Lol, I saw BB, and then saw 'Bastards, the lot of them' - I thought you were proposing to become an honourary Fruit Emu Git / Bastard for a minute!
Anyway, as some people know, I'm on f*** all a week, and so can't really afford to play machines. So I repaired Spiker, and started shovelling money back into him. Anyway, about 2 months later, from being totally empty, he has £125 in the hopper, and the following amount on the carpet. Still haven't bothered to count it yet. I've basically taken my paltry £40 a week and thrown it into Spiker, so I'd guess that theres about £250 > £350 there of £1 coins alone.
Far better on my carpet than being in the sh**ty pathetic 'Jackpot Junction' in one of my locals with the sticking buttons!!
Oh, btw, with Spiker, I make my dad hold the keys. When I used to run it by myself, I would save loads, only to think 'God, with THIS much stake, how can I lose on Red X and Jackpoteers?!' [Spaldings only Arcade has only 2 AWPs, both about 3 years old
]
So, give the keys to a 3rd party. If you can't to that, get drunk, and bury them!
Anyway, Being at college through the week means that I don't really have much free time, and they took the £5 JP machines out of there because the special needs students kept losing their bus money in them
[Thats a smiley for taking out the £5 machines, not laughing at students with no bus money!!]
I quit when I realised just how bad the problem was, when I started going to the arcade in town with about £200 in coins, being up [say about £300 at some points], then playing the same machines over and over again [not a good idea], then being £150 down....and then just going for it, trying to get £50 back and normally ending up with absolutely nothing.
Kinda made me disappointed in myself for my lack of control, and I just decided not to play one in public places again, although I confess to emptying a 10p a go Coin Pushing thingy at Bridington, and getting thrown out of the arcade
Ok, so, you put £1 coins in, and they fall into a hopper [it gives you 11x10p for a £1] . You then press a button, and the 10p falls down the back of the machine. If it lands in a hole, it spins 3 reels, which give nothing, or Coin Drops of £1, £2 or £5 [from memory]. Anyway, I put 99 Credits in [£9], and pressed the 'Drop 10p' button 99 times in the space of about 20 seconds. I ended up draining both hoppers after spinning in about £39 from the middle reels using those coins, and ended up about £35 up.
Oh, sorry to go off topic for a while, heres my checklist :
1) Get own machine, lose any cash you would normally gamble with in that.
2) When you go to a pub, play pool / darts / cards. I still have the odd quid in SWPs [yeah, like theres any skill on Cash Phrase - or any SWP game for that matter!], normally say £2 in, £1 out. Good for passing the time.
3) Only take out as much as you need. Don't do what I used to do and have £25x2 (£1 coins) [back pockets], £20x2 (£1 coins) [front pockets]
£20x2 (£1 coins) [jacket pockets], and about £50>£100 in notes. Now I just take out say [for a darts night], £15 in notes, enough for some pints for me, and whoever beats me
4) Remember to look down on machine players with contempt - this may sound like a bastardy thing to do, but the more you think - 'fools, wasting their money in that bastardised son of bell fruit!!!', the less inclined you will feel to play it [works for me anyway!]
5) I went cold turkey, but then, I know some people will find that hard. If thats the case, it may be worth finding a pub with a low stake / JP machine, and losing change from drinks in that.
BE WARNED - If you put your loose change into a machine and win, your mind will tell you that you are the best gambler in the world and you will inevitably blow all of it in the next pub/arcade you pass, and will be back at square one!!
Hmmm...this is getting to be a very long post, I'll chop it here -
Best of luck to you, I'm sure you can do it [hell, if I can, I think everyone could if they put their minds to it!]
BarcrestBenito
