Quiz machines in film and television

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:27 pm

Have a look at this little gem. It seems to be an extract from one of those I Love 19** programmes but there's a clip from something else at the end:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/years/1 ... clip.shtml

Can anyone spot what it is? (the quality's not great admittedly).

It's weird watching the screen shots of Give Us A Break after all this time - it must be 15 years since I've seen those coloured balls and yet it all seems like yesterday...

Topical · Post by **Topical** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:46 pm

Interested to come across these memories which seem very familar: I came here to see what people were saying about a) the couple winning £10,000 from machines across the country and b) the banning in Bournemouth, and spotted what was being said on this thread. I only see the inside of a pub once in a blue moon these days, let alone play machines at all, but I certainly remember the Good Old Days.

I think some of the people mentioned might be me, although my memory of events may not be perfect. Anyway, the story in The Independent: that was definitely me and my oppo (it was in 1989 to be exact, when I was still a student). The journalist was an old friend, who thought we'd make a good feature for him, so we helped him out, but insisted a few details needed to be changed, as I was supposed to be doing my finals and wasn't keen for my tutor to know how much time I was spending in the pub, and not the library.

As regards TV, I think different people are getting mixed together here. As a result of the piece in the paper, we got invited to do a piece for The Six O'Clock Show on LWT. It was a good day out, if slightly peculiar: we got paid a fee, and they picked up the tab for all the food and drink, to go on top of our winnings, of course, but the producer thought it would be good if we went about in disguise - hence the hats and shades, which he'd brought for us. We told him we kept our anonymity by being discreet and blending in with all the ordinary punters, but he wasn't having any of it, and insisted we had to dress up! We spent a day filming in and around Windsor, and got home in time to see ourselves on telly looking a bit ridiculous.

I remember there were other people on different programmes, including one show where the player, whoever it was, spent the whole show standing in the background playing Give Us A Break in a balaclava.

I'm afraid I don't recall a particular meeting in York, but I certainly covered a lot of ground in the late 80s/early 90s, and I hit a lot of places in Yorkshire (though coming from a lot further south). Back at the start, I would have been playing a lot of Barquests; and I remember the big jackpot winning shots for our TV debut were on Ten Quid Grids.

I really started getting about the country once I'd finished uni, and would travel many a mile for a decent Every Second Counts or Inquizitor. Ah, for the days of the unprotected jackpot...

cool · Post by **cool** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 8:03 pm

The guys I was talking about were Paddy Spooner and Gareth who came from the Bournemouth area and were featured in The bogsheet , The Daily Star . The photo was taken in the bowling alley Worthing and the cads gave their names as Don and Nick much to the chagrin of their fellow players. Gareth was the barquest player who would stay in a pub for hours to amass his fortune.He later appeared on wwtbam and won 32,000-64,000 I'm informed.At the risk of repeating myself there was a guy who used to tour the country from Manchester in a camper van , who I nicknamed 'The Poacher' as he wore a green wax jacket.Also there was the guy who toured the country by train from Birmingham, someone from Grimsby who toured playing M2,and a couple who toured the country(sometimes with kids in tow)who played the linked wwtbam.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:44 pm

Topical wrote:I'm afraid I don't recall a particular meeting in York, but I certainly covered a lot of ground in the late 80s/early 90s

I think it must have been you I met by the sounds of it - I was a student in York at the time. I'm a pretty anonymous/discreet person so I won't blame you for not remembering me!

Just out of interest, why did you both give up playing the machines (if I'm right in understanding from your message that that is what has happened)?

cool wrote:a couple who toured the country(sometimes with kids in tow)who played the linked wwtbam.

Did anyone on here every make a go of this? I only ever saw it in one place (Milton Keynes) and always had a go but found that you would get to £4 or £5 relatively easily but then real spoilers would kick in. They were taken however from a relatively short list of subjects (Eurovision Song Contest winners, Saint's Days etc.) and I often wondered whether it would be worth really trying to 'learn' those subjects, although it wasn't as simple as just learning the facts, you also had to be able to think on the fly - "Who won the Eurovision Song Contest 23 years before Bucks Fizz?", "Which of these Saint's Days comes latest in the year?" and so on.

Topical · Post by **Topical** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:54 pm

Sorry, I explained that badly, what I meant was that I did meet people who identified me (usually becuase they had their eye on the machine too) and I remember the encounters happening, but not which was which. Not trying to suggest you were utterly unmemorable

I started playing the machines just locally to top up my student grant (that's showing my age), and when I didn't have a job lined up straight after uni, I played pretty much full time for a few years, and covered a lot of the country. Obviously it was much easier in those days to make proper money if you learned the right machines and were prepared to put the hours in tracking them down.

However, I thought I could see the proverbial writing on the wall when the first generation of touchscreen games came in. I can actually pinpoint it to one session, in a pub in Coventry, playing Cluedo for several boring hours and realising that machines had changed, and when they didn't want to pay out, suddenly you couldn't force them to. So I started looking for a proper job.

That was the complete opposite of the moment I first realised that it didn't matter that you had to knock out all 49 triangles in Stage Two of Every Second Counts if you could earn 62 seconds in Stage One; or it didn't matter if Ten Quid Grid wasn't giving you any free arrows, or the trail on Inquizitor was the entire width of the screen.

Funnily enough, a few years later I was a licensee, and had a quiz machine in my pub which never showed a profit (not for the machine company anyway) and I may have been the only landlord likely to buy you a drink rather than bar you if you won a jackpot on it...

cool · Post by **cool** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:22 am

coincidentally enough I did bump into a licensee in The Beefeater at Ascot last year who had come down from up north for a training course I believe and he used to do a tour of pubs local to his and demolish the quiz machine.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 4:26 pm

Ernest W. Quality wrote:I think the film was called "Bob's Weekend". I remember that because it was on telly when we'd just come back from a weekend bobbing outing. I only saw the last 20 mins or so, but this depressed guy has been learning things from an encyclopaedia because he's bored, and at the end he plays a stand-alone Monopoly quizzer and gets everything right, emptying it of several hundred quid.

This was on again last night! It starred Bruce Jones (aka Les Battersby) and did indeed show him winning several jackpots on a standalone Monopoly game somewhere in Blackpool. The visuals were authentic but they beefed up the sounds and they also made it look like you only needed to answer about 4 questions to win each Jackpot. Still, it brought back some happy (if slightly surreal) memories!

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:10 pm

Fantastic old thread NS - thanks for digging it up!

DildoDez · Post by **DildoDez** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:15 pm

Cardinal Richelieu wrote:I thought I'd seen all the episodes of Chewing the Fat and Still Game, but I don't remember anything about quiz machines or puggies?

There's one scene in a golf club, where a rich geezer is taking the mick out of the others by trying to insert a £100 note into the coin mech and saying "ooh look, the puggy doesnae want [insert rich guy's name]'s small change]. think it was a new year special.

cool · Post by **cool** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:01 am

Bruce Jones was I believe released from his contract from Coronation St for releasing plot info, upsetting people and being an allround pisshead if media reports are to believed. Since his demise , since he has time on his hands and since he likes getting hammered perhaps he will hammer some quiz machines in the future for real.

dm · Post by dm » Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:58 am

In an earlier series of Peep Show Super Hans won the JP on some quiz machine after answering about 3 questions.

dangerous · Post by **dangerous** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:07 pm

Anyone see Rebus on friday? Rebus' informant was playing Cops and Robbers, badly.

K_Oranj · Post by **K_Oranj** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 6:32 am

About time for a post in this one I feel.

Saw this clip on Brooker last night - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsA7JHf3 ... re=related

I fought 'e was going to 'ave a go (on AYSTA).

And during my search for that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe1KXy0j ... re=related

What's that octagonal cabinet glimpsed at 1.30? A Megatouch edition?

BigEd · Post by **BigEd** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:23 am

K_Oranj wrote:About time for a post in this one I feel.

Saw this clip on Brooker last night - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsA7JHf3 ... re=related

I fought 'e was going to 'ave a go (on AYSTA).

And during my search for that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe1KXy0j ... re=related

What's that octagonal cabinet glimpsed at 1.30? A Megatouch edition?

Answer: A Sound Leisure Jukebox.

tonkarentino · Post by **tonkarentino** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:44 am

Nil Satis wrote:
Topical wrote:I'm afraid I don't recall a particular meeting in York, but I certainly covered a lot of ground in the late 80s/early 90s
I think it must have been you I met by the sounds of it - I was a student in York at the time. I'm a pretty anonymous/discreet person so I won't blame you for not remembering me!

Just out of interest, why did you both give up playing the machines (if I'm right in understanding from your message that that is what has happened)?

cool wrote:a couple who toured the country(sometimes with kids in tow)who played the linked wwtbam.
Did anyone on here every make a go of this? I only ever saw it in one place (Milton Keynes) and always had a go but found that you would get to £4 or £5 relatively easily but then real spoilers would kick in. They were taken however from a relatively short list of subjects (Eurovision Song Contest winners, Saint's Days etc.) and I often wondered whether it would be worth really trying to 'learn' those subjects, although it wasn't as simple as just learning the facts, you also had to be able to think on the fly - "Who won the Eurovision Song Contest 23 years before Bucks Fizz?", "Which of these Saint's Days comes latest in the year?" and so on.

Those linked Millionaires were fantastic for a short while. The first one I played was in Blackpool and dropped a grand. This was not I hasten to add due to some great feat of quiz playing but the machine literally gave up. The £1,000,000 question was "Which of these men was a football manager?
A. Barry Roast
B. Barry Saute
C. Barry Fry
D. Barry Boiled

That was during the illuminations. I never saw another one until the following Easter when on a visit to Skeg, there were SEVEN in different arcades. Contrary to popular belief initially there were no spoiler questions which meant that for a time we had them taped. Over a 6 week period they gave us about £3000.00. At this point the company introduced the spoiler questions you talk of and they became more difficult. Most of the ones in Skegness went but they were present in a lot of bowling alleys around the country (although I never saw one in a pub.) Initially they filled up fast because everyone wanted a chance at winning big money. When the spoiler questions came in they altered the calibration of how much of your stake went to boosting up the main prize. This had the result that it took a lot longer to get into the high figures. The protection came because of the spoilers.
What was still present was the "machine surrender" feature. Experience told us that this kicked in somewhere around the £970.00 mark. So, all we used to do was wait for them to hit that figure and then blitz them until one of the pair of us got the easy run. Obviously it didn't work every time and on occasion we travelled miles to get to a machine and find it was on £50.00. We had spotters who would tell us when they were getting up towards the mark and it was really successful (surprisingly) for the best part of a year. Then they went. The last I can remember was in a bowl in Edinburgh.
Thanks for reminding me....