Nostalgia Ain't What It Used To Be.
Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:36 am
Good morning people. I stumbled across this site the other day and thought I'd register to share a few experiences of Quiz Machining over the last 23 years.
I played my first machine on January 29th 1986. (I know the date because it was the day the Challenger space shuttle blew up!) At the time there were only two types of Quiz Machine: Tic Tac Triv and Quizmaster. When a mate said there was a machine in our local where you could win money for answering questions I refused to believe it. After 20 minutes I was hooked! Quiz Masters were the business. Tiny programmes by today's standards which were categorised and could be learnt pretty easily because of the number of times they repeated. We started to "go away" looking in other towns when Give-Us-A-Break appeared on the scene realising the massive potential earnings to be had. I well remember the first touch screen machine in the mid 90's (Monopoly) with "go back three spaces" to Mayfair for a regular £10.00 JP. Cluedo (the original) followed this and then we came across something called an I.T. box(!) with loads of games on it. Could it get better? If only we'd known that this new technology would herald the start of much larger programmes....There were a few brief respites (until I.T. Box realised) with games like "Royal Family" and "Sun and Moon" which were ripe for a good hammering. The former because of a glitch and the latter because the programme couldn't stop you from repeating a winning clearance. In early 2002 for about four months my mate and I were making £600-£800 a week part time. Then good old "Who wants to be...." including the daft idea of putting machines with a prize of £1000 in amusement arcades and bowling alleys up and down the country. Money for old rope!
Lately a sense of reality has returned and although I still play a lot, at 50 years of age I cannot stand/sit at a machine for the up to 10 hours a day I used to.
Over the years I've met some fantastic lads (why is it only men who play seriously?) doing the "Quizzers". My recently deceased brother in law Mick Revell introduced me to lots of people including Andy and Mick from Hull, (Andy who came out of a pub in Norwich to find his car and then himself surrounded by armed policemen who thought they'd discovered some heavyweight gang of machine busters!) Tom and Gerry from Brum who I believe are heavily involved now in "Fat Spanner" (talk about going over to the "dark side") and a lad from Kings Lynn who's name I can't recall.
Do any of the "old school" post on here?
Of the current games I prefer Cops and Robbers. (Bit of advice: not that you appear to need it! but I read on here that someone said they'd never even seen the £2.00 prize never mind the JP. The only way to get the jackpot is via Millionaire's Row. Just going along the ordinary score calibration will get you a MAXIMUM of a fiver even if you get more than 20 bags of swag), Bullseye which seems to still be in the generous extras mood on Paragon Plus machines (i.e. £2 to £5 to £8 with extras) and lately One v 100 which seems to have a smaller programme than many of the others. Too many of the current crop are just rip offs. Has anyone EVER won on "Tetris Star Prize"?
Travelling around is difficult with the price of fuel and the lack of a guarantee of a "good day" so I've tended to restrict myself to playing when I'm away watching my local football team.
It would be interesting to mull over the old days on here if anyone has a mind.....
Bye for now.
I played my first machine on January 29th 1986. (I know the date because it was the day the Challenger space shuttle blew up!) At the time there were only two types of Quiz Machine: Tic Tac Triv and Quizmaster. When a mate said there was a machine in our local where you could win money for answering questions I refused to believe it. After 20 minutes I was hooked! Quiz Masters were the business. Tiny programmes by today's standards which were categorised and could be learnt pretty easily because of the number of times they repeated. We started to "go away" looking in other towns when Give-Us-A-Break appeared on the scene realising the massive potential earnings to be had. I well remember the first touch screen machine in the mid 90's (Monopoly) with "go back three spaces" to Mayfair for a regular £10.00 JP. Cluedo (the original) followed this and then we came across something called an I.T. box(!) with loads of games on it. Could it get better? If only we'd known that this new technology would herald the start of much larger programmes....There were a few brief respites (until I.T. Box realised) with games like "Royal Family" and "Sun and Moon" which were ripe for a good hammering. The former because of a glitch and the latter because the programme couldn't stop you from repeating a winning clearance. In early 2002 for about four months my mate and I were making £600-£800 a week part time. Then good old "Who wants to be...." including the daft idea of putting machines with a prize of £1000 in amusement arcades and bowling alleys up and down the country. Money for old rope!
Lately a sense of reality has returned and although I still play a lot, at 50 years of age I cannot stand/sit at a machine for the up to 10 hours a day I used to.
Over the years I've met some fantastic lads (why is it only men who play seriously?) doing the "Quizzers". My recently deceased brother in law Mick Revell introduced me to lots of people including Andy and Mick from Hull, (Andy who came out of a pub in Norwich to find his car and then himself surrounded by armed policemen who thought they'd discovered some heavyweight gang of machine busters!) Tom and Gerry from Brum who I believe are heavily involved now in "Fat Spanner" (talk about going over to the "dark side") and a lad from Kings Lynn who's name I can't recall.
Do any of the "old school" post on here?
Of the current games I prefer Cops and Robbers. (Bit of advice: not that you appear to need it! but I read on here that someone said they'd never even seen the £2.00 prize never mind the JP. The only way to get the jackpot is via Millionaire's Row. Just going along the ordinary score calibration will get you a MAXIMUM of a fiver even if you get more than 20 bags of swag), Bullseye which seems to still be in the generous extras mood on Paragon Plus machines (i.e. £2 to £5 to £8 with extras) and lately One v 100 which seems to have a smaller programme than many of the others. Too many of the current crop are just rip offs. Has anyone EVER won on "Tetris Star Prize"?
Travelling around is difficult with the price of fuel and the lack of a guarantee of a "good day" so I've tended to restrict myself to playing when I'm away watching my local football team.
It would be interesting to mull over the old days on here if anyone has a mind.....
Bye for now.