I have a terrible confession....

[Bristol]

I spent the weekend 'sharking' people.

It all started by accident, I don't make a habit of sharking, in so much that I try and plan the machines honestly, but with the knowledge that is readily available on the internet in order to give myself a slight advantage over ordinary players.

That generally works and if a machine is in the mood to pay, I like to think I can take some sort of advantage, using this knowledge.

Whilst I'm sure we've all been sharked in the past, I'm not a fan of the practice - at least wait until the person you are sharking is well out of sight before you steam in there anyway.

So I start my story with Saturday morning. I was thinking of popping into work for a few hours in the afternoon, but prior to that, I had a bit of shopping to sort out in town, I got that done and then thought I'd see how far I got with £40.00 in the arcade.

Got to the arcade and it was rammed - nothing I fancied playing was free so I thought, 'either I leave with my £40.00 - or I wait' - I decided to wait and in the process of waiting, you start to study what other players are doing.

Some idiot in there didn't have a clue was he was doing.

That'll be me taking Bullseye for £55 from a fiver and then Holy Grail for £50 from nine quid in.

They also had the original Monoploy (25p/£25jp) which dropped within a fiver.

Granted, I only sharked one person, but the standard of play there meant I couldn't lose (well, I could have done, but you get the drift).

Anyway, I drove a short distance to another arcade and proceeded to mimick my earlier good fortune by attempting to shark other players.

First of all - Party Time - 100's going in by other players, very little coming out, I take to a free stool and proceed to put in about £30.00 with only about £2.00 coming out - it was dead, dead dead.

3-player Monopoly - pure game of chance - in my opinion - again, it was being pumped with cash by other players and I managed to fluke £110 from the 'super-game'

finally - I lost about £50.00 on a S16, Elvis - despite me getting 3 gold-records and taking 30-odd quid from that.

Is sharking wrong?

I feel guilty - but over £100 richer - not that the arcade had any notes to give me.

[Matty]

If you didnt shark people you probably would have lost that £40 so........ shark if need be

[anfield road]

Everyone sharks, jusr dont make it obvious.

If you dont take the money someone else will

[darren222]

Far from a terrible confession, theres nothing wrong with it unless you make it obvious

Dont get me wrong i hate the thought of being sherked myself....

Are you sure your not getting monopoly and party time confused?? Monopolys are usually a lot more profitable and readable than party times (to me anyway)

[s4ooter]

im from bristol - hope u werent sharking me!!!!!

[Justanewone]

Depends on ur location and the staff, where I'm from I shark all the time, imagine a dead arcade, one person walks in, and as soon as one walks in a couple follow, listen and dont watch whilst ur playing something else, then do them one by one, you have to be carefull of randoms though as they will always come in, play the machine you either put 2 in a lost and walked or play a m/c that is dead as f*ck and make 50 on it. I could write alot more on this subject but cant be bothered...

"shark and you shall be sharked" is probably the best analigy...

Dave

[jjh]

If I see someone pumping a machine full of money and recycling recycling recycling , untill they are £50 down, I couldn't possibly leave that machine alone, as Anfield said, someone is going to win that money why not you?

Sometimes watching people I feel sorry for them, how can they play so bad, what is the point, but suppose without those players we wouldn't win as much!!

The only time I ever actually shark, is if I've actually gone to that pub to specifically play the fruit machine, so I'll wait if someone is playing it and obviously watch what they are winning- that's just common sense because you are looking out for yourself. Once they've finished, I'll probably finish my drink first before going on it and I certainly wouldn't stand on their shoulder like a vulture.

I think that is the difference, as some wankers will just play any old machine if somone has played it, they'll stand next to them, breathing down their neck, and jump on as soon as they have run out of money- they are the twats lol!! Plus, half of these nobs won't have a clue what they are doing, so be careful if you've got something on a machine and some old geezer is standing next to you wondering what you're doing waiting to shark you- they'll get your tips!