JG wrote:It really is crazy the machines that appeal and the machines that don't.
For instance.....RED HOT ROLL.........now I know you hardcore pub players probably never rub shoulders with red hot roll but us lo-tech dabblers sometimes DO share a room with these beasts.
Now I'm not saying it's a bad as Monopoly Hot Property, far from it, but it's the sort of machine that only has ONE TYPE OF CUSTOMER.
Yep, that's right, the senile granny with unlimited money. That's right again, she's richer than Sir Alan Sugar and armed with a cashcard and a bottomless pension fund she WILL sit on that seat for any number of hours with any number being any number from one or less, that's number ONE or LESS to any number, any number being a number such as TWO or TWENTY SIX THOUSAND.
Anyway, she will play until she gets the RED HOT ROLL that does the £25+£25 maybe +£x
Once that has come in she will leave the machine.
That means any casual who plays a red hot roll will put between £5-£25 in to get roll in mixed 7s (£1) or maybe single bars (£2). Yes, this is 82% city as well.
25 Carat Gold and those older Unions are in the same boat. The granny has them sussed. You can't beat the granny. Yes be thankful the granny isn't playing out your <insert name of favourite rippable hi-tech in here, can't actually say a name as it'll get chipped instantly as someone from the Industry will be reading in which case I'll give you a Gallagheresque V sign. Here it comes. V. Obviously GWHL exempt and that Rollercoaster game did get a mauling that was harsh in my opinion. I'll be on, defending Rollercoaster (GWHL version) when I've finished typing my own drivel. We all know you all read this board. So If the guy who programmed Hot Property is reading this, then FUCK YOU, love from JG>
Where was I? Yeah grannys. They've got those boring lo-techs sussed. You'd think they'd twig. These game always starts boring. I need £60 to get past the roll in £1s and to get my £3 mixed streak. I then spend the next two hours recycling £30 on pointless £7 blue and red streaks. I spend the next twenty two hours repeating the process, totally failing to notice that getting three red sevens TOTALLY KILLS the machine time and time again. Playing on until that 0.2% save has finally accrued enough to fuse with the main and afford that gigantic £50 Red Hot Roll, then and only then may I retreat back to my abode, think about compression hosiery and cat food and repeat the whole process once more the next day.
THEY are the reason why, you still find a the heart beat of a £6 token jackpot machine amongst the Triple 777 cabs.
Party Time. Electrocoin Bar-X.
How? Why? I mean......I just don't get it. But then people waste ££££s on voting for Big Brother. I cannot predict my fellow man's actions. I'd be useless at stocks and shares.....hold on, I am useless on stocks and shares. But why? I mean why? Party Time? I DON'T GET IT. BULLION BARS. I DON'T GET IT. What is the appeal? Why is it more appealing than a certain other type of GAME. OK, I've just had a beauty run down on a certain type of game. Repeat, pseudo repeat, Bar bar black sheep, massive flavasome run down, there every peek on 50 fat 10s rolling in for cheap, refill required, so f ing far behind I hope that it's some chump gets stung. A granny walks on.........ohhhh........£250 including cycled XXX and maybe one set of BBB, £250 deep before the hold comes in for the flattie. One bitten.......ONE fing bitted? THAT'S NORMAL GAMEPLAY FOR A BAR X.....what is she moaning for? Why does she not play it all the more often, they obviously enjoy SHIT GAMEPLAY. Come to think of it, why isn't there a queue of grannys waiting to play MONOPOLY HOT PROPERTY. WHY??!?? ARE THEY DOING THIS TO ANNOY ME?
So we have an explosion of Party Xs.....such poorly programmed dross.....why so f ing harsh? You may have the good box as WELL DONE. YOU'VE TARGETED THE WINDOW LICKER SEGMENT OF THE MARKET. YES, I GRANT YOU IT'S A HUGE SEGMENT OF THE AGC MARKET. I SALUTE YOU ASTRA AND ELECTROCOIN, CONGRATULATIONS YOU KNOW YOUR MARKET. Seriously though, you have driven some people OUT of these places. Why do you think all but the most senile of dribblers embraced FOBT with open arms? Say what you like about roulette, it's a terminal disease with metastasis such as BJ and Craps in the bone marrow but it doesn't take F ING £200+ to see a feature on roulette does it? Hmmm? No.
Then we have quality games like GWHL Cops 'n Robbers. Have you heard the music on this? It's absolutely sublime. A fusion of silent movie honky tonk that epitomises the black and white flicker of plod versus swag. Ok granted, Party Time is a fusion of declaritive pomp and party streamer brass that gets you going, but BAR X.....it sounds like a VIC 20 being tortured to death ffs.
The bottom line is this. No compensated thing on earth should take 400*stake for no win. Nothing. Never. Ever. Ever. I appreciate unpredictablity and randomness are good tools in the right hands. They can assasinate the 'pro' element. Ok, business is business but do it right if it's compensated. Why oh why so popular? Only now are they losing the interest of hardned AGCers who are shuffling to the video screens.
You could release a beautifully crafted program onto the market, the nuances of which go unappreciated for any variety of reasons. You can release a stinker and for some reason, it hooks 'em in.
Enough. I've got other things to type about.
there you go matt,more of the same
......................
just like astra will continue to pump out more of the same(sorry m p)....... .24 carat gold written in an ever so slightly sarcastic font could be next years bullion bar reglass lol. Btw i think astras play alot better on catd than catc.
now ........back in the day,not just any day but THE day ,yes the glory days, lowtechs were never as harsh on the smaller jpts .in fact some of the bestestestestest-est games were of the no skillz variety .fellow zimmer framers will remember the projects (jokers wild,777 heavens,7 jpts,7's melons,hit the 6,rags to riches,wheel of fortune,etc,etc,etc and all the clones such as cloud 9 and poorly repoed ,rebuilt in skanky old cabinets, cheapskate copies like star turn and blue moon that great yarmouth operators hankered after)
if my memory is still functioning correctly ,the streak cycle on the original 777 heavens was between 70-80 pounds + recycleage(i'd love to say it was 77.70
,but that may be a fabricated attempt to rewrite history.) now...at 20p play and 4.80 jpt and mainly on 90-92% with some pretty good gameplay (for a lowwy) and possibilties of regular payers in excess of 30 quid albeit mainly tokens,it's easy to see why this game was such a superhit with punters .
going back a bit further ...ulp... to early 80's maybe 83 or 84 with the introduction of electrocoins 'coup de grace' and biddy box, Bar X .the original program on a low jpt was not that harsh either .i think they only really made a couple of small changes to the programme between the jumps from 3 pound to 4 pound jpt to 4.80jpt ,the most noticable one being that the nudging bar on the last reel no longer was a guarenteed nudge. i actually preferred these on 6pound jpt with 2 pound cash x's. i used to play these alot and never found them overly harsh,mind you... i was only changing tokens into cash and if a few quids worth yielded no results it was on to the next one with a visibly high cash tube.
i guess the point that i'm trying make is that as they've increased the jpt sizes lowtechs have become progressively worse with regards to gameplay, with increasingly prolonged deadzones and 'why-oh-why?' sessions.
the old bar-x has had it's silver anniversary but it's popularity is all but gone now ,it just plays so bad on 70jpt and indeed twas'nt the mae west on 35 ,25 or 15 lol . i even remember one grumpy old sour puss doing 50 quid through one on 10jpt and exclaiming loudly to an audience of bemused family members " not even a nudge".
concept games are making a mint with their kits to turn round top bar-x,big 7 and redbars into 'random golds' etc. games which are rather ironically even harsher but seem to be keeping the chairs in front of them full of the heady fragrance of stale urine that has always been synonomous with arcade lowtech seating arrangements.
don't get me wrong,there will still be plenty of bar-x's scattered about on lower jpts where takings are still viable and as floor fillers for tightarsed owners who are reluctant to spend money during the downturn to improve their machine offering and thus are caught in a vicious circular like cycle .they'll also stay in inland arcades .
afterall mable needs something to stick her 'loyalty reward' of a 'free plays' token in...........
edge of her pissy smelling seat ,monotanous 'entertainment'
