Fruit Machine Chat

http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news ... leid=15810

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Your Comments
Robert Feal-Martinez via email 04/05/2006
"I have now had my machine removed. The level of abuse by the 'professional' players made it impossible to even recoup the rental. What other licensees should be aware of is the technique these players use. If whilst they are playing the machine they are constantly on their mobile they are communicating and receiving information from others in their group. They share playing patterns of particular machines. It is cheating in my book but sadly not unlawfull"

What's all that nonsense about players using their mobiles?

It's an old urban myth. Well, tried and failed idea me thinks.

There's one game in particular the old 'mobile photo trick' still very much works....

Although you need to be good at the game too.

A. You'd have to get to the end game to take advantage of that.

B. There is a possibilty of photographing and collating stills of STD in order to pick out the many differences, as well as the defunct (in may area) Top Trumps.

In the case of A. you'd have to be good at the game anyway and it all seems like far too much effort for little reward in the case of B. (no-one is surely fast enough to get JP!).

I was talking about a card game that, as far as I can see, remains the only 'skill' game currently on the box.

markmc wrote:What's all that nonsense about players using their mobiles?

I think what that guy means is the mistaken belief that you would have time to phone someone up, give them the question and the possible answers and get their response in a 'Phone a Friend stylee', all in the 10-20 seconds allowed, and that you could do that regularly enough for it to be the difference between winning and not. Clearly nonsense apart from very isolated cases - if you had a Jackpot question that you knew a particular friend would know it would be worth the cost of a possibly wasted phone call - but as a long term strategy for winning it's cobblers basically.

Strike it Rich and similar games may have been something of an exception to this in that taking a photo on your phone of the end game would help a lot but these games are either all gone or have (I believe) been tightened up so that again is something of a red herring.

What is most likely to be happening when people are seen using a mobile while playing is simply one of the following:

(a) making phone calls or sending texts that are unrelated to the actual game - although I must confess I recently texted my sister when a question about Modern Romance's classic song "Ay Ay Ay Ay Moosey" came up on the Ant and Dec game (it's a family in-joke!)

or

(b) the Word Up guys recording another top score for posterity

Must go now, my phone's ringing - probably someone wanting to know what year Thunderball came out...

P.S. The story itself is a little odd. I'm surprised someone who has been playing for so long (even longer than me ) would 'put his head above the parapet' like this. OK, legally he might have a case but writing to complain seems pretty self-defeating.

It's the same for me as not being paid out due to a mechanical error - I learned a long time ago that, unless you will really NEVER go back to the same town/pub again, it's better to walk away unless the fault has actually been witnessed by the landlord/landlady. In those cases they are usually fine and happy to pay up, especially when it's not 'their' money but the pub company's, but why risk getting barred by the small percentage who do object, when you go always go back another time?

In this particular case are they really going to be able to stop him if he heads back there on a busy weekend night (the Litten Trees are that sort of pub) - are all the door and bar staff going to be trained to recognise him and refuse to admit/serve him. My advice? - go back discreetly when it's busy and empty the ****er!

One other odd thing - what on earth can he mean by this comment?

"It is not the first time people have reacted badly. I have been involved in car chases before."

What is this? - drive-by SWP playing??

Whoever it is is not going to give away their precious anonymity on here are they?

And what's more, if all the games are fixed, how did he get £20 out of it?

Sorry but it sounds like a load of bollocks to me.

I heard a rumour a while ago that itboxes had a camera under the screen and they could take a picture of you if you won too much.

What pro quizmachine player in his right mind would complain to the pub company about being banned? And then go and give the story to the press and have his picture published. Does he want to get banned from a whole lot more pubs?

Getting banned from pubs has always been part of the business. It's no big deal you just go elsewhere. It is actually pretty unusual to get these sort of problems these days. The nature of pubs has changed quite a bit in the last 20 years. And the amounts of money won per machine are now considerably less than in the past. He must have been pretty unsubtle to attract attention to himself in the first place.

The ITBox camera is probably an urban myth. Although the round blanked off hole at the top of the oval gamesnet cabinet is meant to house a webcam.

Could be a story put on there by someone in the industry to try and scare pro players off - not that it would work, of course....

quizard wrote:Although the round blanked off hole at the top of the oval gamesnet cabinet is meant to house a webcam.

The small mirrors on them are two-way and little industry goblins sit behind them taking notes.