20 replies to this topic

[big dave in uk]

Hi, my first post here.

Been offered a Barcrest - Frenzy. are they any good to play?

[Toddyuk]

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...ssPageName=WDVW

Never played one myself but this tells you a little about it ...

http://www.fruitmach...es/frenzy.shtml

And as ady is not in this country ill say it for him Welcome to Fruit Emu lol

[hurtand165]

It is a clone of Psycho Cash Beast so if you have ever played that you will have a good idea of what to expect.


Hurtand165

[big dave in uk]

Thanks for the welcome!

Which one of these would you reconmend?

Barcrest - Battle Axe
Barcrest - Big Game
Barcrest - Brain Waves
Barcrest - Cash Attack
Barcrest - Do$h 'N' Pecks
Barcrest - Fireball
Barcrest - Frenzy
Barcrest - Gold Strike
Barcrest - Golden Dragon
Barcrest - Neptune's Treasure
Barcrest - Sheik Yer Money
Bell Fruit - Diamond Mine
Bell Fruit - Lord Of The Rings Two Towers
Bell Fruit - Rich Geezer
Impulse - Funny Money
Mazooma - Count Yer Cash
QPS - Cash Lab
Red Gaming - Rampage
Vivid - All 4 One
Vivid - Hypnotic

Never owned a fruit machine.

[nails]

Barcrest - Battle Axe maybe
Barcrest - Big Game old m8
Barcrest - Brain Waves played ok, but old
Barcrest - Cash Attack its here online!
Barcrest - Do$h 'N' Pecks good cheat still works
Barcrest - Fireball as above!
Barcrest - Frenzy plays ok, club version just released
Barcrest - Gold Strike ok
Barcrest - Golden Dragon battleaxe, take 25 THEN red 25
Barcrest - Neptune's Treasure olde but goodie
Barcrest - Sheik Yer Money as above
Bell Fruit - Diamond Mine not my bag m8
Bell Fruit - Lord Of The Rings Two Towers good £25 or £75 runs
Bell Fruit - Rich Geezer ok i spose, but.. NOT MY BAG
Impulse - Funny Money
Mazooma - Count Yer Cash not for me
QPS - Cash Lab scraping the bottom of the barrel
Red Gaming - Rampage good for some (not me though)
Vivid - All 4 One card shark is best here
Vivid - Hypnotic chipped to kingdom come.

[Toddyuk]

Barcrest Gold strike is my fav out of that lot but iam stuck in the 80s..

Love the oldies

[big dave in uk]

Anyone know if Gold strike has an invincible mode on it?

[hurtand165]

If it is an eighties machine i would seriously doubt it.

Also, i just noticed that you are 17 today, so happy birthday.


Hurtand165

[Bencrest]

It will be the newer Gold Strike, one with 3 'levels', IMHO not worth touching, blocked to hell and a trail about 30 positions long. Plus it doesn't look that good.

None of the machines I've listed are straight 'Hi-Lo' machines, like the Red machine. I enjoy playing them in arcades, but am not sure they would be entertaining as home machines. I've put machines down I think have the best boards and board longevity, which I think is important on a home machine if you want to keep it more than 7 days

Heres the 5 I would chose based on that criteria - but if you like basic HiLo gaming and not a 'feature board', then look at stuff like Battle Axe

1) Diamond Mine. Recent and nice looking, but can play like shite to drop a streak. I guess that makes it a good alternative to a club machine [Even on £5 I've had 7 consecutive Red modes, which gave about £45 - on £25 I've had £100]

2) LOTR - Two Towers. I believe this is VERY similar to Diamond Mine from memory, board positions will be the same but the 'super' feature may be different [thats the 3 position band reel in the centre of the trail].

---------------

Note that the next 3 I would expect to be half the price of the ones above, but chose them as I think they offer excellent playability. I'd say about £100 for these, have seen them picked up for £75.

Note aswell that these will be hard to find [possibly impossible!] to run at £15, and IMHO I think they would make excellent £5 machines. £15 is still not a bad prize though

3) Neptunes Treasure - Clone of Monty Pythons Flying Circus, trail gives good longevity, boards don't block as much as many £25ers, but hard to find a tidy example.

4) Sheik Yer Money - Similar to Neptunes Treasure, but again many have been neglected and left in Kebab Shops for several years. Still, if it looks tidy, and isn't a silly price, I'd love one

5) Brainwaves - BUT it would have to be very cheap IMHO. I'm talking £75 and below. As above, no doubt ex-kebab shop jobbie, has a middle stack like King Kebab / Donna Kebab / Austin Powers, but from memory the middle stack can be turbo gambled.

---------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT - extra 6th place -

6) Funny Money. This is an interesting machine, but you'll either love it or hate it. As I remember, you start a 'feature' with a number of picks - basically knockouts, one a platform. A bit like Psycho Cash Beast, if you land below an Up arrow, you go up a platform, which should offer higher value wins. Basically the same as PCB but Hi-Loing for Picks rather than going round a trail collecting them

Note that this is the only Maygay EPOCH based game on the list, and that tech is basically discontinued, as Barcrest Group bought Maygay and are now producing Impulse / Maygay and Extreme games on Barcrest hardware.

Because of that I'd be looking at about £125 max for the machine.

I mean, to be honest, all of the machines could be considered, but price would play a HUGE factor. I love Neptunes Treasure, but know it isn't worth more than £125 and I'd aim to pay about £90. £100 is still a good price. With stuff like Diamond Mine I'd expect an asking price much closer to £250, but would aim to pay £175.

If you want to look at pics of the machines, feel free to check the manufacturers websites, they should have all details on you need!

Barcrest - www.barcrest.com
Vivid - www.vivid-gaming.co.uk
Bell Fruit - I still use www.bell-fruit-mfg.co.uk
Mazooma - never gets updated [about 2 years behind now I think] - www.mazooma.co.uk
QPS isn't worth bothering with, they removed all usable content from the website - I believe it is www.qps-interactive.co.uk
Red Gaming - www.red-gaming.co.uk

-----------------------------------

EDIT] Just saw it was your birthday - Happy Birthday!
I assume the parents have given you cash and you intend to get a bandit with it? Good idea, they shouldn't depreciate a great deal [I bought one just over a year ago for £200, just sold it for £170, and have saved LOADS in it, which I spend on a laptop ]

[chez]

i would take the rampage out of the above list. at least it has some skill features, and takes a good while to work out how to play it best. i think it would take the longest to become bored with.

failing that, if you don't like it, go with battle axe. similar reason - more in depth play, possible to empty (always fun, even if it is your machine!) and good sounds/decals.

having a machine that you purely force at home would become very tedious. these two offer a bit more variation.

[big dave in uk]

Hmm im taking all the information in.

Which would you say has the best feature board?

Infact Bencrest, i live just outside Spalding can you reconmend me anywhere to get one?

EDIT: thanks for the Happy birthday

[dave1de]

Neptunes treasure probably has the best feature board, you can check out what the boards look like on the sites bencrest gave you if your unsure.

As far as im aware there are plenty of companies near you, check out the yellow pages Micro automatics in peterborough are pritty good, and theres oen in boston to, i think thier eastern automatics.

[Toddyuk]

If it is an eighties machine i would seriously doubt it.


Hurtand165

Old version i was on about

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...ssPageName=WDVW

[Bencrest]

Hmm im taking all the information in.

Which would you say has the best feature board?

Infact Bencrest, i live just outside Spalding can you reconmend me anywhere to get one?

EDIT: thanks for the Happy birthday

Ooh, another Fenlander

Anyway, I think one of the better local companies is Hart Marler, you can find them in the Yellow Pages [and probably Yell.com] under 'Amusement Machines'.

They supply several pubs in Spalding, Pinchbeck, Cowbit [well, the 1 pub in Cowbit ], all machines seem tidy and I've had good feedback from other buyers.

Last time I asked for a machine from them was over a year ago, and they only had one available - Club Red Alert for £150, which on reflection was a great price, but I didn't really feel like a club machine

Failing that, Peterborough has people like Micro Automatics, I bought a machine [Spiker the Biker] from Wakeley Automatics at Grantham which they delivered.....

I guess the best thing to do would be try people like Hart Marler, and then just go through the Yellow Pages, 'Amusement Machines', and call suppliers from the surrounding areas. If you need a hand at all, just PM me and I will send you a list of local suppliers with phone numbers

I also get spares from a supplier at Boston [Eastern Automatics], and bought my Austin Powers and Top of the Pops from there [although AP is ex-kebab so pretty beaten up, still £125 so not too bad ]

[Nudgeman]

LOTR - Two Towers is a pleasant machine. BFG have made good use of the licence and there is a streak tucked away in there! If you time it right the streak+afterplay can empty the machine without any previous bank building.
However my top 5 machines to own (just to give you an idea of what may be worth buying should you get the opportunity) I have omitted emulatable machines as obviously these can already be played at home.

1) Maygay - Screen Play
Due to this machine coming with a 'TV Screen', despite being m1a technology it is not compatible with the latest emulators. It offers a range of features and hidden features and would bring back fond memories for me. If you want a classic mid 90s Maygay - this is the definitive choice.

2) Duff Beer Guide - Maygay
This is as much a novelty item to impress friends and relatives as a machine to offer gameplay with your own cash. Everyone has heard of the Simpsons and this machine has skill stops galore and plenty of hidden features. It's still popular today. They got the balance right between playability/player advantage on the £5/£15 version. Te £25 version was never quite so good, but with switchable stake/prize ratio you can have a whale of a time.

3) Party Animal/Temple of Treasure/Addams Family - These Barcrests can hold back pockets of % and will draw you in to a long battle. There are plenty of tactics to learn and a couple of skill features. They should hold their interest longer than your average Barcrest. If not, plump for Austin or Kebak, failing that Psychos, Spikers and Neptunes will do if you've never owned a machine before. You can try the old force for jackpot routine over and over.

4) Tomraiders - Empire.
An unusual choice. However, this machine is full of strategy.

5) LOTR - Twin Towers. If you can work this machine out, there are still a couple of active clones in service today. The Fellowship is of the same, albeit more basic clan whilst Return of The King if of a very different ilk.


6) (Obligatory edit) Party Slotto/8 Liner/Magic 7/Party Time arena

Get one of these unpredicatable babies in your bedroom. Some are truly random, some are as good as random. No features, just purely unpredictable gambling. They may cost a few bob though

[big dave in uk]

Ok i went to Raywood leisure in Norwich.

I bought a machine called "The Mob" simply because i liked the look of it

[Bencrest]

Norwich? I thought you said you lived near Spalding lol.

Anyway, The Mob isn't a bad machine, theres a couple of versions of it for the emulator if you want to try practicing stuff but don't think it'll give you any real advantage on the real machine

If you have any technical problems, feel free to post them here, The Mob is MPU4 so is standard Barcrest stuff.

[big dave in uk]

Yeah i rang Hart Marler up but they diddnt have anything.
And i had to go to norwich anyway so i thought oh well

(By the way i live in Wisbech)

Ok thanks.

[big dave in uk]

Hi, got it today

One problem.
It only takes 50ps when it wants to (Not very often)

Probably sounds very noobish.

[Adolmino]

its a desent machine , i play it sometimes . try and get 3 red's !