Question about payouts

coldradiohead · Post by **coldradiohead** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 2:49 pm

Just two quick questiuons. be gentle I am a newbie

1) After talking to an itbox engineer guy at uni, and not wanting to probe too deep I left the conversation under the impression that all the machines are linked, thus helping to keep a consistent number of payouts acroos each day and area. Of course if too much is been payed out targets get tougher, questins harder, etc. Is this true because it seems sensible but perhaps unpractical.

2) Does anybody here regulary get short changed when it comes to collecting winnings. I think it is so annoying when you say for example try to collect £3 and only £2 drops out. On the odd occasion I have been arsed to inform the bar staff, the response is always "its got nowt to do with us".

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 2:59 pm

hi and welcome

1 is not true locally but if a new game were spankable (i think) it could be removed from all machines remotely.

2 in my experience payouts are never short but coins getting stuck in the payout chute is very common on the shitbox. good idea to buy yourself a comb/dental mirror to rake out coins from the chute.

coldradiohead · Post by **coldradiohead** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 4:16 pm

yeah one time my mate and I just decided to give it a good shaking and the last coin fell out but othertimes that hasnt worked.

SWP · Post by **SWP** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 6:14 pm

dental mirror to rake out coins from the chute.

One out the Pro's handbook!

I take great delight in shaking the hell out of non-paying machines - but only in my 'regular' pubs.

On a similar front has anyone ever been brave/foolish enough to use the note feeder on IT-Boxes? The ones I've seen are always buzzing away trying to ingest the bar receipts/sweetie wrappers/fag butts that have been rammed into them. I'm sure there must be some tales of woe to be told.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 7:37 pm

SWP wrote:On a similar front has anyone ever been brave/foolish enough to use the note feeder on IT-Boxes? The ones I've seen are always buzzing away trying to ingest the bar receipts/sweetie wrappers/fag butts that have been rammed into them. I'm sure there must be some tales of woe to be told.

If there were any must-play games left on the ItBox then the note dispenser would come in very handy on the frequent occasions when the coinslot won't accept anything (much more frequent than on Gamesnets in my experience). You can always collect the value of the note (minus £1) in coins if you don't want to play many games.

Matt Vinyl · Post by **Matt Vinyl** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 8:59 pm

I actually had what might be stated as 'a result' from using a notey once. I'd no change on me that was sensible to put into the ItBox that was infront of me, so I dared a twenty. I know you have to use £2 as credits, but that was fine and dandy with me. Anyway, slipped the note in, the acceptor whired into life, kindly accepted my note, but offered me zero credits. After a moment or two of 'waiting' to see if it would finally register, I called over your friend and mine, a member of bar staff.
I explained my predicament and he actually gave me my twenty back 'in coinage' (in a vain hope that I'd plunder it all back into the machine).

He didn't switch it off...

...I popped a pound in, had a couple of goes on 'original Bully' took my two quid and sat at the table next to it to finish my drink and read the paper.

Then the note acceptor whirred into life. It whirred, and whirred, and whirred some more, before my twenty was ejaculated from it's jaws.

The kindly barman was off on other duties, so I snaffled the note before anyone had noticed I'd left the table! I drank up, placed my glass on the bar and cheerfully walked out to enjoy the rest of my day, with an extra £21 to enjoy it with.

My single biggest win ever, on an IB.

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:17 pm

Poor form, Matt! I've actually used the note acceptor on the ItBox (and also the one on - is it a Fatbox? - one of the others) on a few occasions, nearly always when it's not been taking coins. I've never had a machine accept a note but not register it, although plenty of note acceptors won't take notes in the first place. What I would say is that a machine with a fu**ed coin chute is:

(a) likely to be very low on coins with which to pay you your prize money; and

(b) likely to have been pretty well-played, because the only people playing it of late will have those knowledgeable / brave enough to proffer a note instead.

On balance then, my head says don't bother playing machines not taking coins if they've got a note acceptor.

Matt Vinyl · Post by **Matt Vinyl** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:35 pm

Heh, agreed it was a bit off on the old gamesmanship side of things - but I could well have seen it going into the pocket of someone else had I not acted sharpish!

TBH - I've not used a changer before or since - and although that error turned out to be in my favour, it's not exactly provided me with the assurance that further erros would also be to my benefit. Have heard horror stories of people losing twenties in AWP & SWP machines...

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:00 pm

i've seen an AWP take a £20 and not register, [not mine] told the landlord who said he would tell them when they come too empty it, next week he said he told them and there was only a couple of £5 notes in it, my mate was'nt happy and in the end he paid him out his pocket, in other words he was trying too pull a fast one

SWP · Post by **SWP** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:07 pm

I don't know why I'm so paranoid about note feeders - never had a negative experience. Thinking back I had a similar experience to Matt's on an AWP ages ago - got £60 credit for 1x £20 note, the note kept reappearing.

And this reminds me 'The Crown' owe me £2 from their crappy Fatbox which failed to cough up (it did realise the fact though and gave a call manager screen) - I'll pop in tommorrow!

coldradiohead · Post by **coldradiohead** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 12:53 am

These machines are had enough to make a profit on as it is, and then for them not to payout fairly is the ultimate insult and torture. Im only a bit-of-fun player but for the pros out there this really must be an occupational hazard.

QuizMaster · Post by **QuizMaster** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:31 am

Note and coin accpptance is an occupational hazard, but reliability these days seems far higher than it used to be. Short paying is far more or a problem. So many of the cabinets these days seem to have coins which 'hang' up the payslide, although fingers or a shake are generally enough. Haven't used up's dental mirror trick, mainly because being caught using any form of 'tool' on a machine these days could seriously land you in hot water so I'd advise against it.

If all else fails, I generally fast run about 4 or 5 2ps through the coin mech. Their wait and volume generally shifts anything lying up there, you might end up losing a 2p on the shelf, but hey ho.

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:42 am

another thing: a few times recently, if i have collected say £6 i get paid 5x£1 plus 1x5p

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:50 am

QuizMaster wrote: If all else fails, I generally fast run about 4 or 5 2ps through the coin mech. Their wait and volume generally shifts anything lying up there, you might end up losing a 2p on the shelf, but hey ho.

Agreed - the 2p trick is always a good one. Plus long fingers.