Beanstreaks/25/and the like

[kidgloves]

These machines are usually 'safe' by nature of their programming..it's hard to lose a lot on them. I'd like some views on playing methods..not including the one that involves subtracting 240v from wall.
The force method...I have tried the various ways of getting the top note feature with no sustained success for any particular method. Forcing for 3 icons to come in in one go doesn't in my view yield any more money than forcing for them one at a time. True, £50 is the 9/10 outcome. It's when you don't get the usual results that interest me..for example when you do get 1 icon and an add again bonus which you can use off a skill stop..I imagine this is blocked like the rest of the tightly coded features, but it's suprising how many times it will award it when you are say only £25 into the machine. As a rule you plough an average of £40-50 in for the top feature. It gives you £50 back or if you're unlucky £25 with good afterplay, usually a highish cashpot not long after. If you get the £50 a few reflex features or the like will have you a few £4-5's to put you slightly ahead. Sometimes..(more often than not lately) it will block the top feature upto £75 in. The £25 note after the £50 on the top feature is a more realisitc option to get then, but still rare. I wonder if they ever streak naturally for someone random. I'd like to see that. Double Dragon seems tighter on getting the £50 top feature even though it takes the same to get it, or maybe it's just my bad luck. I've only just started seeing Jolly Rogers around my neck of the woods, is the force still the way to go? I tried it for £52 in for £25 back but not much afterplay to account for the rest I lost. Is the streak based on the same payouts as it's predecessors? Trouble with these is not having a clue if it's a big paying feature..you never know when that ? is around the corner, if only we had collect on ?'s a la bfm then we'd probably fair better.
I like these, Hungry sharks will argue otherwise, Small risk, entertainment to a degree after ploughing through the first £25, modest profit if any puts people off but hey..it beats banging £50 into a dead red and nothing to show for it. I'd appreciate anybody elses views on tackling them.

[a1056688]

I used to play extremes regularly yielding good profits with little real risk involved.

However..and its a BIG however they just arent the same anymore.

Since early 2004 and the release of Jolly Roger and other new efforts the Top Feature seems to be blocked for £s and £s. I only ever played one Jolly Roger and it took about £85 for £25 with little after play. I have seen similar experiences since then.

From what i could tell Beanstalks and Note Runners were re coded to account for a new anti-force piece of software. The only ones they didnt touch were Crazy Cashino and Bubble & Squeak, and thank God for that.

As you say usually anywhere btw £25 and £50 in for a normal £50 back with the occasional £75 or £100. I agree £100s were rare on beanstalks and clones but often the talk of the evening on Cashinos and Squeaks.

So back in Spring i found myself playing extremes cautiously, the only trouble was there was no indication of the version until your over £40 into it. Maybe i have just been unlucky and they have indeed never changed but to summarise i wont be playing a post 2003 extreme in the near future.

[kidgloves]

I hear a lot about Bubble and Squeak and the glory days of it's streak. Crazy Cashino I can relate to having had many a hangover from the profits of that quite regular streak.
Bubble and Squeak is a bit of a mystery to me...I 've only really seen it lately..in the last 6 months or so and it played like a pile of poo...it was progressive but in a random sort of way and cost too much to get the JP (I don't even remember seeing a 'top' feature on it) maybe it is a reglass of the old one..can anyone confirm..or even a rechip of the old with this anti-force profile in?
Anybody have anymore of these possible reglasses that were great in their prime but reglassed to some mindless £3 bar program?
I can think of things like Line Up...great origional but the updated one just doesn't do it for me. We can all cry over Spin on It's to Wombat's even though it's not a carbon copy. Even Bfm's origional Cops n Robbers still whoops the current versions ass for me.

[Topthelot]

spot on kidgloves

JP & BS was a bit better in that (like noterunner) you could try and prematurely force top feature off the feature stack by getting a decent number of knockouts and the 'move back three' bonus to boost the feature stack. top right hand corner super feature icon was best as back three from there was 2+ feature

you cant force 25 or jolly roger or double dragon in the same manner. they suck an extra £15 or so before dumping, but then give better afterplay if you're cautious & a bit clever

difficult to win more than £20, difficult to lose more than £20

NB i like the fact you can keep your finger on the button when in the feature - speeds things up, and that you can play £6 at a time before it pushges a win on you. all the quicker for that first £30-40 before you've a realistic chance of the dump

NB2 superpool seems quite nice. big streak and somke reasonable features. JP steals????

[cfdu]

you can't use the add agin bonus on noterunner (or in 200+ times i've played one it hasn't let me) to get the streak by getting the chickens individually. noterunner just goes on its own. i have had it on jp& bs but i would say it is a premature jp and probably best not to take it. if you do it will usually only give 25, not 50 or 75 if you let it come naturally, and letting it go on its own will only cost ~ £5 more. on the earlier chip NR and Jp&BS if you were 40 or more in and the streak only did 25 it was often a good idea to recycle, especially if the subsequent boards were good. many a time a recycled streak produced another of 75. as for plugging, i tried it on noterunner and it didn't work. i guess it was chipped, or only worked on certain machines like jolly roger. not really worth risking spending some time at her majesty's pleasure for £20! i would say that you can force 25 the same as NR and JP&BS, but DD and JR are the ones not to force the same.

bubble and squeak i think has a chip out for it. i had the massive streak ( 106) when it was first out, but one has popped up near me recently and seems to be neither as progressive or to have the same streak as the original programme ( jp then dead or jp the a £25 squeak streak is all it offers). i still feel the best way to play this is to buzz it up by gambling the cash to £4/5 then take first jp off red cash, then look for squeak streak afterwards.

[Carlovski]

Had a couple of streaks off 25 by getting to the top of the trail - still having extra life on the next to last spot on the hi/lo board and getting roll even. Bit lucky but I have hit a one every time for the last gamble. Reckon it has given it me a godd few quid 'early; because of that.
Gone for £50 every time so far.

[a1056688]

i would say that you can force 25 the same as NR and JP&BS, but DD and JR are the ones not to force the same.

bubble and squeak i think has a chip out for it. i had the massive streak ( 106) when it was first out, but one has popped up near me recently and seems to be neither as progressive

I agree with the first statement reagrding DD and JR but im sure they have replaced beanstalk code with that of DD and JR also as they just dont play the same as they used to. Maybe i have just been unlucky.

I also agree with bubble and squeak theory. Some tend to play differently and often have a dead spell after £30 in where it wont even put you on the top for £15. However recent locations for me have still yielded large streaks on occassions £100+.

[cfdu]

perhaps it was chipped. i guess that if they were just being forced for streaks the whole time the average punter would find it dead and wouldn't bother to play it so manu probably wanted to inc gameplay for them (or revenue in the box!). i never liked jp&bs as much as noterunner or bank raid anyhow, even though essentially they are the same machines.

[crazyjimmy]

AFAIK the new chip beanstreaks (not that new anymore) will give 2 symbols for top feature in one go, but on original progs as with bankraid it always gave all three if it offered more than one???????

PS you are deffo right about superpool! Not sure about features though????