A bill passed in January 2009 has seen the second increase in the jackpot value of pub fruit machines in the space of two years. Many of the old favourites have been reglassed. A jackpot of £70 has surely made many of the old-school fruit machine players think about taking the game up again, if not on a part-time basis. I have been quiet for a few years while the scene went through a lull of quite flat-profile machines with limited streak value being the only thing to play.

The few machines I have seen so far this month show some good money-making potential. The first is a reglass of JPM's classic 5-Liner. Playing on the highest stake sees lots of wins dropping in. Its a great machine for the casual player who wants to try and build up a bank of smallish wins, but as we all know, it can be quite greedy. The £70 does show itself, in the form of the top feature, Casino Las Vegas. This feature is not offered very often for the simple reason a skilled player can hit the £70. The trick is to be able to hit the 12 on the rapidly moving hi-lo reel.

As experienced players will know, with practice this can become much easier with time. However, because the feature is offered quite infrequently there is not much time for practice! The other machine I have kept my eye on is Bellfruit's Deal or No Deal. This seems to drop the £70 quite often. A streak is rarely triggered.

The key is to watch someone playing it and see if the game is offered regularly. Its not a hard machine to force the £70 out of. The trick is to judge when to give it a go. A genuinely backing fruit machine will clearly be a winner.