The CMA guide to Club fruit machines
V1.9
All
guides copyright Chris Smedley 1996 - 2006
Here you will find
playing guides to over 100 different club fruit machines. The guides have been
written by myself and they are all proven at the time of writing. However
manufacturers do love to re-chip machines and so some guides may not always
work 100%. The chances of this happening on a machine is however very remote.
I have categorized these machines according to the companies that make
them and how I rate their winning potential. Each machine has been given a
simple rating to give you some idea of how good or bad it is. These ratings are
as follows:
|
5..You cannot
lose. |
Obviously the rarest
machines around. |
|
4..You will usually
win. |
Fairly common.
|
|
3..Average.
|
Most common.
|
|
2..A little
dangerous. |
Fairly common.
|
|
1..Dont play it.
|
Not very common.
|
These are of course my
opinions and you may think otherwise with your own experience of them. I
STRONGLY suggest you stay with 4 and 5 star rated machines until you have built
up your money and your confidence.
Some basic fruit
machine terms
|
Backing:
|
when the money is
falling down into the cashbox |
|
The Top:
|
usually the top
feature or jackpot on a hi-lo climb |
|
Cash pot:
|
the cash pot is a
money meter separate from the jackpot. |
|
Rotating:
|
putting the money
out back in again and again. |
|
Flasholds:
|
like on AWPs
just let the reels spin, not very common on club machines. |
|
After play:
|
wins you can expect
to get after a cash pot or jackpot. |
|
Free win:
|
A win paid by the
machine which does not affect the payout percentage. |
|
Reversing:
|
Going against the
odds on the hi-lo climb. e.g. Lower than a 3 to get a 1 or 2. |
Getting started
This paragraph applies equally whether you play club fruit machines or
pub machines. The first thing you should do is scout your area and write down
all the machines you have found. Then you should disregard those machines with
a poor rating or poor review, but remember to check back to places regularly,
machines are changed every 3 months in most places. Once you have a concise
list of places to go you need to learn the guides. If these places are clubs
you will also need to sort out membership.
Every pub and club is different. There will be clubs which have players
who just takes small wins and very often the machine is just waiting for a pro
to force out he jackpot. There will be pubs which are regularly visited by
pro-players and you will find them to never be profitable, simply because a
streak is always being forced out of a machine even if the player has to do it
at a loss to prevent someone else having it. You will have to learn to select
which places might be exclusive to you and offer the best winning potential.
This can take a few months to achieve but worth it if you are dedicated.
Several club members now make £700+ per week and this comes about from
being very organised and moxt imprtantly DISCIPLINED. You need to get to
know machines well enough to know when to walk away. Some players find this
difficult and that is why they will always be losers. If you put £5 into
a barcrest and it is obviously playing awful then walk away, even if the
machine is full. Once you have mastered the art of walking away you are already
half way to becoming a pro. Most pros will tell you they play dozens of
machines every day but the profit only comes from a few machines. To put this
in simple terms, you might play 20 machines, on 3 of them you will make
£50 and on the other 17 you will lose £5, your net profit is
£65. This is of course simplified and usually a good player will win on a
bigger proportion of machines than this. Some machines you can only expect to
make £10 - £15 profit on, but then you should try to find as many
as possible.
BARCREST
Club Royal Exchange
(4)Quite
an easy machine to read. There are a few obvious signs to look for. The first
is the RED features. Any feature that lights up red on an exchange is super and
most of them offer up to 80 quid wins. RED LOCOMOTION is a guaranteed jackpot
and easy to hit. RED ROYAL EXCHANGE is usually £200. Once red features
have been offered the best strategy is to just hi-lo the machine up the cash
side. Once you get past £50 it will hi-lo out all the way. The other good
sign, similar to Psycho, is flash holds on the bar wins. When it playing well
use nudges to get 2 bars on the winline and you will quite often see £15
to £30 wins. Afterplay is limited, collect a few low features and play
for flash holds still. But I wouldnt advise putting more than £10
in.
Club Psycho Cash Beast
(4)This
machine is probably the best club machine of the last few years. Barcrest have
made it with the big player in mind. Play when its backing, REFUSE ALL WINS.
Good signs are like the AWP version (Extra life/zones, super bonus and stroll
on on the feature and seven/reel steppers and gteed wins on the reels). You
will find normally you can only climb to the top zone normally with 6 knockouts
- this is because the machine blocks all wins above 50 pound normally. Once you
have made the machine happy and refused a few fifty quid boards you will get
the invincible feature (the logo flickers)! Collect your 250 whilst laughing...
After the jp the machine will still be 50 pounds happy for your afterplay.
Exchange as low down as possible to try and get the invincibal. Points to
note... 1. If you nudge in the 50 pound win, gamble to 75 and exchange you can
utilise your taxi bonus to get to the 100 pound win but obviously dont
collect if you are forcing for the jp! The machine will kill you before you get
the other knockout you need. 2. The program has a bug whereby you sometimes get
told you are getting something next spin and the machine fails to award it -
sort it out barcrest! 3. You can get the jackpot from a non-invincibal feature
so always play it to the top. Watch your nudges and learn the reels. The
jackpot symbols and treble bars are on either side of the reels so this might
help you using STEP TO NEAREST WIN. You can nudges to improve this feature.
Club Monty Python
(4)The usual
rules apply, must be full etc. I understand there is a rechip for this machine
but only because the first program had a habit of dropping jp's quite close to
each other, in particluar my club's machine dropped jp then 60 quid later did
it again then the following day gave 200 from cash knockouts! Anyway I'm
assuming the machine I play is the latest. The first thing to look for is the
cash going up to the 10 - 16 quid level and the features close to Pick-A-Win,
at which point there is an obvious block. Each time you hit a ? and got an
extra bonus, use the STOPPA straight away. So the first good sign is most
features going to the 20 cash region. You are now waiting for one of two
things. A feature which takes the cash up to 40 with 1 or more cash knockouts
or the invincibal mode. The first will often preceed the latter. Afterplay is
minimal, just use what credits you have left in the machine and take any cash
win around 10 pounds.
Club Dracula
(4)The best
sign that this is about about to pay is when you get to the position 4 bonus
and you are awarded STOPPA which then gives you the best feature start SUPER
DOUBLE. When the feature awards are doing this you are often less than
£50 away from getting the jackpot either from the hi-lo gamble or from
the feature game. The first thing you should do is check the program version.
If the version is 0.1 then there is potential for you to take out a lot of
money. Hi-lo any cash wins until it lets you up to 200 (on a 250 machine) and
collect. There seems to be a bug when you take this. The next feature will
offer you 50 or 60 cash in afterplay. Play on after this. Very often within 10
quid it will roll in a large win. The first time I had this it gave me the 200
on a 1 and the second time the 150 on a 10 (which I collected). You are most
likely to find the version on your machine is 0.7 or above. You can check the
program number by looking at the back of the machine through the glass above
the reels. It is written sideways on an orange sticker (THIS APPLIES TO ALL
BARCREST MACHINES). When you play a 0.7 you are still looking for the same
signs, such as BOOST / SELECTOR / STOPPA giving the top feature start. Just
play to force the jackpot out then play on for up to 60 in afterplay.
Super Blackjack
(4)This
is simply one of the best machines ever made. By checking the basics mentioned
earlier you should not have any problems. There are many simple ways of getting the gamble up. The first is to
take the second feature up on the ladder. This is a simple reel match that
offers up to £6 if you can hit all four plums though usually you will
only be offered an orange which will give you a £2 gamble for hitting the
fourth one. The gamble principle is very simple - keep doubling on red - black
- red until you reach £128 and then hit x1½ for £192. If the
machine is playing well you should get a gamble up to £32 within your
first £20 or so. You often find the gamble loses on £64 or
£128 but it usually gambles out shortly afterwards anyway. I have had
many of these machines pay the jackpot for under a couple of pound. Another way
is similar to the first except you climb further up the ladder to SUPERNUDGES
and collect a larger win. The most common is £10 but this feature can
offer up to £100 when the machine is
ON THE BRIDLE as we say. The £10 gamble involves doubling to £80
with red - black - red and then hitting x1½ twice for £180
(slightly better than doubling to £160 and just as likely to come in).
The other two features which you can gamble are Loot Shoot which is a skillstop
feature and the 3 grapes which pay £2. Things to watch out for:
First, you need to
establish how well it is playing. You should be able to tell within £20
whether it is worth continuing. This machine likes flashholds.
These are wins after losing nudges. When a hold is offered do not hold
anything, just press start and a win corresponding to the win line will roll
in, or you will get a feature if you have two or more aces on the win line. If
you have ever played an £8 machine you will understand all this anyway.
When you are getting flashholds for small wins this is a good sign. It may also
offer you feature chances by telling you to HOLD ALL REELS which
will sometimes step the feature in or offer you 1 nudge for it. When it is
offering these regularly it is playing very well. Another peculiarity is the
flashing card. The gamble is achieved by stopping a moving card in
the area corresponding to the gamble you have selected, but occasionally the
machine will give you a hint with LOOK NEXT CARD. If it flashes a 2
then the best you can do is gamble RED x2, but it can offer you the KING and
ACE. Flashing an ace means you are guaranteed a x12 win. You do not have to
gamble your current win (which may be a cherry), collect the small win and try
to get a larger one but do not take a feature as this cancels a saved card. It
is quite common to get good flashholds with a high card banked. A flashhold on
two single bars will spin in £6 and if you have an ACE banked you are
guaranteed £72 !
And on a final note,
if you get a SUPERSTART feature which starts you higher than the SUPERNUDGES
feature, you might as well try to climb the cash pot out since you must not
take any of these features. You will also find that a £200 gamble usually
follows a cash pot that has been climbed out. A cash pot which simply rolls in
has no effect on the machines state of play - it is a bonus ! There is no
difference between a 10p or 20p machine. The method of playing is exactly the
same. If you do play a 10/20p machine, play it on 20p play obviously !
NOTE: There are
several versions of Super Blackjack around. The most common and the earliest is
version 2.0 and the above method will work very well. I am aware of three
versions after this: 3.0, 3.1 & 3.2. On these you will find that the x2
gamble is not effective when you get to £64, £102.40 and £96.
You will however find that the x3 and x6 gambles are ok so try try to get
£32 x 6 or something similar. In addition to this the gamble will not be
available immediately after a cash pot. It seems the software has been
programmed not to let a gamble go until the reserve pot gets to at least a
fiver.
Blackjack
(3)This
is the predecessor of the Super Blackjack. It was also a good gambling machine.
I used to play one with a £150 jackpot and I would get the gamble by
gambling a win to £1.80 (two x1.5 on 80p) and then x3 to £5.40 then
again to £16.20, again to £48.60 and lastly to £145.80. The
machine used to gamble out easily because most punters would play for the
features and not consider a gamble. One useful piece of info: if you take the
Jackpot by climbing to the top of the feature ladder you can still gamble the
jackpot out afterwards. This is called TAKING IT OFF THE TOP and
there are a couple of newer machines which treat the jackpot as
FREE.
This machine never
really showed any signs of playing well, but I wouldnt
consider it a dangerous machine for gambling, in fact it was one of the first
machines I really understood. I would often get the jackpot very cheaply just
playing it at weekly intervals.
Club Fortune
(3)This
is a very simple machine to play. Gamble everything ! Wins are achieved by
getting 3 or 4 feature symbols in the reel window which will then give you a
win amount on a central grid of wins. You then gamble these wins on the Hi-Lo
reel (which goes from 1 to 12) until you reach the top or decide to collect
good profit. I say this because I have lost going from £150 to £200
and it can have a bad effect on the machine, taking some time to recover and
climb back up. This is not common and usually it will gamble to the top.
Things to watch out
for: the signs of this machine playing well are simple. It will offer you lots
of flashholds for the feature and flashholds for wins on the line. Any 4 of a
kind win is a sign that the jackpot is just round the corner. You also get a
lot of good numbers on the gamble and even the bad ones (5,6,7+8) tend to win.
Another good sign is the CHANGE IT. This is often activated when
the machine is playing well and enables you to swap a bad number for a good one
on the Hi-Lo reel. It is a good idea to use the CHANGE IT as soon
as possible. Do not be afraid to take a £20 or £30 win if you are
on a bad number as this machine does have blocks on the gamble. It will usually
gamble out when it is just happy enough. By forcing the machine it can get too
happy and appear to play awful. Once the blocks are off it will gamble easily.
It also pays to get the jackpot as there is usually some afterplay. This will
probably be a gamble between £30 and £75 and will be fairly soon
after the jackpot. As far as I know, there is no way of forcing the cash pot
out of this machine. Remember: on most BARCREST machines the cash
pot is free. It is usually paid out randomly. If you should win it then
it is a nice bonus.
Another tip is to try
all these machines on the smaller jackpot versions
so you can get used to them. This does not apply to all machines by the way
because on some machines the wins are not reduced in proportion to the change
in stakes. example: Cops&Robbers.
Crown Jewels
(3)This
is a very popular machine for the small gambler. The jackpot can be won in
three different ways. The first is for it to roll in - 3 x 3 red 7s
(jackpot) or 3 x 3 blue 7s (cash pot). The second way is to gamble up the
money ladder on the right to the jackpot. This is the way I always play it. The
last way, and the most hurtful to the real gambler, is the feature. This is
what makes this machine dangerous and it is wise to learn the machines history
before playing. The jackpot can be won by gambling from any of four feature
bars which increase as you move around the board. I have found this machine to
be quite difficult at times and I now play it just one way. I have noticed that
if you are offered a 7s win (a multiple of £10 or £20) then
the gamble up to £100 is usually available. I will of course gamble
further on good numbers. Be careful, this machine thinks nothing of losing on a
2, 3, 10 or 11 on high win amounts.
Things to watch out
for:
Look out for anyone
collecting a £10 win for three blue 7s, this should tell you the
machine is playing well and there is a possible gamble in it. When you play it
you will find that if the jackpot is available you can climb up to about
£8 or £10 on the ladder easily and fairly regularly. The climb to
the top will follow. Once again, the cash pot on this machine is free and does
not affect the machines state of play. To summarize, you must get a feel
for this machine. I have won more times playing it with my gut feeling but most
of all you must learn the history and if it hasnt paid out for a while -
give it a go.
Useful Hint: On all
fruit machines that have cash pots, use their amounts to give you a guide as to
how much it has been played. You can soon judge
for yourself when it might be ready next. When I used to do the clubs, 9 days
was a good time to leave a machine. The reasons being 1). you often see
different staff and different players on other nights and 2). in most clubs
this was the right amount of time for cash pots to be ready again. If you can
find 15 clubs to tour around over 9 days and keep a log of each one, you will
soon be earning good money. You need to be busy every day if you want to stay
ahead of everyone else.
There is also a Crown
Jewels II but the program is almost identical. The only difference I have
noticed is its reluctance to climb to £100, you always seem to get
a bad number on £50.
Road Hog
(3)This
is another gambling machine but with a slightly higher risk potential.
Thegamble is either LOSE, x2, x3 or x4 and the problems arise when you are
forced to bank some of your gamble in order to gamble the rest. This problem
occurs on a few machines and usually leads to a difficult decision, unless you
have got a big win for little outlay. It is most important to remember that a
little profit or a quits venture is better than a loss. This machine offers
flashholds.
Do not play the
feature. Gamble everything.
Things to watch out
for: This machine is at its best when the gamble is offering x4
consistently. If no-one goes for the gamble on this machine it will save one
up. Do not go for it again too soon - you will get hurt.
Club Vegas
(3)This
is a difficult machine for winning the jackpot. Generally the gamble is
difficult to get. I have forced the jackpot out by playing the feature until
the number of chips offered is nearly 12, it then rolled the jackpot in because
it was very happy. This is not a machine I would recommend putting
a lot of money in to. I only play these now to get a quick feature. If you know
what the features pay you can put in a couple of pound and show a small profit.
The features are found in the SHOWTIME boxes. Multiplier is one of the best.
Andys Big Time
(2)This is a new
machine. When it is playing well it will offer you flashholds and medium sized
wins to gamble. You can easily tell when it is playing well, so gamble all and
as before - dont take the feature. The biggest win I have had nudge in is
£30 but that has lost on a 2! I have gambled it out once but otherwise I
would rate it the same as Club Vegas. For feature value you should try to climb
to the top. A number between 1 and 12 will determine which feature you get - 11
or 12 are ok.
Adders & Ladders
(3)This
machine has been around a while and is not bad for a gamble.
Ignore the feature or collect something
small when you are forced into it. To play this you must play for
flashholds and straight wins. All of these can be gambled on a DOUBLE OR
NOTHING gamble. Usually you will gamble a cherry or other small win up to the
£200. Once you can get a cherry to go past £6.40 you should be on
your way.
Hyper Viper
(2)This
is a clone of the machine above and plays almost the same
Club
Connect
(4 if you are good! 2 if you arent).
This
is an older machine that requires a great deal of skill. The feature to take is
FRUIT MATCH which is a third of the way up the ladder. This feature has the
ability to save up BAR wins, and every once in a while it will throw in a
single, double or treble bar. You are given two BARS and must match the other
two by stopping the spinning reels. The first is easy but the second is very
hard as the reel is going at about 1 revolution per second. By the time I was
able to hit these there werent any machines left ! Great fun and a test
of nerve when the fourth treble bar is the difference between £20 and
£150. It is however a genuine match and will stick to what you hit.
Club California
(3)Club Tropicana (3)Night Spot
(3)These
machines are ok for a small win. Your objective is to climb to £12 and
exchange for Pick A Win. You then hope you are offered a higher
feature. I used to win up to £30 on them. There is very little risk but
little to gain also.
Fruit Full (3) Fruit
Link (3)There
is not much risk if you play this simply to climb up to the CRAZY REELS
feature. It usually pays between £5 and £15. If it goes past
£20 then it will stop at £50, £100 or £150. I have
played them to get the gamble with varied success. I do not play these for
anything but fun.
Millionaires Club
(3)One
of my old favorite machines. It has an all or nothing gamble up the right hand
side which progresses from 20p to £150. The first way to play it is to go
for the gamble which I have done many times successfully. The other way is to
take a quick SURPRISE SURPRISE feature which pays up to £25. You have the
option of buying a feature which starts at various places on the feature ladder
depending on how much you pay. You can exchange £1, £2, £5 or
£10. You can often climb back up to SURPRISE SURPRISE for more.
An interesting point
is that the feature exchange is the same on all versions of this machine. If
you find a £75 machine you have found great value. You only need to get a
£10 win and the exchange is usually on the MIX & MATCH feature which
can easily pay £50 or £75. I found one recently and they got an
engineer in to change it! It was that simple.
Jackpot Jump
(3)Another
old favorite. I just play this to climb to the Win repeater feature near the
top. You find this pays up to £35. When you climb you will nearly always
be on a 5, 6, 7 or 8 when you get this feature. This is because the feature
afterwards can pay the jackpot. I have only ever seen it reached once out of
many attempts. Play for fun.
Club Pontoon
(3)An
old machine which allowed you to gamble wins on the feature wheel. If it let
you get to GRAPE PICKER or DOUBLE BAR PICKER regularly you could bet there was
a jackpot gamble in it. These machines are still about and are worth a go. Not
much advice to give on these, just make sure the money is falling to the bottom
and gamble everything. I used to gamble £10 x3 x3 x1½ =
£135. There was one amusing little
trick a mate of mine used to do. When collecting DOUBLE BAR PICKER you will get
either 3 or 4 bars. Usually you will get just 3 worth £10. Sometimes if
you gamble this on red you will lose and the losing number will be on the
fourth double bar (the hi-lo reel is the the fourth reel). He then used to go
to the bar and show them that there is a hundred pound win on the line but the
machine had not paid out. The beauty of this was that he would get his money
and be able to carry on gambling. This only worked because this machine did not
say lose anywhere when the gamble lost.
Club Celebration
(3)This machine is
of a similar style to Club Pontoon. They are simple in that when they are
playing well they will climb to good features and it is just a matter of time
before you get a high gamble from them.
Club Take Your Pick
(3)This machine is based
on the £10 AWP machine and is little bit better. In my experience of
playing it, it is not difficult to climb to the Bank Buster feature (the
biggest prize I have seen is £100, but usually the the most is £40)
but it is difficult to climb up the jackpot. The Hi-Lo has an annoying habit of
winning on the middle numbers and then losing on 10s and 3s.
Exchanging keys for shots at either a cash amount or a feature is usually a
non-event. The best cash to hit is the £10 repeat which, I am told,
usually pays £40 and this seems to be the biggest win you can get from
this machine unless it decides to bung you the jackpot, which is paid out at a
randomtime. As with most Barcrest machines you cannot force the cash pot out. I
have played this machine in test mode and found that the program probably does
not usually let you climb to the £250, though I have seen it gambled out
once, all on middle numbers. The simplest tip for this machine is to try a
fiver in it. If you are offered 3, 4, or 5 pound wins it is likely it will not
cost much to climb to the bankbuster.
Regarding the gamble,
occasionally this machine will nudge in £50 or £75. My advice is
always gamble to the jackpot, I have never seen the gamble lose from here. The
numbers on the hi-lo reel are irrelevant at this time.
Club X
(4)The method of
playing this is simple. If it is genuinely full then play for the jackpot in a
similar way to Bellfruits Grandslam. It is virtually impossible to lose.
Club Lucky Strike
/ Club Calamari (4)Club
Calamari and Club Lucky Strike must both be played the same way. Obviously the
machine must be full and probably should have taken at least 300 into the
cashbox since the last jackpot. This means it should have filled itself up from
the last payout and made some good profit for the club. The technique is very
simple. Ignore the feature game completely. Just play to turbo gamble all wins
up the cashtrail on the right hand side. After about £50 to £100
(usually less) the machine will be boosting up to £40 regularly. This is
the block. When the turbo gamble loses you usually end up with a couple of quid
at most so you do not set the machine back. Once you get the gamble to go
through the block to £100 it is all over (as they say!). If you don't get
to the top on this gamble you will get it soon on another. There is also
afterplay on this machine. It will easily pay about £20 from a feature on
nudges etc.
Costa Del Cash / Bank Roller (3)Only play when full. If you have a refill-key then use
this. A full hopper should contain 350 quid. There is only one good sign that
the jackpot is close and that is the machine offering a full stack for 50. In
most clubs this will be collected. If you see this then wait for the machine to
be full and force it. Do this by refusing all wins until the feature loses or
pays 2 full stacks. It can be expensive to force the jackpot out. There is
afterplay also. Collect small wins until the machine plays awfully. You can
usually expect to get one full stack for 50 in afterplay if you put about 20
back in after the jackpot. This happened to me 75% of the time on the machines
I played.
Bell Fruit
Machines
There are many Bell
Fruit Machines and they are among the best for value. The only way to play them
is to go for the cash pot (with exception to the machines without a cash pot!)
since this is usually FREE. This means that if the machine was
playing well before you got the cash pot it will also be playing well
afterwards. You may not get a jackpot out but you can usually get a large
portion of your stake back. Each machine varies in the amount of knowledge you
need and the skill you require. I have not listed them in any particular order,
but most are common in clubs today.
One important factor
is your chances of getting the cash pot before you start. Unfortunately, it is
possible for most BFMs to be switched. This is a dipswitch
inside (no. 7) which sets the cash pot frequency to LOW. What this
really means is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY and more often than not you have
a done a load of money before you realize what is wrong. Switch 7 is not common
in clubs but has been known on the ferries.
Clubwise
(4)This is an early
machine which allows you to climb the cash pot out. It is a simple matter of
climbing to the top. If you find that you have climbed to the nudge feature
before the cash pot a few times and each time it has lost, then it is probably
switched. I have only ever found one that was switched and usually these
machines climb out easily. If you feel inclined you can climb out the reserve
also, though this is not recommended because you will have a much longer wait
for the machine to be ready again.
The afterplay can be
obtained by taking a high feature but the best way is to take REEL MATCH. This
involves stopping the left reel on a fruit and then matching the fourth reel
for a four of a kind win. If you practice you may be able to hit a
Bell for the jackpot but I prefer to take the melons as they are easier to hit.
The size of the fruit on the reel does not reflect its size in the machines
program.
You must practice your reel match skills
until you can hit at least half of the melons you attempt. To aid you,
you will find an OPTO or black line on the left reel. This is
normally opposite the melon on the reel. If you miss the melon the next fruit
is a pear followed by a grape and both are good for a gamble.
Temptation
(5)A similar machine to
Clubwise with the same principals. It is usually straight forward to climb the
pot out and the reel match feature is lower on the climb. It is possible to hit
a bell after you have won the cash pot, but once again, you must practice this
as the bell is a very small timeslice on the reel. Do not take other four
of a kind wins while still trying to get a bell since other wins will
soon stop the bell from being available. It is possible to speed up the potting
process by reversing the hi-lo reel near the top but I have found this
unnecessary.
Club Attraction
(5)What a clever
little chestnut this machine is! If you have one of these in your area then you
have some great value indeed. I have placed this machine in the highest
category because I have never lost on one though it is possible if you hit one
after a refill - but unlikely. Usually when you find one of these, both pots
are on the maximum. This is because the cash pot must be reversed out. If you
play with the odds on the Hi - Lo reel you will nearly always be faced with a
5, 6, 7 or 8 when gambling for the pot. If you reverse the climb two features
before the pot you will climb it out easily. It may seem daft going lower than
a two or a three, but believe me it comes in !
Once you have got the
pot you have a hard choice to make. Do you take the other pot out as well ?
Thats right, the second pot will come out as easily as the first and
usually within a couple of features of it. The only problem with this is the
amount of time you may have to wait before both cash pots are high again. I
prefer to take just one pot and about £50 in afterplay (this can come
from reelmatching or exchanging across for the cashtrail feature) since most
people do not believe you can win as much as you can from this machine. I had a
£75 jackpot, 5p play machine in my local football club last year and it
was quite easy to take £200 out of it for about £30.
Club Explosion
(3)This
machine is also similar to the ones above but perhaps a little more erratic. I
have taken the cash pot out of these a few times but with less confidence. If I
play these nowadays it is usually to get a quick £50 from the melon on
reelmatch.
Funhouse
(4)In
my opinion this is the king of all BFMs. I have spent many hours playing
this machine with much success. The cash pot will climb out normally on the Hi
- Lo reel and the afterplay comes from reelmatch. The best fruit you can hit is
the melon. My best single result came from one of these machines once when I
had the £200 cash pot and £170 afterplay for just £20! I took
all the money from the machine and more as well, lovely! Generally you will put
in less than the cash pot value to get it and the afterplay is a bonus. There
are different chip versions around with varying degrees of potting ease, but
the most common ones shouldnt cause you any problems. If you find hitting
a melon on reelmatch difficult try hitting the pineapple. It is just above the
OPTO on the reel. If the machine is happy enough to climb to
reelmatch there is usually a pineapple in it. It is just as easy to get your
afterplay by hitting pineapples a few times. This machine is quite common, just
look for the big clown on the front!
Superbells, The Ritz
(3)It
is very unlikely you will find either of these. They were both very
entertaining machines which involved climbing to the top for the SUPERBELLS
feature. They also had very fast filling cash pots which could usually be taken
out after the jackpot. If you find one, play it just for the entertainment
value!
Count Cash
(3)This
is one of the more difficult BFMs to take the cash pot out of. I used to
play one on a ferry regularly and it would always cost me about £150 to
get the £150 cash pot. The afterplay was very good though, sometimes as
much as another £150. This comes from exchanging the feature across to a
snake which moves around a money grid. The speed of the snake is an
indication of how well it is playing, the slower the better. If you are
prepared to see it out you then have a high chance of potting it but there will
be few times when you wish you hadnt started.
There is always a
chance of getting the jackpot on the nudges feature. I believe it is this
feature that makes the climb so difficult. You can put a lot of money in and
not even climb pass the 6 NUDGES feature but this machine is very
unpredictable. I have had the £150 on nudges after the cash pot. Nearly
always you can buy the cash pot and make your money on the
afterplay. You must be prepared to put in at least as much as the value of the
jackpot and therefore if you do play one you must be in a club which will do a
refill because the total you can take out is more than it holds. But remember,
if you do get the cash pot cheaply it is unlikely there is much afterplay.
65 Special
(4)This
is one of my old favorites. If you have a few hours to spare then this is the
machine for you. The game plan is simple - get wins in on the line which can
then be staked on three more reels to increase the win. Once you have a win in
the top money bank you can spin the top reels for a chance of another win at
the cost of £1. It is possible to play it on lower stakes but it
isnt worth while. The aim is to build up the bank until either the total
reaches the jackpot amount or the 3 bells roll in. Generally if your first good
climb is around the £50 region you will win good money. Sometimes the
money bank can be on a single climb for several hours and it is a good idea to
jam something like a piece of card into the start button to stop your arm
aching!
If the machine is
backing from the start it is very unlikely you will lose, I never have. This
machine does not have a cash pot so it really is a matter of timing. There is a
small amount of afterplay by playing the top reels on a smaller stake (60p or
40p). I have even known of another jackpot paid out this way.
Cashino
(5)This
is a much better version of the machine above. If you find one of these you
need to establish roughly how much the cash pot and reserve are on when the
cash pot is paid out. Usually the £200 machines can be left until the pot
is on £200 and the reserve is about £100. In this case you are
playing for the cash pot first and the jackpot afterwards. To get the cash pot
simply hold all the bells on or above the winline and eventually it will nudge
in. It can be paid with the STOP button. If the nudges let you
bring in two bells on the winline, the machine will spin in all three when this
button is lit. Try to avoid nudging in wins as you do not want to be involved
in playing the top reels at this stage. Three bells are the cash pot on the
lower reels but the jackpot on the top reels. The cash pot is completely free
so once you have it you have the option of going for the jackpot in the same
way as playing the 65 SPECIAL.
This machine can be
excellent value but you must play in a club which will do a refill or pay out
shortages. It is not unusual for the jackpot to pay out shortly after the cash
pot, especially if the cash pot was expensive. You must also remember that a
lot of time should be allowed - get to the club when it opens.
Grandslam
(3)This
is an exact clone of the 65 SPECIAL but with a greater jackpot. The only slight
difference is that 3 strawberries on the upper reels pay £5 instead of
£10 on the original. If you can get the climb to go over £70 in
your first £20 or £40 then you should be looking at a healthy
profit. Just occasionally this machine does go cold so be careful.
When you get the jackpot (say £150 for £250) carry on playing but
switch to the lower 40p. If it climbs up to around the £30 region it is
quite likely it will do the bells on this stake (£150).
Sometimes this machine
can get too happy. You may find the climb has gone to £170+ and then back
down again. This machine can take hours when it is in this state. One trick is
collect win the money is at £100. Very often you will get the bells
within the £100 you have just taken out. I have taken £300 out of
this machine several times with this method.
Cash on the Nile
(4)There
is a knack of playing these machines. They can appear to be playing awful just
before they do the jackpot. I call this
the calm before the storm. To make steady money from this
machine you need to keep records of when it last paid out and an a rough idea
of when it will be ready again. I have played these machines for the past 3
years with many excellent results. The positive signs to look out for are:
1) it will climb
easily to £15 but always loses.
2) most features are
CHOOSE A WIN
3) CHOOSE A
WIN will offer you 6 choices.
4) it is NOT nudging
in 3 of a kind wins.
5) it is NOT offering
many STOPS
If these apply then
generally you can expect the machine to roll to the £200.
This means that when you climb the Hi-Lo the only numbers you will see are 1,
2, 3, 10, 11 and 12. This is called NILE ROLL. This is not strictly true
because it will occasionally throw in a middle number to confuse you. Just go
with the odds and it should go back to the good numbers. Sometimes you may find
that you have played it too soon and the result is you get to the £100
and it gives you a bad number. Unfortunately you should take this as the
jackpot is unlikely to be available, but you can take a little more out of it
on the features. To get a feature you must get 4 mixed bars on the winline and
press the correct barcode. The features to practice on this machine are CASH
EXPLOSION (1-2-3) and STOP A SNAKE (3-2-1). Quite often you will find this
machine is not ready but there is good value to be had playing the features. I
have often taken a quick £50 from these smaller features. Both involve a
skill stop on a money grid the same as on COUNT CASH. The slower these features
are the happier the machine is. With some practice you can still
win money when these features are fast. Other features to watch out for are
CASH FALL (2-3-1), REEL MATCH (3-1-2) and WINNING SPINS (1-3-2). The latter is
generally the best with the usual amount around £50 though it can pay as
little as £20. Reel match is a four of a kind match on the reels, the
machine can often roll from this feature. Choose a Win (1-3) is
what you take when forcing the gamble out.
Pharoahs Gold
(3)This
is the latest £250 clone of Cash On The Nile. It much more difficult to
get the jackpot but I find it is much easier to get a £150 win. The sign
to look out for is plenty of barcodes. Unlike the Nile there is no
afterplay/barcodes after a £150 win. A £250 roll is
most likely to occur when many small wins have been rotated through the
machine. The roll is the climb only offering 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, or
12. It may throw in another number but unless you are on the £150 carry
on gambling up to the £250. A climb to £150 is very possible on bad
numbers.
Club Typhoon (3)
This
a clone of the CASH ON THE NILE but it tends to be a little harder. The signs
are not as consistent and you are more likely to see bad numbers on the climb.
The features are all the same so if you are not going for the jackpot then the
value is as good.
Chinatown (3)
This
machine is of a similar type to the above two but the features are different
and they are not as good. The principle is the same - your aim is to get it to
roll. It can often be stubborn and roll to £50
and keep on giving you a bad number which will always lose. You can change this
by rotating small wins - that is to take £10 and put it back in and so
on. Often this will get you nowhere. The signs to watch for are plenty of
nudges and small wins. Watch for sequences of good numbers and four of a kind
wins. The features on this machine are not as good.
King Cash (4)
This
is a clone of CHINATOWN but perhaps a little easier to tell. I play a
£100 machine locally and the signs are simple. Watch for plenty of nudges
and 3 of a kind wins. Check the money is falling down the back from the
beginning and gamble everything until it rolls. One way of testing
this machine to see how ready it may be is to take the DOUBLE OR
NOTHING feature and see how far it will go. This feature can be exchanged
across from a £1.60 win. If it goes to £6.40 or £12.80 then
loses you will find the jackpot should be fairly cheap.
As with most machines
the main thing is not to collect any small wins but to make the machine
happier until it does what you want. The last four machines work on
this principal alone. There is no cash pot so your aim is to make the machine
happy enough to roll to jackpot. Unlike the Cash on the
Nile the block on the gamble is £50 on £100 and £200
machines.
Cops & Robbers,
Public Enemy #1 (4) These
machines are both very similar and both very common in the clubs. They have a
boardgame style feature which involves accumulating money or collecting a
feature. This feature will not pay the jackpot or cash pot unless you advance
to the Millionaires row which is another board with higher win
amounts. You can also get into this by exchanging a high gamble (£15
minimum). Generally you will lose if you play for this feature but occasionally
it will go to the jackpot, and you can take it for a quick bit of profit. The
problem with playing machines like this is that they usually force you to take
something and this sets the jackpot or cash pot back. The only way to play this
style of machine is when the cash pot is at the maximum and the reserve is at
least half of it. You must not collect any features (just collect 20p if the
feature is started). Hold all the cash pot symbols on or just above the line.
The machine will usually pay the pot when all four cash pot symbols are within
four nudges. They may be in range several times before it nudges. The cash pot
is not available when a jackpot has paid out and less than a few hundred pounds
has gone back in the machine. When the cash pot is available you will notice
that a lot of cash pot symbols appear in the reel window. This method also
means that you will get a lot of afterplay if the cash pot was expensive.
signs to watch for:
1. Watch for cash pot
symbols on or above the line.
2. Watch for 4 of a
kind wins - the machine is VERY happy.
3. If it offers 3 cash
pots - the cash pot may not be available.
4. If the gamble goes
past £50 it will pay the jackpot. Usually on this gamble.
Hint: If the gamble
does go past £50 you might be better off forcing it to lose. The jackpot
or cash pot will follow soon. If you get the jackpot from the feature or the
gamble there will be no afterplay. It can be worth carrying on for a little
while to try to get the cash pot because the afterplay will probably account
for most of you profit at this stage.
If you wish to play
for a quick win then the best feature on the board game is probably Capones
Caper (Great Train Robbery) which pays about £20. If you refuse this
feature the next one is also good, it involves taking your pick of three swag
bags which scroll acroos the screen. Another method for a quick win (which
worked particularly well on the ferries) was to gamble up to £15 and
exchange for the Millionaires Row. I would then collect the cash when it
reached about £30.
When playing the
Millionaires Row you must watch out for it paying the jackpot. On
Cops&Robbers if it goes past £80 then it will go all the way to
£200. On Public Enemy it must go over £100, I have been fined
£40 when I was up to £97 - ouch! I have had the jackpot out these
many times this way. If you have decided that the cash pot is not going to pay
and you take a feature after filling the machine up (without taking a win) you
often find that you have forced it to pay the jackpot instead. There is one
difference between these machines worth noting. On Cops&Robbers, if you get
into the millionaires row naturally (by getting 3 keys) and the cash goes over
£50 then it will definitely go to the jackpot. This rule does not seem to
apply to Public enemy #1 as I have heard stories that it can fine you at any
point, but you can be rest assured that you will usually get the jackpot
anyway.
Premier Club Manager,
Gameshow, Make A Million (3) These
are clones of the above machines with different types of boardgame features.
The method of play is identical. You should always play these machines the way
I have described.
Club Football (3)
This
is another clone of the above machines. It is almost identicalto Premier Club
Manager but the jackpot goes to £250 and the name is different!! It
irritates me that Bellfruit claim to be putting a new machine on the market
when all they have done is changed a bit of artwork, but one benefit is that
you can my information on the earlier clones.
Golden Casino (3)
This
is another clone of the above machines. Play until you get a feature which has
the cash pot within 20 nudges otherwise collect the smallest win.
Wild West (3)
I
like this machine a lot though many people do not. It likes to gamble up to the
£50 or £75. On the ferries these gambles were easy pickings. The
hi-lo goes from 1 to 6 and the reels do a third hold - spins in.
One useful tip when playing for the cash pot. The cash pots actually get nearer
the winline as the machine gets closer to paying it. You then get a feature
when about 5 nudges are required and you will get it off the feature game. If
you try to force the cash pot out and find it is not forthcoming, sometimes
when you take a £50 or £75 win the cash pot is available afterwards
- very rewarding. There is always good afterplay from a forced cash pot. If
ever you land on Winspins collect. Very often 4 or 5 spins will be between
£50 and £100 pounds. If you collect spins and they are all small
wins then the machine is playing terrible. I never bother collecting cash pots
unless it offers loads of them. The features are pretty rare on this machine
and do not tend to last very long and do not offer much. I recommend only ever
playing when the cash pot is at the max and the reserve is high. When on the
ferries the gamble to £50 or £75 was excellent profit in the long
run.
Treasure Island (2)
The only thing I
can say about it is that the music is good but even that will get on your
nerves if you are on the machine for more than 10 minutes. There is no cash pot
on this machine. So why play it I hear you ask? Exactly, there is no point in
playing it. Features are commonplace but a waste of time. Most times you will
be going around the island collecting features, nudges and win spins. It goes
without saying that the treasure chests that are not lit are the ones that fill
up first. Very occasionally you can get into the central island. I am going to
put my neck on the line here and say - once the money goes above £75 it
will continue to the £250 (or jackpot setting). I saw a guy collect it at
£200 because he was worried he was going to lose it all, dont
twitch, have your £250. This machine is similar to other board game style
machines from Bellfruit but the lack of a cash pot makes it very unexciting.
One for the grannies. One interesting point about the feature game: if your
first move is a 4 landing you on a Treasure Island + 1 square and you also land
on the next Treasure Island + 1 square on your first time around the board then
you will definitely get all five and go into the middle.
Club Firecracker
(3) The
feature on this machine has 4 main options : Cash, Features, Nudges and
Choose-a-Wins. You want to play for Choose-a-Wins or Nudges as these allow an
'all or nothing' gamble once you collect the best win offered. If you are given
Cash or Features then either collect a low amount or gamble until you lose (on
Features you can collect 'Catherine Wheels' as this allows a gamble
afterwards). I would suggest that no matter how many Shots you have on the
feature, that you collect what is offered on the first shot. This is because it
can force you into the 'Big Shots' feature (which is accessible at the top of
each Feature trail). If you do not have many shots then it can force a sizeable
win on you and set the machine back. Once you have got the 'Choose-a-Wins' or
'Nudges' then collect the best win offered and then try and Hi/Lo to the JP.
Beware if you get a bad number at 50ukp as this is the bar - if it's going to
go then you usually get good numbers for the last few gambles. Good signs - the
best sign I have noticed is if it spins in ANY win without you holding any
reels. If you see this happen then the JP is not far away. Also, if it is
continually landing you on the bonus 8 (and letting you into the feature) or
spinning in a lot of high numbers then it is happy. It should also be offering
you Choose-a-Wins more often than the other features. Any 4 of a kind win
offered on Choose-a-Wins is also a good sign.
Very Rich Geezer
(4) after many painful sessions on
this machine the definitive method to win has been acheived. When this machine
gets jackpot happy it will offer you the TRUE SKILL bonus. A sign that it is
VERY happy is any four of a kind win, usually shown on nudges. Originally I
thought you should select FEATURE because RICH PICKINGS can often pay 100. If
you haven't put much in you might want to take this and see but then if it is
playing this well you might as well take the jackpot. Instead you should take
EXTRA LIFE. Once it has given you this you should be able to hi-lo nudges close
to a 4 of a kind win. This is the block on all the features where it will kill
you if you need one more nudge. The EXTRA LIFE will ensure you get the machine
past this block. You are now waiting for RESPIN REELS as the bonus. Holds any
reels with bells on or above the winline and hopefully the others will respin
to within 14 or 16 nudges. The feature which oftens gives the jackpot will
offer more than one TRUE SKILL bonus so you should take EXTRA LIFE and SUPER
FEATURE. SUPER FEATURE lit makes it climb close to the top. There is no
afterplay on it.
Crazy Fruits
(3) The first attempt was based on the
fact that the machine had been in my club for a week and had loads of money
stuffed through it and it did not seem to want to pay a win over £30.00.
I forced it, refusind the features (and collecting £1.00 when a feature
rolled in), and only holding Bells on or above the winline. After putting
£80.00 I managed to get 3 bells on the winline and after a hold the other
one dropped in for the jackpot. The past week was pretty much the same with
machine just sucking people dry of their money and offering very little
entertainment to the average joe. I played the same way gambling all wins on
the hi-lo until they lost and just holding the bells. After putting in
£120.00 it climbed out on the hi-lo. This is the hi-lo in the middle of
the feature board, not the gamble on the win amounts on the right (like on
other BFM machines). It mainly gave me quite nice numbers up to about £10
but after that I was getting a lot of 5,6,7,8 numbers until I got to £50
(one before the jackpot) and it gave me a 1, so I couldn't lose. So in two
attempts I am £300 up.
For those who do play the feature board I
recommend that when the SUPERBOARD goes over £100 that you try to get the
jackpot from the SHOTS. If you don't get it early in the shots then take a
small win and force the machine as above. The fact the cash has gone over 100
is telling you the jackpot is available so just hold the bells and wait for
them to nudge in. If you don't do this you may find when the cash gets over 200
you are given 'spin a win' and forced into taking 140 or so.
Money To Burn (2) by
Arran H.
Club
MTB (250.00) version is to be avoided. DO NOT try to force a JP on this
machine. I've tried unsuccessfully several times. Try taking Money Multiplier
for a quick profit. Can give £27.00 or £30.00. Money Belt is
£5.00 or occasionally more Double or Nothing is Nothing - Unless you
collect something very small. Hot Slots 3-Kind usually offers bars for
£7.00, Catherine Wheel is the WORST feature I have ever seen - for a 25p
250.00 Jackpot. The MOST I've ever had is £2.00. Heat Seeker is random -
up to £30.00 (but rarely this high) Thermometer is like a rise+fall
feature a number goes up and down - you stop it - that's what you win (usually
£10.00). Fired up is like a choose a win over the whole board - not good.
Hot Slots 4-Kind - obvious - has never offered me more than £25.00.
Stop-a-Win. Will line up £30.00 or £40.00 win on the reels - then
roll them quite slowly. If you hit it you get it. If you miss the win goes down
1 until you do hit it. Otherwise you get £10.00 for 3-bells. Red Hot Roll
- Good for anything between £26.00 - £100.00 Reel Blasts - Give
3-kind on outer board (very occasionally 4-kind up to £30.00). Reel
Blasts - Give 4-kind win on jackpot trail - I've never had enough to hit a
bell. Of the Jackpot trail features only reels-on-fire is worth taking - Valued
£25.00 - £100.00. The machine has a gamble block at 75.00 - if you
can pass this you will get the jackpot. The machine will only land on the
£100.00 square in the Jackpot Feature if no reel skill is lit - and a JP
is due. I've never seen the JP fail after landing on this square. If you can
get a JP Trail feature with the reel skill on - use the reel skill and go for a
quick £50.00 and run. If you're trying to force it (only do this if
you've seen around £400.00 go in) make sure that reel skill is NOT lit as
you approach £50.00 win. It seems to screw you if reel skill is lit. Hope
this helps - it's cost me enough!
JPM machines
Most of the early JPM
machines were as good as you could hope for. Nowadays it seems that they have
lost much of their value and appeal. Of the latest machines (Wild King, Outlaw)
the fun factor is low and so is the chance of you winning the cash
pot. They tend to stay with the cash pot and reserve on the maximum for a long
time. In addition to this, the cash pots fill very fast so the novice player
usually sees the machine and thinks he has a chance. The early machines, on the
other hand, tended to be very predictable and hence easy to win from.
Wall Street (4)
There
are several types of this machine about. The first is the original program
(7.2) and this is the important one. The second is a little more difficult to
play since it tends to cause the cash pot to roll in on unusual amounts and is
much more erratic on the feature climb. The original program is probably still
about. The method of play is very simple. When the cash pot is at the maximum
and the reserve is at half the amount then you should climb the pot out. The
climb is usually consistent and once you have climbed to the top Wall Street
cash feature several times it will eventually give you the pot. It is quite
possible to tell roughly how much money the cash pot will cost you from the
numbers on the reels when you get a DIGIT ACCOUNT. This is a bonus numbers
feature which occurs when a question mark is on the winline. If it shows four
1s then it is not very happy and the chances are the cash pot will cost
about what it is holding. If the machine is doing 2s then it is happy and
the cash pot will cost you about £50 less than it is showing. If it shows
any 3s then you can expect the cash pot to be fairly cheap. Once you have
climbed the cash pot out it is a formality to climb back up to the CRAZY
feature and take another £40 - £70 afterplay. If the cash pot is
not ready, force the machine to climb to a CRAZY feature anyway. The other
option when playing this machine is to go for a gamble. My way of getting this
is to double a cherry to 80p and then keep gambling on x3 to £194.40 on a
£200 machine. I have taken the gamble out of many machines and gone back
a few days later for the cash pot. As long as the digit account is showing
2s there should be a gamble available.
Hells Bells (4)
This
is a very similar machine to the Wall Street but you do not have the option of
getting a gamble. It is just as easy to get the cash pot followed by a CRAZY
feature. I have found one machine that was easy to pot but had no afterplay in
it. The afterplay is normally immediately after the pot so if you have not had
a high climb within £5 then give it up.
Trailblazer (5)
There
are no good features on this machine. This is another machine which is almost
guaranteed. I used to play a £200 machine in my local CIU club. Whenever
the Cash pot was on £200 and the reserve was over £100 it would
cost about £100 to get it. As long as I was prepared to invest £100
and climb the cash pot out it was always £100 profit. There is no
afterplay following the cash pot. There is another way of getting the cash pot
and that is by taking the second feature. This gives you a skillstop on a fruit
grid and if you hit the cherry in the bottom left corner you may get all four
for the cash pot. I remember doing this several years ago when two friends and
I had just £5 between us. We took the £200 to Dover and turned it
into £700 over night - not a bad nights work!
Casablanca (5)
This
is a category 1 if you can get the club you are in to do a refill. The simple
way to play it is to wait until the cash pot is on £200 and the reserve
is up to about £120. All you do is play it until the cash pot is offered.
This usually happens from a respin which offers you one nudge but you need four
for the pot, and it always lets you gamble to the four nudges. Playing this way
there is usually a small amount of afterplay. You will notice when playing it
that you can gamble up to high amounts very regularly. If for example you have
put in £80 (without collecting anything obviously) you can get the gamble
to £48 consistently, even to £96 and then lose. After more money it
will let you gamble higher.
The second way is much
more entertaining but you must be sure the club will do a refill and does not
mind you taking consecutive jackpots. The method involves getting the gamble up
to the value of the cash pot. Of course you must not get the gamble to
£200 as it will be collected. When you get the gamble to go to £192
exchange £40 a time across to the CASH BONANZA feature and try to climb
the pot out. Soon it will climb out. The cash pot will have cost you about
£200 at this point, but by climbing it out you get it for free. Your next
gamble will then go to £192. You can take the gamble to £120 and
exchange for 3 cash bonanza features which should pay the £200. There is
value in this machine because you can use this method when the pots are lower.
For example if the cash pot is £130 and the reserve £50 you can
buy the pot for about £130 and then get most of that back on
a gamble afterwards. A £100 machine has plenty of value because the club
should not need to do a refill, it should cost about £100 for £200.
This second method often means the cash pot will be offered to you a few times
while you are trying to get the gamble high. If your investment is low then
take it otherwise nudge it away. It will scramble people watching you to see
you lose so many big gambles and ignore the cash pot!
I used to play this
machine with the first method because clubs do not like people taking two
jackpots, winning just one jackpot is quite acceptable.
Night Club (2)
This
is a machine which will only ever offer you a percentage of what you have put
in. The only reasonable win is the cash pot. This cannot be climbed out so you
must be on the machine when it rolls in. It is unusual that the cash pots get
high but if they do then it is worth playing. Just simply keep collecting small
wins and rotate them back through the machine. You will get the cash pot
eventually. The pots fill up fairly fast on all JPM machines and it is worth
paying particular attention to the reserve pot because this can be a guide as
to when the cash pot will be paid. So, unless the cash pot is very high, say
£170 on a £200 machine and the reserve is over £50, do not
bother playing this machine.
Hi Lo Climber (3)
This
was another simple gambling machine which involved a grid of fruits. The fruits
would light up matching the fruits on the reels. The sign to look for was the
regularity of getting a x6 gamble in. If you could gamble a cherry to
£14.40 the gamble would usually be available for good profit. A common
gamble would be 40p x6 x6 x6 x1.5 = £129.60
High Roller, Strike It
Rich (5) These
are possibly the two easiest machines to play for consistent profit. To judge
whether it is worth playing, see if the Hi-Lo climb will go four or five
positions up the ladder. If it does, play to climb the jackpot out. You will
always make profit. The climb is quite long and involves bad numbers all the
way up the ladder. If you see someone climb to £10 and take it, get on
the machine. After putting the tenner back in it should cost no more than
£20 to gamble the £100 out.
There are £150
machines about but £100 is more common. The beauty of this machine is the
bad numbers on the climb which frightens the average player into collecting. I
have had the jackpot for £5 more times than I can remember!
Clockwise, Pick of the
Pack, Top of the Shop and Reel Bingo (3) These
machines are less common now but I remember them being good gamblers machines.
If you have seen one of these you probably already know how to play it! They
follow the same rules as any other gambling machine - you must not collect
anything. The only thing that makes these earlier machines harder is you are
often forced into part collecting your win so that you can gamble the rest for
the jackpot. This is very painful if the remainder loses. Machines like Top of
the Shop and Play Bingo can be played for the cash pot. They often have a cash
pot which pays out when it reaches an approximate amount. Sometimes the reserve
follows quickly too. It is important you know the history before playing these
machines - unless you find the machine is gambling well from the start.
Fairground Attraction
(2) I
have seen a few versions of this machine. Some pay the cash pot once the
reserve is high enough and others require you to skill stop it out with the
CAROUSEL feature. This is like a reel match but you must match the first three
reels with either a cherry or cash pot symbol on the fourth reel. I have also
played £100 machine which nudges the cash pot in randomly. I do not
recommend this machine. The only time to play it is when the cash pots are at
the maximum and it is climbing up the gamble ladder well. Once you reach
£75 it will not lose from here. You can also get £75 after the cash
pot or the gamble. I used to play a £100 machine for the gamble, once it
passed £30 it would not lose. I probably won as many times as I lost.
Wild King (2)
This
is a new £250 machine. In my opinion it is very difficult to play. The
cash pots stay high almost permanently at the maximum, the gamble is difficult
to get and the game play is not very exciting. It is almost impossible to tell
if th