Pet hates of quiz machine players

[cool]

What really gets up the professional or semi-pro's nose in relation to pubs
or the machine playing public. Mine are people who like to publicise the fact that they are reasonably good at games with high scores.If I got the worlds highest score at word up what is the point of putting down my initials if I WIN £1? and the worst person for doing it is EFC aka HYENA ! It really gets my goat . When you are having a bad day do you really want to know the b******d who spoiled all the machines for you?

[Guest]

Half the fun is spoiling it for everyone else - especially as the people who are riled are the players who would have done exactly the same to you, if only they had got there first!

[Cardinal Sin]

I've got one... Texas Hold 'Em

Long ago, I realised that achieving a full house is meaningless IF the dealer happens to have a better hand. What you might not know is that you don't win even if you have the same hand as the dealer.

However, what really rips my knitting is that despite not winning a sausage, I still get asked to put my name in the high score table. Last time I checked, my was still sitting atop the high-score. Still, I got the last laugh, I entered my name has CON. That'll show 'em!

[Mattb]

I completely empathise your eminence. While i don't play a lot of SWP, i do play occasionally. Played a hangmans haunted house, and racked up a more than decent 750 points from £2 of plays. Not only did i win sweet fa, i had the top score on the machine. Needless to say i wasn't happy, and left some mis-spelt expletive as my name.

Matt

[Nil Satis]

What really gets up the professional or semi-pro's nose in relation to pubs or the machine playing public. Mine are people who like to publicise the fact that they are reasonably good at games with high scores.If I got the worlds highest score at word up what is the point of putting down my initials if I WIN £1? and the worst person for doing it is EFC aka HYENA ! It really gets my goat . When you are having a bad day do you really want to know the b******d who spoiled all the machines for you?

Sorry, it's me again! Just to clarify what seems to be a case of mistaken identity, I am certainly not HYENA but unless he/she is another Evertonian or there is another Evertonian out there in Quizland, I may well be the 'EFC' that you have seen on various scoreboards. I use that on things like Hangman where you are only allowed three letters (sometimes doing so even if I have lost, as the Cardinal describes happening on that rubbish poker game). For games where more letters are allowed, such as Sum Up and Word Up, I started using NIL SATIS after I signed up to here.

However I must say I find your attitude very odd/defensive. As you probably don't actually 'know' any of these other winners, what harm is it to you to see initials you recognise in the Top Score table? Personally I play very few games where Top Score tables exist so in that sense you wouldn't know I had played most machines. I have never won more than £3-£4 on Word Up and Sum Up but I think that goes for most of us nowadays, even the top guys who post on here, now that the achievable £20 Jackpots have gone, so seeing a familiar name on the Top Score table on those games is hardly any indication that they have shafted the machine for you.

What gets up MY nose would be people whose behaviour is getting them regularly barred, and who won't come clean about what it is they are doing to get into such regular confrontations. Any pub who takes a machine away because someone is pi$$ing off the landlord by their behaviour, by which I DON'T mean someone winning regularly but discreetly and fairly, is one less pub available for 'legitimate' players to win in. Now, I can't think who I might be referring to there...

[Cardinal Sin]

Don't expect you to name any names, but what shenanigans were these people up to do deserve a barring?

[Nil Satis]

I'd have thought that was for anyone who recognises themself by my description to own up to ...

[fotherz]

...and the worst person for doing it is EFC aka HYENA...

Every time I see his name on a Word Up I smile. This is because;

1. His scores are always poor (despite so much practice).
2. He obviously leads a bit of a sad life.


2-0 to me.

[Drpepper]

As a total novice, and not a semi pro like you guys... All that annoys me is machines not working/ paying out.

Take center parks, 3 machines, all had a different malfunction.

One had a malfunctioning hopper i presume, as it clearly had money in, and kept saying "hopper low inform operator" whenever you collected.

One the screen calibration was off, and spazmodically pressed random points, whilst the other one just wasnt working at all.

Allthough i was pleased to finally find a sum up(mental arithmetic is my strong point) at scotch corner hotel... only had time for 2 goes, and second go managed a score of 1947, is that a good score?

And on the way back i was dismayed to find the games selection had totally changed and it had gone... Allthough deal or no deal was good.

Off £1 managed to get a £3 offer... so pressed bank, and it magically went from £3-00 to £0-00.

Seriously, how hard is it to maintain a Quiz machine?

[Guest]

only had time for 2 goes, and second go managed a score of 1947, is that a good score?

Yes, especially if it's one of your first efforts and relied on arithmetic rather than the strategy and trial-and-improvement players like Ernest and I now use.

I think you need 2600 to make the national board. 3300ish is the top score, by Ernest, Fotherz and me.

[Drpepper]

Aye, i'd grasped the basic idea about using x and /'s together when possible...

Could you fill me in on some strategy if you have a minute though, i could see myself earning at this if i got my act together.

What are the prizes usually set at, and am i right in saying there's spoiler grids when it doesnt want to pay out.

Regards

[Guest]

You're on the right lines re stringing multipliers and divisors together. Our tactics merely involve making as many 300+pts sums as possible at the start and then stabbing to victory.

Unfortunately, I don't think SU is very promising cash-wise. If you catch a badly played or unplayed edition, you can take £10+ out of it, but it adjusts its prize structure immediately, shunting the quid to 2000pts and beyond. Furthermore, the few Sum Ups that the VB team have found and summarily spanked have usually gone into hiding immediately afterwards.

It's a very enjoyable game IMHO, but too rare a bird and ultimately too stingy to be a consistent earner.

[Ernest W. Quality]

There was talk before about Sum Up strategy:
http://www.fruitchat.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=3415

I rambled mainly about how to clear, which I think is based largely on luck unless you are have savant-like speed of calculating. We could probably discuss general strategy for a while if you want.

[Drpepper]

Aaah, the things you learn... i wasn't aware about the rounding down... that could've been useful.

Half the fun of being in maths at college for me is being able to do arithmetic quicker than most people can type on a calculator. I'm hopeless at word up, i think i average about 900-1000.

It was on one of those WWTBAM cabinets, but it was some rank shade of blue and quite frankly looked horrible and had no place in a posh pub; allthough it had the most upto date games on it. I like the ones that are thin and have the slanted screen, and place for yer pint.. paragon is it?I'll admit my SWP cab knowledge isn't great lol.

But like VB said, if it's rare to find and ya need 2000 for a quid, then there's no reason to bother with it, allthough trying to clear the bastard might be a laugh one night, why is it the good games never last. *sigh*

[Ernest W. Quality]

The other problem is that, as you could imagine, the game is not at all popular with most players... the keen players with good national scores have been maths graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, except Bob (who is a graduate of both, and a maths teacher).