Quiz machines in film and television

cool · Post by **cool** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:54 am

did you ever come across the family that toured the country (man/woman 2 children) -they appeared in the south playing them during the school holidays ,so I suspected he was a teacher.Never saw them but more than one bowling alley reported them to me.The machines were indeed calibrated independently with machines going up between 5p to 30p put in for every pound.I never bothered to tour the country as I incorporated the £1000 machines into my normal quiz playing treating them as normal machines as (a) they were easy to balls up (b) if somebody won recently they were not worth playing. A friend of mine won over £1200 because the machine crashed through the £1000 barrier and kept going.

tonkarentino · Post by **tonkarentino** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 1:04 pm

cool wrote:did you ever come across the family that toured the country (man/woman 2 children) -they appeared in the south playing them during the school holidays ,so I suspected he was a teacher.Never saw them but more than one bowling alley reported them to me.The machines were indeed calibrated independently with machines going up between 5p to 30p put in for every pound.I never bothered to tour the country as I incorporated the £1000 machines into my normal quiz playing treating them as normal machines as (a) they were easy to balls up (b) if somebody won recently they were not worth playing. A friend of mine won over £1200 because the machine crashed through the £1000 barrier and kept going.

No I can't say I did. We didn't travel much south because we had about 2 dozen up in Yorkshire/Lancashire/ Durham/Northumberland. If we lost out it was to a lucky punter who just happened to get the run of questions. It happened to me on £980 in a Skegness arcade. It was the bloke next to me. The arcade attendants who knew the score were p*****g themselves laughing. Nothing you could do apart from write it off obviously. Bridlington was another good place with four in arcades. Got barred off two but used to take a different person who gave his name and address for the cheque to come to.

tonkarentino · Post by **tonkarentino** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 1:08 pm

foxy wrote: Anyway a few that spring to mind are the previously referred to Skillcash in the Eastenders caff.It was there seemingly forever and no-one ever played it so it couldn't really have been much of a money-spinner for Ian Beale or whoever.

From memory it didn't have the Skillcash sound effects. Think it had barquest. But of course only saddos like me would have noticed.

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 2:11 pm

tonkarentino wrote:
foxy wrote: Anyway a few that spring to mind are the previously referred to Skillcash in the Eastenders caff.It was there seemingly forever and no-one ever played it so it couldn't really have been much of a money-spinner for Ian Beale or whoever.
From memory it didn't have the Skillcash sound effects. Think it had barquest. But of course only saddos like me would have noticed.

Oh dear ]

QuizMaster wrote:I didn't know there was a Pac Man in Kathy's. They used to have a Skill Cash though.

Yes, and I've a funny feeling it used to make most un-Skill Cashly noises, too.[/quote]

tonkarentino · Post by **tonkarentino** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:26 pm

cp999 wrote:
tonkarentino wrote:
foxy wrote: Anyway a few that spring to mind are the previously referred to Skillcash in the Eastenders caff.It was there seemingly forever and no-one ever played it so it couldn't really have been much of a money-spinner for Ian Beale or whoever.
From memory it didn't have the Skillcash sound effects. Think it had barquest. But of course only saddos like me would have noticed.
Oh dear ]
QuizMaster wrote:I didn't know there was a Pac Man in Kathy's. They used to have a Skill Cash though.
Yes, and I've a funny feeling it used to make most un-Skill Cashly noises, too.

[/quote]

OMG. Absolutely pmsl. We are a sad bunch of individuals......

ops:

ming · Post by **ming** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:47 pm

can anyone find the documentary on the net somewhere, i have tried but did not get any success

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:56 pm

agreed that it would be interesting to see that. in the meantime here is a dozy american on an amateurish magazine program (yuck) heroically missing the point about QM's fave game:

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QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:38 pm

That Skill Cash machine turned up in the Crown in Men Behaving Badly after it left Beale's Cafe.

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 7:41 pm

There's a Skillcash briefly visible in Trainspotting. It was running the alternative Adders and Ladders-based question set.

ggdr · Post by **ggdr** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:04 am

Were it not for a late change of script, I may well have been credited as Quiz Machine Consultant in an episode of Skins.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:28 pm

Man, I love uncovering these old threads that are like priceless old relics...

A slightly off-topic addition to the list here is that a quiz machine is featured quite extensively in the book I am currently reading - 'The Information' by Martin Amis. The book was written/set in the mid-90s and the machine in question is an old standalone with buttons which Amis calls 'Wise Money' (was that a real game, can any of our SWP archivists recall?). The main character is a failed author who is known in his local sports centre as the man who can play the quiz machine, which he does so in the chapter I have just read, although he fails to win the JP due to his lack of knowledge of "some dead comic's catchphrase" - so he's clearly an amateur!

Another question arising from this thread - whatever happened to foxy, formerly of this parish?

quizard · Post by **quizard** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 2:54 pm

Wize Move was one of the later Barcrest money dispensers.

QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 3:54 pm

Ahh Wize Move, paid for many a fridge and television.

Aladdin's Cave was even better, since you could confuse the move logic to such an extent that when it tried to stop you it actually worked for you.

Captain.Tattybojangles · Tue Dec 20, 2011 7:16 pm

QuizMaster wrote:There was a film called 'ID' a few years ago about undercover cops investigating football hooligans. The cops win the hooligans' trust by winning a £10 out of the 'Give Us a Break' in the local.

About half an hour later though, they get the shit kicked out of them...........

Yeah I've seen that one. The cop manages to get in on the gang, then a Shadwell Town question comes up. He had to feign that he couldn't read to get past it!

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Tue Dec 20, 2011 7:40 pm

Great film, John And Trev

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