Spellbound

[Nixxy]

Played one of these Empire efforts in the wild yesterday - after first noticing them at the ATEI back in January.

For those who've never seen one, it's an SWP in a Horizon cabinet, which initially made me think I was walking up to an AWP.

There're 3 reels with all the letters of the alphabet combined on them, with the odd ? on each reel. The top board determines Categories, and the lower alpha and reels form the basis of the game.

Essentially, it's a game of old-fashioned Hangman. 50p stake pays £40 JP, with prize increments of £40/£10/£5/£2/£1 and 'Bonus Game'. 25p stake pays half the prizes. You advance up the prize levels by solving the phrase.

Inserting your 50p starts the game. You are randomly given a category from the 8 possible choices, the clue appears on the alpha, and the reels spin and land three different letters arrive on the winline. If you think that any of those letters are part of the phrase, you hit the corresponding hold button and it either adds the letter in the relevant position or adds a limb to the hangman. There's also a 'Reject All' button, if you think that none of the letters offered feature in the phrase. You get the picture.

Solving the phrase advances up the prize level - the first actual prize is reached after solving three phrases.

I noticed a few glitches, but felt the JP was genuinely acheivable. I have no idea how many different phrases it has at its disposal. I reached the £10 prize but lost going for the JP - despite being presented with a Girl's Name with only five letters, D _ _ _ Y .. I presumed it must be Daisy, and plumped for a letter S when it appeared on the reels - only to lose my final life. How irritating.

The most amusing moment was being presented with a 'Places' phrase - and a clue of 'River' - to eventually find that the answer it wanted was Steve Backley.

Anyone else played this?

[Properpro]

No, but I feel as though I have - great description!!

[YoungKai]

can you remember if it was connected to the internet. . . just having a little brainwave

[Nixxy]

can you remember if it was connected to the internet. . . just having a little brainwave

Definitely not - it's in a local kebab shop.

I never catch the staff playing it - they've never heard of Graham Gooch, and they're unlikely to favour 'William' as a boys' name when they're all Cypriot themselves.

Maybe they thought they were bringing in an AWP that they could all play but were sadly disappointed.

[fotherz]

Girl's Name with only five letters, D _ _ _ Y

DOLLY came to mind before DAISY.

Can't think of any others.

[QuizMaster]

I've seen a couple of these. They've turned up in chippies.

Quite like the Spellbound one.

Don't bother with the Casino Royale one. Royale it isn't.