locations for this not to have been a snap judgement based on one or two games. By all means take any money you can out of the John Parrott game but don't expect it to last any longer than Rocket Money (and for the same reasons).

As we've discussed Nil, I do recognise dmac's description of this game. It seems to have been installed in relatively generous mode - I've had a fair few £15s and quite a number of £8s and £10s on both GamesNet and ItBox (most of these in London). I agree it has a very clearly defined dividing line between spoilers and non-spoilers (which on a non-paying machine will likely kick in very early), but it does chuck out games, at least on upload, where the spoilers kick in pretty late. It's also pretty generous with its bonus items so it is on occasion possible to play on past the spoiler level for some while. Having said that, it will need lots of punter play to recharge after someone's taken the early money out. Hopefully it will appeal to punters although with all those spoilers I have my doubts.