Fruit Machine Chat

do you all find it helpful to play with one or two others , or can it be a hindrance? - it honestly seems to make little difference to me as any extra knowledge is counterracted by having a semi - pissed up mate shouting random answers! - are there any games in particular that require more than one brain or pair of hands? , i am thinking of visual games like Spot The Difference , i dont play this often as it is blatant when you have a chance of winning or not depending on how high the prizes are , but would it help if 4 of you were covering a quarter of the screen each? , i suppose a pub quiz team , each specialising in different fields , would have a decent chance at a straight forward quiz game if they had a knowledge of spoiler type questions , oh well , any thoughts or experiences?

Sharing profits??

Madness.

This game is certainly NOT all about money!!

Over the years i remember the wins, obviously, but i recall the great friends and characters i've met and the times i've shared even more.

There can be no doubt in my mind that a day out with a like minded player can enthuse and energise, the exchange of ideas and method can elevate both's standards.

Even playing with a group of muggle mates, so long as they are devoted to the cause can reap its rewards, you just have to use your imagination!!

All the best from the old school,

Pike

They still don't like it up 'em

Tend to agree with Pike. There's a few people I machine regularly or semi-regularly with and what you lose in splitting the prizes (because you never win twice as much) you gain in good company; I find it's also easier to rote-learn stuff when there's two of you trying to do so. Not sure I'd agree that non-specialist (i.e. non-SWP or non-quizzing) mates are much use though.

I never now play machines in the company of others. part of the attraction to this way of life is being able to get away from everything and be in my own world for much of the day. Anybody who tries to offer the correct answer I tend to ignore and this normally gets rid of them , hating spectators or rather I like being watched when Im in that mood. To have to rely on others is a weakness, to beat the machine you have to be like one! The only exception to the above is when things are desperate and Im not making money. If you are to collaborate with somebody in learning a game make sure they live a long way away from your home area as the lure of money turns good people into double crossing bastards!

it is a common interest. i have SWPed with old friends and new friends; for me it is social as much as winning beer tokens. (although i will freely admit that if i am to be in an unfamiliar area for work or leisure i will set aside a couple of hours to get the free money from the games i'm good at.)

fruitchat has done a service in introducing me to six or seven people who share a hobby. you wouldn't think twice to chat to somebody you are playing pool/darts/karaoke with so there is really no reason why SWPing should be any different.

i have one dear old friend who is as daft as a brush but his knowledge of football is nearly encyclopaedic. when i meet him we only play things like FC, FFQ etc. other friends are wordnerds so we play WU (which is always a hindrance). some other friends just enjoy the thrill of the chase so then it is TFD or PMP. other people just humour me and say "that's nice dear" while i thump the screen. still other friends have no interest in it so we have a pint and shoot the breeze.

when i'm not driving (i.e. if alongside somebody from the board) i'll go along with whatever and occasionally know something obscure which may be a gap in the knowledge of someone else.

at the end of the day it should be rewarding in some way otherwise we wouldn't be doing it.

the best players are generally solitary at least in this aspect of their lives, from my experience. When I run for the running club or play for the chess team Im a team player- but not with quiz machines

I find the speed I play at a real obstacle to getting any non-players interested. Although most games don't really require speed any more (in the way that say The Weakest Link did) I find that 20 years of practice makes it really hard to slow down to a 'normal' level unless I force myself to. In any case most of my mates have no interest in the machines at all other than as occasional spectators.

In general terms I'd say playing as a group actually counts against your chances of winning. You can see this particularly with the groups of students that provide us with both so much of our free money and most of our annoyance in terms of waiting for them to finish playing. Groups of students gathered round a machine, particularly while seated, are even more of a time waster than a drippy couple if you are trying to get round a few pubs in one evening.

Nil Satis
Solo Player and Proud of It!

Monday to Friday lunchtimes it's usually 3 of us trying our luck. £1 in each and each person picks which 2 games we play while they're "Captain"

Playing as a team helps with TFD (concentrate on a row each when it comes to finding the odd one out) and Celebrity Snap (again, concentrate on a row each until it's cleared). For the usual trivia games, one mate is into films and music whilst the other one's more cars and sport so there's a good mix for the categories

Even my mate who knows next to nothing about football can sometimes help with ItSoccer just by coming up with a name that fits the letters showing so far

Hex or Cryptic Clues is where it comes together though, all can help try to solve it.

It's just for fun and breaking even's a bonus. However, in the last 2 1/2 years we've put £2,675 in and got £2,995 out which is a good effort given the machine's payout percentages

Hexpert wrote: It's just for fun and breaking even's a bonus. However, in the last 2 1/2 years we've put £2,675 in and got £2,995 out which is a good effort given the machine's payout percentages

It's also a highly commendable dedication to keeping detailed records; good work. Wish I had the dedication to keep proper records, I'm sure it would tell me a few interesting truths.

grecian wrote:

Hexpert wrote: It's just for fun and breaking even's a bonus. However, in the last 2 1/2 years we've put £2,675 in and got £2,995 out which is a good effort given the machine's payout percentages

It's also a highly commendable dedication to keeping detailed records]

Ive started keeping a record as well. The truth hurts...

I'm generally a loner, since it is the most profitable way of life with good site/game selection.

I will play socially with mates who appreciate the free beers that I can get but that's only home town where I don't play professionally anyway.

One tip: If you're going to play for dough - always play with somebody who is better than you. In my case, I only know two guys who can play better than me, but these guys completley inspire me to work harder all the time. I can make £100 a day falling off a log, and these guys are the Arsenal to my Derby County.

I've learnt more in an afternoon with these guys than I have in 20+ years on my own.

If you find a pro - just ask if you can tag along for the experience. You'll be a far better player for it. I always let people tag me for an afternoon if they're polite and courteous.

At the risk of sounding a complete anorak, for 2008 I've started keeping a note of performance by machine by pub and also performance by game (a £17.90 win for £1 at TIOLI means that's top at the moment).

27 different games played so far this year , 12 of which have paid out more than they've cost and 15 have yet to pay their way. Overall, £78.50 spent and £106.90 won. Not enough to retire on but a better rate of return than the building society and 5 hours of brain exercise a week

I have a pile of pound coins which I use for all SWP-related activities (drink, travel & stake) and it's been slowly & surely increasing since Issue 54. This is thanks to 2 games in particular (pretty obvious if you check scoreboards in London or Glasgow )

I can't make money off a Gamesnet unless Word Up is in a good mood, as I've just proved to myself on my lunch break.

It would be interesting (or sobering as grecian suggests) to see which other games are responsible for taking from or adding to the pile... I have an idea that FFQ is still profitable overall... I wonder how true that is

I have had 12 games of that's entertainment for £34 return.

Have not bothered counting any others.

I am 99% sure that WU/ WS is now profitable- the £10 returns from low taregt machines easily outweighing the 50ps invested in machines that have been Bobbed; UPped or GGDRed although what the profile is for me over the whole life cycle of the game is another question. As I liked the game at the start I "invested" heavily and for a long time plateaud around the 1150/ 1650 mark. (Incidentally I played 2 old school Word Ups in Covent garden yesterday and the difference wrt ease of clearance is more pronounced than I really gave Soup credit for. Luckily both started around the 700 mark so worth persisting )

As regards other games, Celebrity Snap has been a tidy earner for me if not tedious (event thought this could be emptiable- albeit painfully slowly but it does clam up in the end)

DOND/ Monopoly/ Cluedo probably typical for me in that covers costs and pints drunk whilst platying.

PMP I am a sucker for and would hate to see how much I have wasted in that. The other night I was with (wealthy) colleagues and we just kept pumping it with the £1s for the entertainment factor not withstanding the constant bonus that kills you conclusion (in fact we stopped taking the bonus). I would hazard that at least £20 went in without a sniff of a £ back (although granted half of that was subsequently recovered on a solo visit :P )

Back OT, I find mates a hindrance as they get the hump when you answer the DOND so quickly they have not had time to read the question.