Try round Didsbury/Chorlton/Stretford....plenty there. Well if you like Gamesnet versions.kingspillage wrote:south manchester's now losing quiz machines rapidly. Hazel grove used to have 9 machines 5 years ago, now there's 2. Even most of the wetherspoons in the area have taken them out, usually replacing them with another fruit machine. I guess the games haven't improved much, the payout percentage is awful, and people have apps on their phones giving them the same sort of experience for free. I have enjoyed playing them over a pint or two for many years, now its unusual to find a pub with one in. I am writing this in wilmslow wetherspoons, called in for a beer after work to find the quizzer replaced with.....nothing. The lights are almost out..........
The lights go out, one by one...
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Topical2009
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:39 pm
- Location: Oxford
My impression is that people can still make as much or as little per machine as they could a year ago. The problem is (as detailed above and in various other threads) is the fall in numbers of sites, so if you are a casual player who could once choose one of half a dozen machines on which to spend your lunch hour, you now have just the one; and if you're a dedicated pro who once knew forty or fifty machines in every big city, you now have...well, a map with a lot of names crossed out. If you play for profit, you can still keep busy, but there's a lot more travelling and a lot less winning, so I suspect the only people who are persisting are those players who are happy to live with drastically lowered expectations...
I must say it's quite an aptly named thread this,as it does seem that everytime I go out on an old route,it seems that one machine had disappeared.Well,actually it was two on Tuesday (and one of those has had a machine for over a quarter of a century - showing my age there) but one pub had put its machine back in.If a few hundred more follow suit,things will start to look up again,because Topical's assessment of the current situation is dead right in my opinion.Still a few good games,just sites getting fewer.And also (just remembered this),one of the pubs had changed manager to someone I've bumped into in a few pubs and he knows I like to play the quiz machine,and he told me that the quizzy did really well for him,which I was encouraged to hear.
That's good news at the end there. I'm finding similar things - you do find the odd new one. I'm planning on a few excursions to check out pubs I'd 'retired' from my lists to see if any more of them have rejoined the club!muddle wrote:I must say it's quite an aptly named thread this,as it does seem that everytime I go out on an old route,it seems that one machine had disappeared.Well,actually it was two on Tuesday (and one of those has had a machine for over a quarter of a century - showing my age there) but one pub had put its machine back in.If a few hundred more follow suit,things will start to look up again,because Topical's assessment of the current situation is dead right in my opinion.Still a few good games,just sites getting fewer.And also (just remembered this),one of the pubs had changed manager to someone I've bumped into in a few pubs and he knows I like to play the quiz machine,and he told me that the quizzy did really well for him,which I was encouraged to hear.
Mind you, last week I went to a pub at midday - walked past the machine which was on and working. Ordered a coffee. Then when I went to play it had been mysteriously switched off! I asked why and they gave me some bullshit about how it 'owed money' and they were waiting for the engineer. Obviously recognised me even though I only go there every two months or so.
Yes that's happened to me before,paragoon.It is an extremely rare event though that manager/staff object to me playing the machine,hasn't happened for ages.The last couple of days,it's been a case of the lights going out two by two,but also finding a new one or a returnee.I think I will check out a few old haunts too.I tend to do that with Wetherspoons anyway - I think I just can't quite get my head round that some of them don't have machines anymore.One I was in on Friday had decided to replace their quizzy with a fifth bandit depressingly.
Most of them don't nowadays, in London at least. It's odd how quickly the industry has died but then this thread is 3 years old so the signs must have been there.muddle wrote:I tend to do that with Wetherspoons anyway - I think I just can't quite get my head round that some of them don't have machines anymore.One I was in on Friday had decided to replace their quizzy with a fifth bandit depressingly.
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Topical2009
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:39 pm
- Location: Oxford
I remember in the late 80s, every itinerant professional from the North-West or Midlands who came to London to seek their fortune (myself included) must have jumped off the train and gone straight into that boozer. Unsurprisingly, it was the emptiest machine in the history of quizzing. I seem to recall the last time I looked in there the Pointless jackpot may have been as high as 60 or 70 pence.
Re Wetherspoons often not having machines: SoccerHQ is right that it's not the end of the world,but it does make a bit of a difference though.They were somewhere that was a guarantee and you on a day's quizzying in a certain area,you could possibly start with a couple before 11AM.Of the ones that still have them,the machines can often be in a generous mood.I suspect their policy may be something along the lines of 'if it's making x amount,keep the machine' but new ones will just have fruities.Given how many Wetherspoons there are,it would be a fillip though if they went back to always having one.
I hadn't realised that this thread was 3 years old,it shows you how time flies.I went back and read Nil's first post;it was and remains quite apposite.How has the industry let it slide like this? I've been out playing machines 3 times this week,and four machines have disappeared since last time I was there.I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record,but I am rapidly forming the opinion that it's close to sliding to a point of no return.I accept I don't have a divine right to win money on the machines,but it seems a little frustrating that the main reason that it may come to an end is poor decisions within the industry.If I could speak to someone directly,I'd say before you give up completely,try having a few more fun games and with a decent jackpot.Britain as a nation likes quizzes and puzzles,there really should still be a place for a SWP in the pub entertainment world.
Aye it's mental. Found another with seven games on - won the JP on PMP and it promptly disappeared. Seems stupid as it reverts to impossible mode normally. It's not like you can get it over and over.SoccerHQ wrote:Was in Huddersfield yesterday....popped into the 'spoons by the Station to find there were only 3 games on....Pointless, pub quiz and one another. Must've been a technical glitch as the screen display didn't even look complete.
If that's a sign of things to come though....