Posted 14 December 2009 - 10:05 PM
Talking of the very early Barcrest MPU3's, it is quite easy to see why they were so popular. The gameplay was just massively different from any other machine in the arcade at that time. Take this reply in the context of an arcade full of Bell Fruit Super Nudge Gamblers and JPM each way nudgers.
Take Nudges Unlimited, the first MPU3. It had unlimited nudges available. I dare say there may have been earlier ones, but that spin whilst waiting for the bar bell grape combo to come in to complete your grid for u/l nudges. Most of the time it came to nowt, but just occasionally the reels would stick for a split second before spinning and then you knew it. Reels spin for slightly longer than normal then bam, grape bell bar comes in, the grid fills up with 3 strained sounds and the nudges click round to unlimited and the worlds your oyster. When all you had before was JPM eachway nudger this was a vast improvement. The auto-hold of wins, the automatic nudge, even the viewing window of the reels - even if you had 8 nudges you could practically see what you could get. The gamble where the win of a higher value spins in, so the hold would give you a higher value prize. In a world of super nudge gamblers, each way nudgers, lite a nudges, each-way shuffles and bally machines still with an arm stuck out the side - this was a technological leap. The "only" thing this machine didn't have was the ubiquitous Barcrest jackpot machine of the time. For that you only had to wait a short time for the introduction of exchanges unlimited.
Exchanges Unlimited, the second of the MPU3's. How scarce were nudges previously. Suddenly every win worth more than 10 pence could be nudges, with that machine gun rattle as you hit the exchange button. More often than not you could score a 50 pence win from a 20 pence one just by pushing that exchange button. And wasn't that nudge gamble music fantastic. Also, this was the start of the really decent attract modes and, as mentioned before, that jackpot sound. It used to call "come hither" from across the arcade. There was also the static on the 10p slot to reset it, and getting a win from the first spin trick, which we used to empty countless of the buggers, especially in arcades with nylon carpet.
Then, the ultimate machine appeared. Line Up. This machine was responsible for more of my money than any other in the 80's. It was rampant in the arcades and poeple loved it. This machine gave the first proper feature board where the numbers moved you around it. In a owrld of lite a nudge with 2's and 1's on the reels, suddenly getting 4's, 9's and 10's was brilliant - you could move up the board so quick. The feature hold trick getting you £2 wins. The screaming of the machine when you got unlimited nudges. Absolutely terrific.
They were the best, and worst, days of my life.
To anyone who dismisses these oldies as old - just download them and try them out - there are some superb DX's and classics available.
bj
