Swimming through shark infested waters

[kidgloves]

Just spent 2 days in Great Yarmouth.
Didn't make any money, didn't lose any money, but played quite a bit.
The place just seemed to be crawling with sharks, semi sharks, leechers and limpets. Although this doesn't annoy me as such, it was ironic how many times I clocked the local resident within a few quid of playing.
I didn't want to get involved too much with anything in particular so went with the mindset of 'enjoying' as much gaming as possible and making a profit would be a bonus.
I played a lot of Bar x 7 + clones with the routine of hitting each one with £3 and just seeing what happened. To this end I actually did quite well, lots of immediate wins for a quick £10-£20 profit and as I said, not getting involved too much. Also nice to see most of them on 25p play.
Golden Games and clones were dire. I didn't get one top board over 2 days, but that was just by moving on if the first setup didn't flash hold or it wasn't full. I witnessed a few locals pumping them though doing the method, usually after somebody had played it, but had only put say £10-£20 quid in. So, you'd assume that a totally dead Golden Game is now at the 'very nearly totally dead' state. This it seems is enough for the locals to start pumping full of coins. Sooooo, £120 odd later he gets a £35 top board and then about £50 in afters off flash holds, jeez what's the point ? It did make me smile just how many times they'd jump on a machine way too early to make any decent profit. Let the wolves fight over the meagre scraps I say.
That is, until they eye up anything I'm playing that I feel has potential. Now this is where I start having fun. I just love the mind games you can have with them. I was playing a Chuzzy bar x which happened to go full after a fiver. That heart jumping rattling sound of the coin hitting the deck had all the locals heads turn furtively in my direction so as not to make me think something was up. OK, against my better judgement thinking of refills, top ups and the like I decide to go for this one. I plough another £10 in and get a couple of £15 wins (set to £15 x's and £25 bars). I collect the money, push a credit back in and..go and get a drink.
My sightline is great as the coke is pouring, no less than 3 locals manage to saunter around my machine making it look like they are casually finding something to play. They are obviously trying to beat each other to the machine only to find a few credits in there. I afford myself a mental smirk.
I go back to the machine and play it through, the vultures have increased in numbers, and the chinese whispers speak volumes as the grapevine lengthens that a holidaymaker is ploughing a bit of cash through a machine.
About £60 in the sparrows get bold and start playing next to me, or behind me mainly I feel to see what kind of playing style I am using so I go into extreme munter mode, the machine is going through a quiet patch anyway, I don't try for any setups, just hope for a nudge, and nudge down classic bar x stylie and hope for a hold.
That should give them some hope that the elusive streak setup is theirs for the taking. They vanish from around/behind me as it's getting too expensive playing a dead machine in the hope of jumping on for a quick steal, and due to the fact I'm taking nudges like at 1 every 15 seconds as I try to work out if 3 x's are really there or not. The streak hold comes at around the £90 mark. Nice quiet jobbie, no obvious signs or watchers to see I've taken it. The following then happens: unlimited nudges £25, +hold, unlimited nudges £25, unlimited nudges £25 +hold. Nudge streak ends for £125 but after a couple of £15 in close sequence the machine finally pops its clogs with a flash nudge for £15. I'm feeling daring, I opt for the £25 which requires the extra 3 nudges which it duly (but suprisingly) gives. Yum yum.
They disappear into other arcades as quickly as they came, no kill for them this evening.
I had some fun with Superskillstops in the pubs, mostly making out evens financially but still having the sharks jump on after me, do they actually watch anything, or are they so complacent that they assume you are a mindless twat that *will* be filling the machine up?
I blame the wife for enticing me to play a Cops 'n' Robbers Gold. She noticed both cashpots on £250 and a combination of that plus nostalgia lead to me losing a ton on that one, 1 Millionaires row that climbed to £32 and then fined me £16. Thanks. With the advent of quick and serious money to be earnt (and lost) on the likes of Bar X 7 I can't help thinking that £32 on a club machine doesn't seem like much these days, but the 'older' programming of the club machines when a quid was worth a bit more regards my £32 as a serious bit of wad so was quite happy to nick half back via a fine.
A Random Spinner wasn't very generous, I fed it £100 worth of notes and it was drip feeding me with a distinct lack of features until we got 3 close together when I'd all but caned the ton. £150 back. I collected but the hopper ran dry at the £80 mark. The credit meter clearly stated £80 but the i.o.u. message above it said some crap like £27 left to pay. I thought I was going to get shafted, cynical as I am with my view of seaside operators, but no, a nice polite engineer paid in full and explained how pesky customers would feed it full of notes then run with the pound coins and that is how I ended up in my predicament. I thought about asking him to float it correctly so any future i.o.u's would be displayed correctly, but then thought better of it seeing as I hadn't been paid yet.
Best moment was being down to 50p on some S16 and getting a £55 win then going upto £2 credit and getting another £60 a few credits later.
All in all I enjoyed the fun and games. Some nice little punts on the likes of Monte Carlo or Bust, Reno Reels and the Great Escape for old times sake. The wife is still addicted to Austin Powers/King Kebabs so we have to go in *every* arcade looking for this dying breed of machine, shame eh

[naalelnakla]

nice one kidgloves ,, i always enjoy when sharks hanging about behind you trying to see what your doing thinking you dont have a clue when infact you know more than them

[MattB]

Know what you mean about the sharks kid - though i normally find Yarmouth isn't too bad.

I was in Clacton yesterday and it was a complete joke. Thinking of streaking anything in any arcade - forget it. 5 IJ3's all blocked at £3/4, 1 Flash Cash dead on its arse, and plenty of other generally shite stated machines. The only light at the end of the tunnel was a ready Rocket Money in a pub that went for £70 from only £30 odd in. I think we made about a tenner in 3-4 hours. Pubs are the only way these days, arcades are a waste of time....

Matt

[DannyC]

Pubs are the only way these days, arcades are a waste of time....

Complete waste of time Matt, only 1 thing they're good for:

2p Pushers!

Once a week I rape the 2p pushers in one of our local spots! Can take about 3 hours to gain a profit of £25, but needless to say, its still profit

[poundstretcher]

Lowestoft was even worse the last time I was there.
Played a few in the south pier and was joined by what I can only describe as Johnny Rotten's dad.
That bloke would,nt leave me be,kept annoying other punters,finding odd pound coins.Worse thing was I was losing,must have gone through about £200 ,decided to leave with just £50.Went to change into notes"We've only got £40 in notes mate"
Yeh,whatever,I was glad to get out.
That was about 2-3 years back.Havent been back since.
I tend to leave that bit of coast alone now,even a small place like Hopton has the chav element.
Actually it was a family holiday at that place in 1968 that started my affair with the fruties.
Hopton has a lot to answer for.

Just spent 2 days in Great Yarmouth.
Didn't make any money, didn't lose any money, but played quite a bit.
The place just seemed to be crawling with sharks, semi sharks, leechers and limpets. Although this doesn't annoy me as such, it was ironic how many times I clocked the local resident within a few quid of playing.
I didn't want to get involved too much with anything in particular so went with the mindset of 'enjoying' as much gaming as possible and making a profit would be a bonus.
I played a lot of Bar x 7 + clones with the routine of hitting each one with £3 and just seeing what happened. To this end I actually did quite well, lots of immediate wins for a quick £10-£20 profit and as I said, not getting involved too much. Also nice to see most of them on 25p play.
Golden Games and clones were dire. I didn't get one top board over 2 days, but that was just by moving on if the first setup didn't flash hold or it wasn't full. I witnessed a few locals pumping them though doing the method, usually after somebody had played it, but had only put say £10-£20 quid in. So, you'd assume that a totally dead Golden Game is now at the 'very nearly totally dead' state. This it seems is enough for the locals to start pumping full of coins. Sooooo, £120 odd later he gets a £35 top board and then about £50 in afters off flash holds, jeez what's the point ? It did make me smile just how many times they'd jump on a machine way too early to make any decent profit. Let the wolves fight over the meagre scraps I say.
That is, until they eye up anything I'm playing that I feel has potential. Now this is where I start having fun. I just love the mind games you can have with them. I was playing a Chuzzy bar x which happened to go full after a fiver. That heart jumping rattling sound of the coin hitting the deck had all the locals heads turn furtively in my direction so as not to make me think something was up. OK, against my better judgement thinking of refills, top ups and the like I decide to go for this one. I plough another £10 in and get a couple of £15 wins (set to £15 x's and £25 bars). I collect the money, push a credit back in and..go and get a drink.
My sightline is great as the coke is pouring, no less than 3 locals manage to saunter around my machine making it look like they are casually finding something to play. They are obviously trying to beat each other to the machine only to find a few credits in there. I afford myself a mental smirk.
I go back to the machine and play it through, the vultures have increased in numbers, and the chinese whispers speak volumes as the grapevine lengthens that a holidaymaker is ploughing a bit of cash through a machine.
About £60 in the sparrows get bold and start playing next to me, or behind me mainly I feel to see what kind of playing style I am using so I go into extreme munter mode, the machine is going through a quiet patch anyway, I don't try for any setups, just hope for a nudge, and nudge down classic bar x stylie and hope for a hold.
That should give them some hope that the elusive streak setup is theirs for the taking. They vanish from around/behind me as it's getting too expensive playing a dead machine in the hope of jumping on for a quick steal, and due to the fact I'm taking nudges like at 1 every 15 seconds as I try to work out if 3 x's are really there or not. The streak hold comes at around the £90 mark. Nice quiet jobbie, no obvious signs or watchers to see I've taken it. The following then happens: unlimited nudges £25, +hold, unlimited nudges £25, unlimited nudges £25 +hold. Nudge streak ends for £125 but after a couple of £15 in close sequence the machine finally pops its clogs with a flash nudge for £15. I'm feeling daring, I opt for the £25 which requires the extra 3 nudges which it duly (but suprisingly) gives. Yum yum.
They disappear into other arcades as quickly as they came, no kill for them this evening.
I had some fun with Superskillstops in the pubs, mostly making out evens financially but still having the sharks jump on after me, do they actually watch anything, or are they so complacent that they assume you are a mindless twat that *will* be filling the machine up?
I blame the wife for enticing me to play a Cops 'n' Robbers Gold. She noticed both cashpots on £250 and a combination of that plus nostalgia lead to me losing a ton on that one, 1 Millionaires row that climbed to £32 and then fined me £16. Thanks. With the advent of quick and serious money to be earnt (and lost) on the likes of Bar X 7 I can't help thinking that £32 on a club machine doesn't seem like much these days, but the 'older' programming of the club machines when a quid was worth a bit more regards my £32 as a serious bit of wad so was quite happy to nick half back via a fine.
A Random Spinner wasn't very generous, I fed it £100 worth of notes and it was drip feeding me with a distinct lack of features until we got 3 close together when I'd all but caned the ton. £150 back. I collected but the hopper ran dry at the £80 mark. The credit meter clearly stated £80 but the i.o.u. message above it said some crap like £27 left to pay. I thought I was going to get shafted, cynical as I am with my view of seaside operators, but no, a nice polite engineer paid in full and explained how pesky customers would feed it full of notes then run with the pound coins and that is how I ended up in my predicament. I thought about asking him to float it correctly so any future i.o.u's would be displayed correctly, but then thought better of it seeing as I hadn't been paid yet.
Best moment was being down to 50p on some S16 and getting a £55 win then going upto £2 credit and getting another £60 a few credits later.
All in all I enjoyed the fun and games. Some nice little punts on the likes of Monte Carlo or Bust, Reno Reels and the Great Escape for old times sake. The wife is still addicted to Austin Powers/King Kebabs so we have to go in *every* arcade looking for this dying breed of machine, shame eh

[badders]

i tend to travel alot like some of u do has anyone been to blackpool and done the golden mile is there any point going or is it waste of money and dont the kids drive u nuts when they stand around watching and telling u how to play it and some times nicking a couple of quid why one them gets your attention

[WarrenD8177]

Know what you mean about the sharks kid - though i normally find Yarmouth isn't too bad.

I was in Clacton yesterday and it was a complete joke. Thinking of streaking anything in any arcade - forget it. 5 IJ3's all blocked at £3/4, 1 Flash Cash dead on its arse, and plenty of other generally shite stated machines. The only light at the end of the tunnel was a ready Rocket Money in a pub that went for £70 from only £30 odd in. I think we made about a tenner in 3-4 hours. Pubs are the only way these days, arcades are a waste of time....

Matt

I live in clacton and when i play (which is not very often now) i do the pubs as the arcades are pretty dire!!!

[XGoldenGameX]

i tend to travel alot like some of u do has anyone been to blackpool and done the golden mile is there any point going or is it waste of money and dont the kids drive u nuts when they stand around watching and telling u how to play it and some times nicking a couple of quid why one them gets your attention

Been to Blackpool and yes I liked it mainly due to the pleasure beach which is great fun and the sheer number of arcades. I am really a beginner when it comes to this lark so I cannot really say how the machines played in average compared to other areas of the UK.

One thing a can say is yes there are loads of arcades and each one is a fair size inside - without all those misleading mirrors which makes the arcade look twice as big as it really is!!!

Funny you mention the kids yes they are bad in the large seaside resorts the kids are locals and yes they are annoying, they are crossed between underage trainee sharks and thieves. I played a basic 10p pusher which was loaded in Skegnes it was in an arcade which was connected to the pleasure beach, a kid came along after I had put a couple of quid in and quickly put a 10p in my machine while I was playing it, he watched to see if it pushed any off and it didn't. He continued to watch next to me even though I told him where to go. I continued to play as the machine as it was about to drop a few quid. Sure enough it dropped.....and sure enough the kid went for it like a dart.....but lol I beat him to it-yes me 6ft giant compared to a little kid, i couldnt believe it either....Bruce Lee eat your heart out! Anyway I took every penny and left him pretend crying!!!!! lol I didnt believe him for one minute you could see what a swine he was - the type.

I did not have any problem with the kids in Blackpool but it does not mean it does not happen. I do get a bad back though constantly emptying the winnings before they go missing!!

[badders]

i like weymouth no kids allowed and there is a sercuity guard to stop them going in the over 18s bit so u can play in peace i go there as often as i can im banned from slots of fun all quickslivers which is annoying but the rest im not

[jjh]

"They disappear into other arcades as quickly as they came, no kill for them this evening"

Fantastic quote kidgloves!! Make then sound like the inhuman swines they are!!