22 replies to this topic

[choody79]

Having read some of the stories on here of people winning time after time I would like to hear some 'true' stories of how much people have lost on fruities, be it in one day or a total over the years...

I learned from my madness last year and have completely stopped with these machines now . s16 then b3's for me ate most of my cash . yes i had a few big wins but in the long run I was well down .

Worst for me was about £600 in about 1 hour on the old £2.00 per play...I soon got help and as I said I now dont touch them..

Are the big jackpot machines to blame?? Are/where they more addictive with people wanting the 'big win'??

I know this has been discussed before but this may help any newbies who come on and read nothing but happy stories about people just winning..

[voodoomau5]

Well done for stopping for a start, just a shame it was a massive loss that made you realise. I'm 15 at the moment so can only play the £5 jackpots but from personal experience and the depressed faces of the punters who have just whacked a good £50 in a golden game in less than half an hour you realise that it's not actually worth it . I realise that playing 50 quid on a B3 for a good half an hour most would call pretty good but it's still money that could be spent on something so much better than a machine where the more likely outcome is for the worse, the way I see it nif you lose 50 or 500 it's still money that could be used elsewhere. I'll admit that I'm no where near quitting but do to certain extent know when to stop.

That's from a £5 jackpot players point of view anyway.

[jaybee]

My problem is I try a new machine, I win, it suckers me in!

I remember seeing Astras Mega Slots, tried £10 and won £500. When I see them now, I try £20 and win nothing! The same with Elvis and Monty Python, won big when I first played them.

Not got a major problem, tend to play with £20 a ndwalk away, not chasing losses, but it could be 3 times a week, and that could be your rent paid for the week! I do win sometimes, and the old arcades never change your coins, so you always let a few go back into the machines! Why do they have staff with change when there is change machines?

Lots of arcades have closed near me, the ones I see are like hostels, with people sitting at machines eating cake and drnkiong tea, but not playing! That puts me off. I might go to the bookies, but machines are all being used by chineese lads, which is good for me I guess.

[mickymuff]

I to have had the lucky streak that get`s you started ! Have always been bad on fruit machines but more recently the £500 jackpots have made it more tempting with a chance of a real win rather than a lucky streak once in a blue moon of maybe £100 and party slotto was my drug of choice after a couple of large wins for little put in have since lost big time on them! also had a mega win online on cy*** slo** won over £10,000 managed to get a newer car before chasing the dragon for that win that never seems to arrive! must of put the £10,000 back in and more besides making the car cost me twice as much as if i`d just bought it in first place! have since barred myself off this site and some others for life! That trouble you ony here gamblers admiting there great wins! the times i`ve walked out of a arcade £100s down thinking of what I could of bought with the money (new phone,ipod etc) and instead have to struggle with money for rest of month and use overdraft cards etc! now just enjoy this site and all hard work people put into bringing great machines back to life and get to play all machines that got me started in first place haha! with no ££££££££££ loss!

[todd1970]

Spose i was 'lucky' in a way that these £500 machines never existed when i first started playing the fruitys..dont get me wrong the £4.80 tokens machines still got me hooked big time..but these £500 machines are breeding a different genere of gambler and i know ppl that have lost thousands over the space of a month on them.

Nowdays when i go into an arcade i look for all the 'old school' machines when you used to get a certain amount of entertainment from them..these Elvis and RR,,S16 machines do not interest me one bit.

Remember reading another thread that they seem to be replacing all the machines in arcades these days with the 'touch screen Australian type pokie machines'..good thing in a way because id never go near an arcade again.

[kbos2hm]

the most i ever lost was £600 over a week playing on crazy fruits and go bananas that was about 2 years ago i dont play in the ammusments as mutch as i use to and after hering last night how mutch they make people like a £25 jacpot machine making the owner £1000 per week not bad and £700 a week on a six pound machine kinda takes the fun away from playing

[jamesb99_1999]

I would hate to work out how much I have lost over the years...

When I was about 8 my mom started playing them at a local cafe - and I used to get to keep the ocassional 10p which made me think somehow they would make me rich... Unfortunately time teaches you that it's actually the opposite that happens..

Having several jobs as a young kid/ up to being a young teenager I was always pretty well off as I also earnt money from some computer games I was writing and little hand held games I used to buy and sell at school... However while I was earning £20/30 a week (which was a lot then) I was spending £15/20 on fruit machines, without ever really ending up in profit.. I didn't realise at the time it was an addiction as I linked only the goodtimes to fruit machines in my head.. For example spending time with my mother and when I was on holiday playing them.. However when I went to college and began earning £150 per month at McDonalds at the same time I was spending £50 of that a month on them which seemed a lot more as I was having to work so hard... I finally realised I was addicted... It was still hard to cut down on them... Fortunately girls and alcohol helped me in that respect... However whenever I wa depressed or the girls weren't biting (not literally) I went back to machines...

Several years ago I managed to control the amount I spend on them and haven't really lost as high a percentage of my wage since then - However.... I have had very good jobs and have when I have been depressed slipped back in to my old ways... There was one month I wasted about £3000 in them, which I could afford but was still a horrible loss.. And I have never kidded myself I play machines to win money (in fact it's often worse for me if I win money as that gets me back in to the cycle of playing them) - I play them because I am deep down addicted to them - they make me remember happy times/ times spent with my family...

So while they have never ruined my life.. They have affected the quality of it to an extent... For the last 5 years I have always limited myself how much I can spend on them - not to say I haven't still lost £500 in one crazy spend - but for example this month I have spent about £100 on them - which is still a lot, but exactly what I had pre-decided I could afford this month. I took my mother to bingo the other week - won £50 but spent that plus another £30 in a matter of minutes - that is what machines are like nowadays - no buzz at all.. Which is why I keep a breat of emulation and play old machines on here every so often as they help me remember good times without wasting real money... I do think though once you have become addicted to fruit machines deep down you always will be and it's a matter of control (sure having kids/ responsibility is one of the things that helps you stop though).

[Deano]

I remember getting a bank loan for the soul purpose of a weekend away in Great Yarmouth.This was 19 years ago where gameplay and value for money were at its peak.Still managed to blow the full £1000 though and took me a year to pay it back.
Just to top it off,out of the £1000 I bought a half sovereign ring for £100 which fell off my finger on the log flume,never to be seen again.
Talk about sick as foook!
Glad I can laugh it off now but these are painful memories.

[saynowt]

i lost 15 years of my life much more valueable than any amount of money

[Boulderdash]

Just joined so please ignore this test before I reply properly

[Boulderdash]

I've been a gambler since about the age of 10 when my Dad would take me to cricket and leave me for long hours in the bar. It probably even started before that when we went on holiday as little kids and my folks would give us small velvet bags full of pennies to spend at the arcades. It never occurred to me that coming back with an empty bag was a bad thing.

I've lost thousands over the years, but also won many thousands. In the early 90s when at uni I got hold of some emptiers for the Ace machines like Pay Rise and the like where you lined up the numbers on the reels rather than the symbols for wins, and whoever programmed it had forgotten to count number wins against the payout, so you could just keep exchanging for those until you emptied the £90 or so they had in the tubes those days. Basically left university thousands in profit, unlike my peers.

But of course that was all habit forming, and my overriding memory of fruit machines is 'win', despite all the pain they have caused. A bit like James above, they haven't ruined my life - yet. With the moneysucking 50p a go AWPs that can eat £20 in 5 minutes, I am getting scared. I never play online and never go on the bookies' £500 video slots, because they terrify me. I wish they'd ban the gamblers from pubs so I could have a quiet drink without getting twitchy!

[jamesb99_1999]

I've been a gambler since about the age of 10 when my Dad would take me to cricket and leave me for long hours in the bar. It probably even started before that when we went on holiday as little kids and my folks would give us small velvet bags full of pennies to spend at the arcades. It never occurred to me that coming back with an empty bag was a bad thing.

I've lost thousands over the years, but also won many thousands. In the early 90s when at uni I got hold of some emptiers for the Ace machines like Pay Rise and the like where you lined up the numbers on the reels rather than the symbols for wins, and whoever programmed it had forgotten to count number wins against the payout, so you could just keep exchanging for those until you emptied the £90 or so they had in the tubes those days. Basically left university thousands in profit, unlike my peers.

But of course that was all habit forming, and my overriding memory of fruit machines is 'win', despite all the pain they have caused. A bit like James above, they haven't ruined my life - yet. With the moneysucking 50p a go AWPs that can eat £20 in 5 minutes, I am getting scared. I never play online and never go on the bookies' £500 video slots, because they terrify me. I wish they'd ban the gamblers from pubs so I could have a quiet drink without getting twitchy!

Well to be fair you sound level headed enough to not start on the big jackpot/online side... It's always the big jackpots that suck people in (and like was said earlier in the thread it's getting a big win that often suckers you in)... I suppose the real crux of it all is having something equally/more worthwhile in your eyes to spend the money on... For example when I was happy in relationships I played machines a lot less...

[fruitcrazy]

i have lost loads over the years, my biggest ever loss was over £600 in one day. i seem to play more when im bored, ill sit at home and think i could have so much more fun in the arcade lol, but like the post above says when im in a happy realationship i tend to play less, i know im addicted and im going to try and stop for the new year, we only have 3 arcades around my area that i know about and i think ill just get myself banned from them that way no temptation as i cant go in there

[Deano]

For example when I was happy in relationships I played machines a lot less...

Much the same here. Before I met the missus I were in the arcades 12 hours a day some days. However in them days you could not lose the money like nowadays. I think I were lonely tbh and a relationship took the loneliness away.
I met the missus in an arcade and she sees so much money being lost that she hates me gambling. I have an hours play on a saturday sometimes but stay away from the big ones. Had times where I have done £400 in the hour. No fun so stick to the smaller machines and quite enjoy it. No massive profits but no big losses either

[ady]

I am so sorry at quoting such a big reply by james but....

There's not a lot more I can add to that, that is me too in a nutshell really...so just a little from my point of view.

At 43 I stopped playing only 5-6 years ago, in fact a similar time I have been a member here...pure coincidence, but in those years prior going back to a schoolkid I'd really hate to even have a rough guess at what amount I have wasted.

I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy my nights in the arcades...I did, and theres places I would still visit occasionally (not as a player but more social)--nails arcade for One--only that the guy is genuine and it has a good selection of machines that don't rip the bottoms from your pockets (as I remember my days) and 99% of ALL arcades etc are now.

I wish I could turn the clock back...we can't...I learned the hard way, and am still paying for it.

I would hate to work out how much I have lost over the years...

When I was about 8 my mom started playing them at a local cafe - and I used to get to keep the ocassional 10p which made me think somehow they would make me rich... Unfortunately time teaches you that it's actually the opposite that happens..

Having several jobs as a young kid/ up to being a young teenager I was always pretty well off as I also earnt money from some computer games I was writing and little hand held games I used to buy and sell at school... However while I was earning £20/30 a week (which was a lot then) I was spending £15/20 on fruit machines, without ever really ending up in profit.. I didn't realise at the time it was an addiction as I linked only the goodtimes to fruit machines in my head.. For example spending time with my mother and when I was on holiday playing them.. However when I went to college and began earning £150 per month at McDonalds at the same time I was spending £50 of that a month on them which seemed a lot more as I was having to work so hard... I finally realised I was addicted... It was still hard to cut down on them... Fortunately girls and alcohol helped me in that respect... However whenever I wa depressed or the girls weren't biting (not literally) I went back to machines...

Several years ago I managed to control the amount I spend on them and haven't really lost as high a percentage of my wage since then - However.... I have had very good jobs and have when I have been depressed slipped back in to my old ways... There was one month I wasted about £3000 in them, which I could afford but was still a horrible loss.. And I have never kidded myself I play machines to win money (in fact it's often worse for me if I win money as that gets me back in to the cycle of playing them) - I play them because I am deep down addicted to them - they make me remember happy times/ times spent with my family...

So while they have never ruined my life.. They have affected the quality of it to an extent... For the last 5 years I have always limited myself how much I can spend on them - not to say I haven't still lost £500 in one crazy spend - but for example this month I have spent about £100 on them - which is still a lot, but exactly what I had pre-decided I could afford this month. I took my mother to bingo the other week - won £50 but spent that plus another £30 in a matter of minutes - that is what machines are like nowadays - no buzz at all.. Which is why I keep a breat of emulation and play old machines on here every so often as they help me remember good times without wasting real money... I do think though once you have become addicted to fruit machines deep down you always will be and it's a matter of control (sure having kids/ responsibility is one of the things that helps you stop though).

[daveyboy]

I stopped playing them when they reached £35 JP all dond crap etc .

played them for many many years had quite a few emptier s , remember the ACE Machine liners fondly Pay Rise , Hi Flyer , Hi De Hi , Open The Box , Twilight Zone , Play It Again , Grand Prix etc made few beans of them alone (for months)

Went through a bad patch few years ago and lost £5000 on roulette , got help after that.

[Magz]

If we're restricting it to single sessions on the fruits probably only about 5000. If it's gambling generally then it's somewhat more in my case. Don't do it anymore, don't look back. What's done is done and rebuilding is more satisfying than pointless regrets.

[vectra666]

In my gambling life of 25yrs+ I suppose I've wasted around 50-70k in machines the only way I could claw back those losses is to win the lottery, of which I don't play. Recent years due to having kids I've clamped down on gambling but it's still a big part of my life always was always will be. Unfortunately!

[ady]

My home..........need I say more?

[Magz]

In one session? That's good going!

 

Seriously though there's few people on here that win overall. The losses in terms of time, cash and relationships are truly staggering.

 

That said, the nostalgia of the old fruities is one of the few plus points for me from those times...