Sunday, February 20, 2005
So, what is a fruit machine?
As many of you reading this blog are probably from the USA, or another country far away from the UK, I shall start with an overview of just what a typical English Fruit machine is, and how it differs from the slot machines in the USA.
USA slot machines (and you will have to forgive any innacuracies, as I have never been to the USA, so never actually played one, just read about them..) tend to be quite simple in operation.
Insert coin, spin reels, then either curse as you lose your money, or delight in the sound of coins cascading into the payout tray (or onto the floor on some machines!).
They will keep a percentage of profit for the house, so the house is usually always in profit, and payout at random intervals, with no skill involved from the player. No player has any real advantage of any other, everyone has a chance to win by just spinning those reels and crossing their fingers.
Found normally in casino's these machines are also over here in england in the form of "lo-tech" fruit machines, the looks will differ, but the game play is the same - spin and win, or lose depending on your luck.
The UK has a different brand of fruit machine however, often refererred to as a "hi-tech" or "progressive" machine. These machines have the reels, like american machines (but usually have fruit symbols on the reels, hence the name fruit-machine) but in addition they have additional "feature" games where you can win money if you are lucky.
Machines are often themed, on films, tv-shows or board games, and have good quality sound effects, lovely artwork, and different gameplay depending on the machine you chose to play on.
Payout is progressive, in that you can gamble the winnings, or play on the feature board to increase your winnings, machines have hidden features, cheats and the like so experienced players can try to get more winnings from them - its not just a spin reels and hope machine. In fact its more an Amusement with Prizes machine, which is why they are also called AWP (amusement with prizes...)
UK machines can repeat wins, and often "streak" giving multiple repeats of the jackpot, making it possible to walk away from a machine with a healthy profit - for those lucky souls who use the machine at the right time.
In my next post, I will post some pictures of some UK machines, and explain a little more about the feature games and gambles, so everyone gets a feel what they are about.
Later on, I will also tell you how to play EXACT copies of many of these machines, on your pc - for free.
USA slot machines (and you will have to forgive any innacuracies, as I have never been to the USA, so never actually played one, just read about them..) tend to be quite simple in operation.
Insert coin, spin reels, then either curse as you lose your money, or delight in the sound of coins cascading into the payout tray (or onto the floor on some machines!).
They will keep a percentage of profit for the house, so the house is usually always in profit, and payout at random intervals, with no skill involved from the player. No player has any real advantage of any other, everyone has a chance to win by just spinning those reels and crossing their fingers.
Found normally in casino's these machines are also over here in england in the form of "lo-tech" fruit machines, the looks will differ, but the game play is the same - spin and win, or lose depending on your luck.
The UK has a different brand of fruit machine however, often refererred to as a "hi-tech" or "progressive" machine. These machines have the reels, like american machines (but usually have fruit symbols on the reels, hence the name fruit-machine) but in addition they have additional "feature" games where you can win money if you are lucky.
Machines are often themed, on films, tv-shows or board games, and have good quality sound effects, lovely artwork, and different gameplay depending on the machine you chose to play on.
Payout is progressive, in that you can gamble the winnings, or play on the feature board to increase your winnings, machines have hidden features, cheats and the like so experienced players can try to get more winnings from them - its not just a spin reels and hope machine. In fact its more an Amusement with Prizes machine, which is why they are also called AWP (amusement with prizes...)
UK machines can repeat wins, and often "streak" giving multiple repeats of the jackpot, making it possible to walk away from a machine with a healthy profit - for those lucky souls who use the machine at the right time.
In my next post, I will post some pictures of some UK machines, and explain a little more about the feature games and gambles, so everyone gets a feel what they are about.
Later on, I will also tell you how to play EXACT copies of many of these machines, on your pc - for free.
# posted by fruityarcade @ 10:41 AM 
