quiz zone banning.

quizard · Post by **quizard** » Fri May 10, 2013 1:29 am

Funnily enough after loads of bans over the years for 'genuinely' cleaning out machines purely by knowing all the questions and answers I never had any real trouble with the more recent ones with the helpful software glitches. Probably because the pub landscape had so drastically changed by then, and only taking the money out in dribs and drabs, and having to fanny about if anyone was watching.

Nearly every pub that I was banned from has now changed hands or closed down. There was one though I hadn't been in for 15 years that I checked recently. The pub itself had changed ownership from brewery to pubco. As soon as walked through the door I recognised the voice and it was the same little twat behind the bar lol.

cool · Post by **cool** » Fri May 10, 2013 10:48 am

it didnt help that it was a small pub , the machine by the bar and just me and the landlord.

cool · Post by **cool** » Fri May 10, 2013 11:35 am

generated local media interest.will spill the beans if anything comes of it.

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Fri May 10, 2013 11:44 am

cool wrote:generated local media interest.will spill the beans if anything comes of it.

I really don't understand why you would want to generate local media interest. The guy's entitled to bar you; he's of course not entitled to accuse you of scamming, but so what? It's not damaging to you outside of that pub, and he's obviously an idiot with mental faculties inversely proportional to his physical dimensions. Why not just leave it at that? It's not like the local press are going to get the ban rescinded.

cool · Post by **cool** » Fri May 10, 2013 2:18 pm

its extremely satisfying to see the guy attempt to justify his actions in front of an aidience and make a fool of himself.The bad publicity will cost him more than twenty three pounds i took from the machine and as the guy is obviously only interested in making money it will be a real kick in the balls so to speak for him.It will encourage the locals to visit the other bars in the road in preference to his where i was treated well.Of course most people will not care one way or tuther whathappened to me but as the previous incident 6yrs ago the publicans that recognised me after the story broke that were surprisingly few were supportive.I imagine a few pros here would lie their way out of a situation but I tell the truthe and we all have ways of dealing with bannings. The one where I was involved in verbals and a car chase I didnt go to the press. Too many people want to preserve their anonymity.I dont care.The more people that stand up to these idiots the less bannings will happen as it will wear them down rather than politely exi
iting the pub.

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Fri May 10, 2013 2:34 pm

Each to their own, I suppose. I've never seen the point in escalating such things and very much doubt that "standing up" to pub managers who are after all completely within their rights to refuse service will change anything. Dealing with people who accuse you of scamming - that I agree is damn annoying. In your shoes, I'd be pragmatic about it and suggest that it sounds like the sort of pub you are going to get banned sooner or later - perhaps you should have played it at a busier time and/or when there was junior bar staff on? Not always practical if it's somewhere you find while travelling, of course.

cool · Post by **cool** » Fri May 10, 2013 3:43 pm

fair enough.fruity players tend to be in your face lets get ready to rumble characters whilst quiz machine players tend to be quiet unassuming types who avoid confrontation.guess i fall between the two camps.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Fri May 10, 2013 4:44 pm

cool wrote:ive noticed. two pubs very close together one you had taken apart the other not 600yards away on the same road untouched.on entering i was the only white face in a west indian run pub and clientele.I wasnt intimidated at all.

A few possibilities:

- the pub in question was one of the occasional ones I choose to avoid (although I can assure you that the ethnic makeup of the staff or customers is not something I would ever base that on)

- I simply do not know it is there - I wouldn't claim to have visited/checked every pub in more than a few smaller towns, so there'll always be ones I don't know

- the machine it has is one I don't bother with (any of the Gamesnets, Ind:es or the '50p a go' Opens) - as I don't play full time I always want to maximise my profits in the relatively limited time I have available and as several machines have deteriorated markedly over the last couple of years, I have chosen not to waste time on them unless there is nothing else in a location to which I have travelled a reasonable distance. I have well over 100 machines in my lists that I've never actually played - I keep the details as a marker in case they get a better machine and as insurance in case I ever do need to go full time

- the machine could have been a new install between my visit to that location and your visit

- the machine could have been faulty when I visited that location so I had to leave it unplayed - I visit most locations no more than twice a year so there could easily be a gap of 6 or 7 months between consecutive visits

All of these are possibilities, so the fact that I admit being slightly more choosy than I would be if I was playing full time doesn't necessarily answer your conundrum, but for me it always comes back to the same basic question - if there are ways of taking the money you want without drawing attention to yourself, without entering into confrontations and hence minimising the chances of being banned from places, wouldn't they be what you would want to do if you wanted to make a living from something? I fully accept that in some pubs and with some landlords and/or barstaff there is nothing you can do and confrontation is inevitable but I am able to do what I do week after week, year after year, without annoying anyone or arousing any negative attention other than from whoever it is that keeps posting inferior Word Soup scores all over the South of England with amusingly insulting usernames aimed at me... ;-)

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Fri May 10, 2013 4:55 pm

I forgot to mention - one innovation I saw in a pub in Abingdon last week would be dynamite in a location where you might get trouble anyway. I've seen one example elsewhere of a flat screen TV being stuck to the top of a Paragon but there it was just showing the 'entice modes' of several of the games, but the pub in Abingdon has taken that to whole new level - here the TV is bigger than the screen on the machine itself and it displays an exact copy of whatever you are playing, so for anyone who wants to watch they no longer need to stand behind you and look over your shoulder, it is visible to the whole pub - the games you play and how you play them, the speed you play them at and how much you are collecting. Ironically the pub itself is a location where the landlord has always taken an active and friendly interest in my machine playing down the years, after an initial wariness when I first visited in the Pepsi Music Quiz era, and he and his wife both play various games themselves, so I don't actually think there is any security aspect to the innovation in that location but like I say in another pub you could see how it could be (mis)used against a player.

cool · Post by **cool** » Fri May 10, 2013 5:22 pm

i treat all pubs the same backstreet boozers with chain pubs.often its the 'rough' pubs which are friendliest .i once played a machine in a smokein where the landlord was the biggest offender smoking a camberwell carrot.His planters didnt win any awards but did get a visit from the local constabulary.

cp999 · Post by **cp999** » Fri May 10, 2013 11:18 pm

cool wrote:quiz machine players tend to be quiet unassuming types who avoid confrontation.

You've no idea just how funny that is to me

cool · Post by **cool** » Fri May 10, 2013 11:33 pm

Nothing beats being unintentionally funny :-)

true I have met the odd quiz machine playing extrovert but this normally relates to how they have an exaggerated sense of their own ability (and im not having a sly dig at you) but faced with a banning they would walk without as much as a whimper.

There was a tale going around in the early days of a Cambridge undergraduate a giant rugby player who took umbrage at being told to leave a pub due to his machine playing abilities ,lifted the publican up from behind the bar and then knocked the guy out cold but it was never substantiated.He was supposedly given a county wide ban, that I know can happen.

tonkarentino · Post by **tonkarentino** » Sun May 19, 2013 7:24 pm

Interesting thread this:- I don't play as much as I used to but can honestly say that I've never had any trouble since the days of the glitch on Royal Family and those millionaires that could pay out significantly more than £20/£40 jackpots (not the linked millionaires-from memory these were coloured light purple)
Basically on Royal Family I asked for all I got-having the overwhelming desire to avail myself of every penny the machine held. Nothing like taking £80 or so out of one machine to draw attention to yourself.
Nowadays most landlords either appear completely unfazed-even when you get a no pay showing the machine owes you £20+ or you have to give them one of those tickets to get your prize, or like to watch and help.
I guess there are things you can do to minimise problems like ensuring you always buy a drink.
Most machines seem to be in food based pubs which are so loud that no-one appears to notice a winner.
It must be 20 years plus since I saw the legendary "Regulars Only" sign on a machine.

cool · Post by **cool** » Sun May 19, 2013 8:13 pm

i was told I could not play the machine as I was not a 'regular'. I told the landlord that since I found the machine I would come back and regularly empty it.He was not impressed.I was also once met with a 'locals only' sign on a machine and asked the publican to define exactly what distance in miles and feet from the pub you would cease to be a local.

cool · Post by **cool** » Sun May 19, 2013 8:14 pm

some would call be a smart arse , a minority of publicans called me things a lot worse than that.