Playing with inexperienced mates

[kidgloves]

I was quite looking forward to a session on the fruits with a mate of mine last night. It was a new experience, my mate likes playing machines, he usually plays with his dad down their local and can spend up to say £50 each but it's all on one machine over 2-3 hours collecting and rotating everything, hence giving themselves little to no chance of JP's or top features. He expects to lose but accepts this as long as he 'gets a game'.
I was looking forward to showing him a different style of play and seeing a few tops for a change. I made sure before we started he was under no illusion that it was going to be like taking candy from a baby, and we'd be looking at heavy investment (as he would see it) for modest profits unless we got very lucky on the odd machine. He understood all that so off we went.
First issue was the float, I kind of expected he wouldn't have any coins so I took £300 just to float the both of us up plus the usual notes back up.
Gave him £40 for notes and off we went, luckily this was all the float he/we needed all night.
First machine - a Red Lucky Streak (or is it On a Roll ?) - It took him some getting used to using 50p play on Mega Spin watching those credits fly down then to be awarded a spin that either gave no numbers or gave a 1 for 1 nudge that I reverse gambled for lose. The constant repetition of this had him bemused and also worried at how quickly the money was going in. Soon enough signs were there and the force gave two £35 tops close together then a tenner on the wind down. The point to note here was one of subtlety - when ordering drinks at the bar my mate was quite loud in announcing the fact someone was on the Red in question and various other comments about the machines in the pub, immediately alerting the bar tender to the fact that our visit was not just for a social drink. I'm quite keen on keeping a low profile everywhere I go and this wasn't helped by two other facts, when we got the first top feature I got him to hit the repeat at £35 letting him know if he hit it then we'd be on for another £35. After it didn't repeat out of the blue he kicked the machine quite loudly and some drunken drongo who was watching also put a bonus boot in. I mean WTF ? How to arouse unwanted attention in one go. I told him in no uncertain terms not to do that kind of stuff again and he got the message.
We moved on - a Holey Moley did another £70 for about £50 in then onto a Bucks Bunny which I warned him could take the piss. It was a little time consuming but eventually got a normal BB which did the full £105 which was a bit of a bonus. The look on his face was priceless, it was really one of sheer disbelief and elation which was nice to see rather than the expectant feeling you get as a player.
The one thing that was getting to me a bit was the mindset he had about 'getting a game' for his money, seeing as we were playing 50p a spin on all machines, if we got a board then I'd let him play it out to start with to get some entertainment value. After a while though this became time consuming and to be honest a little irratating. You can imagine ploughing round a Bucks Bunny just trying for the force - you can speed things up by hitting start quickly on everything but when you are not so experienced then you take a little more time taking in the implications of each square you move to etc etc.
This really came to the fore in the next pub on a Jailbirds. I tried explaining that just hi/lo'ing the swags on the feature board would pretty much speed the end result up in terms of time taken to get it. We agreed that we'd take a board each in turn, him playing normally and me hi/lo'ing the swags. I won as it turned out and the top did £70 followed by a £35 not too much later.
Time was against us at this point so the final pub was the local JDW. Not great machines but the Warped did a £70 for the same in with not much in the way of afters. The 'luck' for the night came in playing a Cluedo that resisted GUAC for a good while but luckily streaked off it.
Priceless expression again whilst GUAC was explained and performed then it was my turn for the priceless expression when the next board was the obvious IM off 3 red bars about 3 credits later. A curiously valued red MS of £55 came out off that after which we called it a night.
We went to pick up the girls who had been in town all night who asked us how we had done. All in all the top features of the night added up to £500, profit was around the £50 mark for each of us. Average figures for a regular player but something to note for an innocent player as my mate was taking into account 1 JP/top would be a rare thing.
So what did I learn about this ? It's nice letting a mate see the potential that you can win but also realistically seeing the outlay needed to get those results. He didn't even believe I had £300 in coins on me at the start of the night and that you *could* lose that amount.
So we had a fun night, but I couldn't help feeling the machines 'needed' to perform well in order to make it an enjoyable night, whereas by myself it wouldn't have been so bad to shrug off a stubborn machine that wouldn't give a decent top or take the piss in some way or the other. He mentioned coming down once a month or so to do this, but I wonder how sensitive he is to the fact that despite the big outlay needed you still need years of experience to know when to play and when not to which he has to rely on me having, I could easily make that money on my own and I wonder how much he realizes that I'm halving any profits I make by letting him play with me. Once a blue moon is fine by me but I won't be making it a monthly thing.

[a1056688]

£50 profit each in a few hours which you have declared as average - I agree.

So if you were on your own it would have been £100 in a few hours, cut out the time he spent playing the boards (considerablly longer than it would have taken you I assume) and the beers and I'd expect over £100 profit in a couple of hours, would you agree?

Referring this figure back to the other thread, make this average amount every day / night in different towns / cities and you'll quite easily hit the £750 per week marker - average.

[kidgloves]

£50 profit each in a few hours which you have declared as average - I agree.

So if you were on your own it would have been £100 in a few hours, cut out the time he spent playing the boards (considerablly longer than it would have taken you I assume) and the beers and I'd expect over £100 profit in a couple of hours, would you agree?

Referring this figure back to the other thread, make this average amount every day / night in different towns / cities and you'll quite easily hit the £750 per week marker - average.

I agree with you A1, and the other guy who posted in the other thread, this was my reply taken from that thread :

My personal take on it, after playing for 30 years (and this is no way intended to spark more flaming) is to be making £750 tops a week then it's possible on good discipline and a large route with a sound knowledge. £2000+ a week then you have to be looking at being in the knowledge of top level info before anybody else combined with a lot of hours/driving put in.

[GaryChandler]

But then again playing on your own is the most boring thing ever!!

[kidgloves]

But then again playing on your own is the most boring thing ever!!

I prefer playing on my own I think. It's not really a social thing playing machines if you are in it just to make money. You circumnavigate the lights, bells and whistles as quickly as possible to achieve the maximum profit. You don't take pleasure out of any particular feature whereas playing with somebody else, particularly somebody inexperienced, they want to see the lights, bells and whistles. They want to take fast cash to try their luck on the skill and other similar features because it's entertaining for them.
Regular players gain their entertainment/gratification from the top features repeating/quick steals/out of the blue IM's (perhaps this being the only area where players and non players alike get the same gratification).
Playing with somebody else - well if it's a non player, I made my points regarding the shortcomings of this at the top of this thread. Playing with other players, well you are both going to get *some* entertainment by hitting the tops but the innocent entertainment of hitting a psuedo cash repeat isn't there because you know it's fixed anyway. I'd be interested to hear the views of some of the guys off fruitchat who read here as I have read on more than one occasion that some of them play together.

[a1056688]

I agree with you A1, and the other guy who posted in the other thread, this was my reply taken from that thread :

My personal take on it, after playing for 30 years (and this is no way intended to spark more flaming) is to be making £750 tops a week then it's possible on good discipline and a large route with a sound knowledge. £2000+ a week then you have to be looking at being in the knowledge of top level info before anybody else combined with a lot of hours/driving put in.

Yes, I was just using your post to reiterrate to others that this is possible and many people do make this sort of money.

[MattB]

I'm sort of inbetween. I go out with one of mates who doesn't play because he is a fruit machine voyeur of sorts - doesn't want to lose but enjoys the watching! :P

It does get boring on your own but the positive is you win double what you would with a buddy. I mix my week up and do some solo play, and have a bit of company now and then so i don't go doolally

[S6TAV]

Nice post kid
I try to avoid playing fruits with any of my mates because none of them know how to play. I dont even like it when they decided to have a go on one and ask for my advice. I always start it with "well this is what I would do but there is no gurantee" you have to say that because if they try it and it doesn't work they seem to think you owe them?

I remember around the 2001 era being in a JDW and my mate was playing big cheese. He ploughed in £50 of his own money and it was showing the signs he was always tempted to take the £10 win or win streak but I told him if he was going to take one of those I would buy the machine off him for £20. He always refused and carried on I lent him £30 but it still didn't hit the JP. He said thats it no more I did offer to lend him more money but he said no. I told him so many times that it was ready. I went on and about £2 in it went IM which repeated and the next board was IM, £5 later and i got JP of Golden Hold.
I could tell he was anooyed but I told him so many times it was ready to pay and there was no way I was letting some one else take it down.

Nowdays I dont really like people talking to me while I am on a machine I especially hate people watching me when I play. When I go out to my regular haunt the staff are always nattering on while I play the machines. I just usually switch off and nod every now and then

[Dunhamzzz]

Nice post kid
I try to avoid playing fruits with any of my mates because none of them know how to play. I dont even like it when they decided to have a go on one and ask for my advice. I always start it with "well this is what I would do but there is no gurantee" you have to say that because if they try it and it doesn't work they seem to think you owe them?

exactly, they think your advice is golden, but theres no 100% thing on any fruit machine.

[dendrite]

This thread has really amazed me - I always thought it was impossible to win on the slots, even if you know the game really well, all the features etc.

Where would I get a guide to playing the machines properly?