Hell's Bells II

Properpro · Post by **Properpro** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:26 am

It's always amazed me that punters continue to play Bullseye on 500+ at 25 pts a throw, but they do. Have game-makers, i.e. those behind Hell's Bells, merely taken the view that if you put in a skill factor (throw the dart/swing the club) then players will consider the game 'good value' despite their inability to win?

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:52 am

Properpro wrote:It's always amazed me that punters continue to play Bullseye on 500+ at 25 pts a throw, but they do. Have game-makers, i.e. those behind Hell's Bells, merely taken the view that if you put in a skill factor (throw the dart/swing the club) then players will consider the game 'good value' despite their inability to win?

I suspect they might do. I quite often find Bells or (especially) Capers scoreboards with nine or ten good 'distance' scores by one player, but with low hanging fruit still in the machine, money-wise. I suspect there's quite a number of players who are happy to play Bells or Capers (and probably Bullseye too) as a straightforward skill contest, and if they get a pound it's a bonus.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:11 am

Properpro wrote:...players will consider the game 'good value' despite their inability to win

This was the point I made elsewhere on here about Monopoly, which has now taken over from Spot the Difference and Deal or No Deal as the game I see most punters playing yet I don't think I have ever seen any of them make it to the money game.

Properpro · Post by **Properpro** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:39 am

Nil Satis wrote:This was the point I made elsewhere on here about Monopoly, which has now taken over from Spot the Difference and Deal or No Deal as the game I see most punters playing yet I don't think I have ever seen any of them make it to the money game.

I have seen punters win on Monopoly and am well aware, after initially spending some time 'looking at it', that they do it not by ability but by the game randomly forcing a win with easy questions and extremely helpful bonuses. When there is money sitting on the comp Monopoly is a bit like a drug dealer, (tell you what I'll do I'll make the first one free). It captures punters with probably the only £4 or £5 prize they have ever won. They don't stop to think that anybody 'next up' would win, they just feel good at their success and try again and again to repeat it. - Good ploy by whoever designed this game.

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:48 am

Properpro wrote: I have seen punters win on Monopoly and am well aware, after initially spending some time 'looking at it', that they do it not by ability but by the game randomly forcing a win with easy questions and extremely helpful bonuses. When there is money sitting on the comp Monopoly is a bit like a drug dealer, (tell you what I'll do I'll make the first one free). It captures punters with probably the only £4 or £5 prize they have ever won. They don't stop to think that anybody 'next up' would win, they just feel good at their success and try again and again to repeat it. - Good ploy by whoever designed this game.

I'm sure you're right PP. I haven't played the game much, but have only had a game in that sort of helper mode on two or three occasions, so I don't think it happens very often does it? But I do agree with you that it (combined with the decent graphics) is the basis of the game's success.

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:11 am

Inspired by PP's remarks I played a game of Monopoly yesterday lunchtime and promptly got the easy set! Stupidly I gambled on past the qualifying mark for no other purpose than to rack up a big score, and promptly crapped out. The next game still was using the easy set, so I suspect that once it is in helper mode it remains there until you've taken some winnings. I also set my best ever score - a relatively feeble 12k, but still well over anything I've done before (not sure I'd been much past 8k!) Still only got £3 on the endgame though, which reminded me not to bother with this again. Has anyone ever taken a decent endgame prize on this (by which I mean over, say, £8?)

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:23 am

grecian wrote:Has anyone ever taken a decent endgame prize on this (by which I mean over, say, £8?)

I doubt it - this game is Cops and Robbers for those lucky enough not to find a Paragon in their local!

dmac · Post by **dmac** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:36 am

Istenem · Post by **Istenem** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:52 am

grecian wrote: Has anyone ever taken a decent endgame prize on this (by which I mean over, say, £8?)

not me guv. had decent prizes from the stations several times but no more than five or six quid for the skill-based selection of properties at the end.

i'd say the prizes you get are similar to most games; to take 1vs100 as a comparison, monopoly is probably equally (un)generous unless you are too greedy. it just has a different shell, albeit a more beautiful shell than most games.

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:37 am

grecian wrote:Inspired by PP's remarks I played a game of Monopoly yesterday lunchtime and promptly got the easy set! Stupidly I gambled on past the qualifying mark for no other purpose than to rack up a big score, and promptly crapped out. The next game still was using the easy set, so I suspect that once it is in helper mode it remains there until you've taken some winnings. I also set my best ever score - a relatively feeble 12k, but still well over anything I've done before (not sure I'd been much past 8k!) Still only got £3 on the endgame though, which reminded me not to bother with this again. Has anyone ever taken a decent endgame prize on this (by which I mean over, say, £8?)

Caught Monopoly on helper mode again yesterday, in a well-visited Wetherspoons in central London, and it coughed up £14 (£10 spot prize for all four stations and £4 on the endgame)! Starting to think this might be, in the style of Cops and Robbers, worth one 50p on each ItBox session.

Matt Vinyl · Post by **Matt Vinyl** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:50 am

the skill-based selection of properties at the end

I was expecting to see the rolling of eyes tagged on to the end of that remark...

As Grecian mentioned, I find that this 'is' often worth a 50p, just to see where the cashpot is for the stations and the array (or not) of bonuses that you start the game with. I recall building up a good few try agains and passes which provided me with a 'cushioned trip' (barring street repairs!) around the board for a while. Starting with 2 or more of both, plus a free GOOJ card seems to suggest the above 'helper mode' is in operation.

In regards to the best prize I've had, it was £6.60 (or there abouts) off of the 'offer'. When going on to reveal the cards, two were certainly lower than this, and one was only a few pence higher. Is there any mathematics involved in the decision behind the offer? I'm sure I read that someone was offered a value higher (or possibly lower) than all 3 cards they had non-pseudo-randomly selected? (

)

Northern Monkey · Post by **Northern Monkey** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:17 am

grecian wrote:
grecian wrote:Inspired by PP's remarks I played a game of Monopoly yesterday lunchtime and promptly got the easy set! Stupidly I gambled on past the qualifying mark for no other purpose than to rack up a big score, and promptly crapped out. The next game still was using the easy set, so I suspect that once it is in helper mode it remains there until you've taken some winnings. I also set my best ever score - a relatively feeble 12k, but still well over anything I've done before (not sure I'd been much past 8k!) Still only got £3 on the endgame though, which reminded me not to bother with this again. Has anyone ever taken a decent endgame prize on this (by which I mean over, say, £8?)
Caught Monopoly on helper mode again yesterday, in a well-visited Wetherspoons in central London, and it coughed up £14 (£10 spot prize for all four stations and £4 on the endgame)! Starting to think this might be, in the style of Cops and Robbers, worth one 50p on each ItBox session.

I've never seen it throw the stations at you on the helper board more just completely randomly whatever mode the game is in. When I used to bother with this I used to regularly ignore the endgame and just play on and on (even with 1 try again) to try and get the stations lit (and rack up a big score.)

Also it is progressive so once you hit easy mode it just gets easier and easier till you take a prize i.e if you crap out by playing on you can be confident that you will be back in next go. Clearly this would not appeal to the "time & motion" boys.