Fruit Machine Chat

Line Up with its modern calculator font and great features was released in 1983 incorporating the MPU3 technology, the machine rapidly become popular and could be found in amusement arcades, pubs and cafes up and down the country in the 80’s.

The infamous BWB version was released in the late 1980s/early 1990s, this version was never as popular as the original.
In 2004, Red Gaming part of Barcrest released the 21st anniversary addition on the MPU5 platform, it came in two cabs the Rio and Genesis.

The Rio was released first in the form of a bingo version. Red Gaming missed their sales pitch here and players disliked the bingo game and many machines were left with the wrong decals when the roms were added for the original game. Timing is everything, by the time the Genesis cab was released a reported 250 units were produced of the 2004 version, with some eventually being recalled.

Line Up is definitely one the best fruits machines ever made. Does anyone know of any other retro machines that have be re-released like Line Up and had any brochures?

Great series of machines. Line Up, Hyper Viper, Nudges Unlimited, Adders and Ladders, Exchanges Unlimited. GAIN.

Actually was working in an arcade 1984.

the bwb one would only feature hold when it was ready lol

mr lugsy wrote:the bwb one would only feature hold when it was ready lol

They really were appalling games, the BWB rehashes of Line-Up. I remember going on holiday in Norfolk, not far from where my sister lives during the time Euro '96 was on. We stayed in a holiday-park for a week and when we got there myself and my brother rushed off to see what the games-room was like, hoping to see some 5p £6 token stuff like Road Hog and Viva Las Vegas. We walked in to see a row of about 6 or 8 BWB Line-Ups. Talk about disappointment. They also had 2 PCP Secrets of the Golden Nile and 2 Project Sevens Above, all on 5p play £3 cash. Not exactly the best selection. I think we played pool most of the time.


On the subject of MPU3 machines I have a top glass for 'Happy Viper', a rarely seen version of Hyper Viper or Snappy Viper, with just the name changed. When I got the glass I had to look at it 2 or 3 times before I realized it said Happy instead of Hyper.

Love to own that!

Here are some pictures of the glasses I have (I've cleaned them since) -

Also going back the original post, Empire Games did a re-release of Exchanges Unlimited some 8 or 9 years back to try and tap into the supposed 'lapsed player' market. The end product was a very loose interpretation of the original by anyone's standards. They sold a few but they fell off a cliff quite quickly in terms of cash-box takings.

The biggest shame was the fact that they borrowed an original Exchanges Unlimited from the dusty upstairs of one of my local arcades in an attempt to copy it, and afterwards they threw it in a skip.

that happy viper glass you got must be pretty damn rare. i only ever saw snappy's and there can't be many of those left.

nice little collection

Really nice collection!