23 replies to this topic

[stefanLbecky]

Hi guys my names Stefan, I'm 18 (male) and have been playing fruit machine for like 4 year now.

For my 16th birthday I bought a fruit machine from someone I knew who had had this particular machine hidden away for quite a while.

Played it for a year or so, and now I've decided im getting rid of it and getting a 25/35 JP.

Ive come on the internet looking for information/ prices / how old etc but cant seem to find anything about it anywhere.

Heres what I know-

Its Called Gamball
Made by Barcrest (early 90's apparently)
£6 Token JP £3rep Money JP
Has a random chance High/Low feature with a glass enclosure and a ping ping ball with 12 holes numbered 1-12.

Anyone ever heard or seen anything about this machine before?

Because as far as I've seen this is one of the only random 1-12 feature fruit machines out there, its must be pretty rare indeed.

Heres a few pictures-

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[todd1970]

Welcome to the site stefan..and i must say big thanks to you for providing the pics for your machine.

I remember playing it well back in days gone by when they had it in my local..and when i try and explain it to a fellow fruity player they think im insane cos no one has ever heard of it or seen it.

No idea how much it would be worth in todays current market m8..but as its pretty rare you might be pleasently surprised.

Thanks again for the pics.

[stanmarsh14]

Welcome to the site bud..... plenty here who can help / advise.

The tec considering it's age / appearance, would suggest it's based on the mpu4 tec, and much as I want to call it what's known as a lo-tec game, it's not atypical of a low tec game, like Cloud 999, as it's got much more going on than what Cloud 999 has, but it's still not quite what's known here as a hi-tec game.

As todd has put it, it's very difficult to put a price on this, but things that would help in getting the max return is how clean it is, the condition of the cabinet, any cracks in the glass, all bulbs working, coin mech's working (Though if you sell via e-bay, state that all payouts are disabled as per requirement of e-bay), and all keys for front, back doors and refill key are supplied.

If any of these parts are missing such like bulbs and locks, these can be found pretty cheep on e-bay, or ask the members here if they have any available.

I would say though that I have never seen such a machine like this from Barcrest before, so I would guess this is quite a rare one, but don't build up your hopes too much, expecting a high return, though I would say if it's in full working order, clean, and cosmetically not too badly worn, if you was to sell via say Ad-Mag, I would ask for offers of about £100+, but as todd has explained, you will be in uncharted waters with this one.

[Matty.N]

I would say though that I have never seen such a machine like this from Barcrest before, so I would guess this is quite a rare one, but don't build up your hopes too much, expecting a high return, though I would say if it's in full working order, clean, and cosmetically not too badly worn, if you was to sell via say Ad-Mag, I would ask for offers of about £100+, but as todd has explained, you will be in uncharted waters with this one.

Aint £100 a little on the low side?

i mean, you see terrible wrecks of machines go for that & lets be honest it looks like its in good nick

.....now i want to play that machine see what its like

[Bencrest]

What an awesome little machine

It's emulated (minus the ball mechanism... which pretty much ruins the emulation), but it would be great to play the actual machine.

It's very hard to value it. Due to the fact it's a niche machine, it's eBay value could be anything... although it depends entirely on the ball mechanism working.

If I had the room, I'd be very tempted to take it off your hands.

[stefanLbecky]

Thanks for the reply guys, im going to take more pics tommorow for you guys to peer over and tell me what you think (inside and out)

Only thing so far that could put against its value is a singular reel light not working and no refill key, but I'l let you guys know soon.

Thanks for the nice welcome anyway

[superbank]

Aint £100 a little on the low side?

i mean, you see terrible wrecks of machines go for that & lets be honest it looks like its in good nick

No, I would say £100 may even be on the high side.

Very few MPU4 machines would fetch £100 at the moment, maybe Smash And Grab and a few others.

Nice to see this - it's not one I remember. Any chance you could take a couple of photo's with the lights on??

[stevedude2]

WOW! It's amazing what people still have tucked away in their homes.

I have fond memories of this machine. There used to be one in Mr B's in Weston-super-Mare a good 10 or 12 years back. There is a tilt sensor inside (similar to what you get on Pinball machines) which stopped players from shaking the machine to cheat the gamble, only it didn't work so you could get 4.80 in tokens from every win if you were clever enough.

The game has a real charm about it. The yellow and blue colours in the ball area really stand out and the reel on the left with the awards on was an interesting touch.

Good luck selling it, and cheers for the pics

[Magz]

Yeah, I remember this cracker of a machine. You could gamble pretty much every win up to the jackpot (at worst you had a 50/50) - although as I recall the £3/£6 stopped you on £3. Anyhoo, it's still great to see pics, takes me back to when I first started playing in pubs...

[jamesb99_1999]

Yep it's MPU4 if I'm not mistaken - and they weren't rare at the time - they were everywhere for nearly a year. I personally think you'll get £50-80 unless you have a collecter who's really keen on getting that machine, but good luck anyway. As Ben said it's been done minus the ball - but my favourite of these type of machines was the one where the ball bearing fell randomly called Random Replay and you got a repeat if it landed on the green squares.

[Guitar]

What an awesome little machine

It's emulated (minus the ball mechanism... which pretty much ruins the emulation), but it would be great to play the actual machine.

It's very hard to value it. Due to the fact it's a niche machine, it's eBay value could be anything... although it depends entirely on the ball mechanism working.

If I had the room, I'd be very tempted to take it off your hands.

Firstly welcome stefanLbecky a very nice machine you have there.

A couple of things of interest there.

1. If I can get some help with converting FMEF to C++ I would definately be up for getting some kind of physics engine in to emulate the ball.

2. Does anyone here know about C++, primarily linking and compiling.

[cashbox1]

hope you dont mind stefan,but the one pic was a bit dark, so i gave it a retouch to make it a bit more visible mate

[stefanLbecky]

Here we go guys a few more pictures and stuff.

It is an MPU4, it does have an anti-tilt mechanism.

See if you guys find anything interesting in these pics anyway here ya go

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[stefanLbecky]

A few pictures...

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[stefanLbecky]

and a few more pictures lol..

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[stefanLbecky]

and heres the last 3...

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[cliffc]

Hi

Allthough this machine was arround in numbers when it was 1st unleshed on the market due to the ball gamble feature i would think, that there not that many of them out there now, and I would think that none are still in use in arcades.

Mind you I may be wrong there, allthough MPU4 I would think you can claim that this machine is rare, unlike alot of the people who sell on e-bay and say that the machine thay have is rare when its not.

As to how much its worth, I think it would depend on whos after it if you put it on e-bay and there are a few very intrested partys it could go for big bucks if there are not that many intrested partys then it could go for £100 or less, obviously depending on your reserve.

But i remember this machine and it was one I used to like a dabble on from time to time.

Cliff C

[superbank]

Nice pics - thanks

[todd1970]

Thanks for even more pics of this great machine m8..fair takes me back.