49 replies to this topic

[BWB]

So what is the 1st machine you ever remember playing ?

For me, it was a penny machine with a 50p jackpot (if you won the jackpot, you really thought you were rich !) - I think it was called shooting star (it was about 1978)

[Bencrest]

First ones I remember were all in Thompsons arcade (now long since demolished and turned into retirement flats I believe), a combination of 2p Aristocrat type OXO machines, jackpots 50p or £1 in shrapnel. First proper fruit machine I remember playing in there was ScreenPlay by Maygay.

[duplu]

No idea what the machine was called but I played it in the Pie 'n' Mash shop in Woolwich when I was about 6 years old. It was 5p a go and must have been a Bellfruit machine as the Jackpot of £2 (in old 10p tokens) was those old yellow bars with Bellfruit written on them. 3 bells any in view gave 50p. It also had a nudge reel which would spin a random number from 0 to 9. When nudges were randomly awarded you would get the number of nudges on the reel.

[gimmegimmegimme]

5p/£5 on a cross channel ferry when i was about 7, and that's a long time ago now ! and yes i got the fiver and thought i was rich beyond my wildest dreams till my dad took most of it off me

First British one was a 1p/20p one armed bandit called Freaky Fruits about 30+ years ago

[gimmegimmegimme]

50p or £1 in shrapnel.

Ah they were the days. Literally 'feeling' you'd won when you limped off the pier/out the arcade with enough metal in your pocket to form the nose cone of a medium sized nuclear weapon !

[mrmystery83]

Erm don't think i'm quite as old as some people on here lol other than the 2p pull the handle bandits the 1st one i played with an actual board was a £3 jp Andy Capp. I think it may have paid out in tokens too i'm not too sure.

[strid]

The first fruity I played (And indeed won the £4.80 Tokens Jackpot on the FIRST AND ONLY SPIN!) was Cloud 999 in the local. I was only about 5-6 years old. My old man lifted me up and I put the 10p in - pressed the only flashing button and voila.... £4.80 in Tokens.

If only they were like that today!!! Incidentally, does anyone know what year Cloud 999 was manufactured? It's by Barcrest and looks really really dated when I look at the stuff we play now.

[CrAzYbAr]

No idea what the machine was called but I played it in the Pie 'n' Mash shop in Woolwich when I was about 6 years old. It was 5p a go and must have been a Bellfruit machine as the Jackpot of £2 (in old 10p tokens) was those old yellow bars with Bellfruit written on them. 3 bells any in view gave 50p. It also had a nudge reel which would spin a random number from 0 to 9. When nudges were randomly awarded you would get the number of nudges on the reel.

So you enjoyed playing Super Nudge Gambler then!

I remember in a services when I was...9 I think? I was on a Funny Money and I got 20p in it and it gave me "Hilo gamble!" But I didn't know what this meant so after fretting a while I went Lo...I lost.
Still, it's one of my all time faves ever in the history of the universe.

[ady]

First real machine I was 'into' was the original EW Nudger 1981 (I know that as soon after they had to alter the mech to accept 20p pieces)........5p play 50p cash JP for grapes and £1 tokens for melons....or if I had some money the first Firecracker £2 or a £1.60 jp depending on which way the trail went.

Sidewinder was my next addiction....20p hit it quick and it nearly always went to the £2 token jp....

And finally if we got real skint we would spin 2p's into defender to get a 10p credit to use some time up

[bennett04]

Spotted Dick 5P Play... £5 Jackpot

I was about... 11

[pauldot]

The first machines i remember playing are these, the arcades were full of them,and the new pull the handle bandits were just arriving,i must be OLD

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[Gazeyre1966]

Cor blimey guv'nor...I remember when pence was spelled with a d and when fruit machines used to be entertaining.

Seriously, I'm 99% sure the first machine I ever played was Big Banker by JPM...£4 JP. My Grandad used to give me 50p and I remember getting about £2 back off the features. I was probably about 12 or 13.

When I was old enough to play them legally it was definitely on a holiday in Ilfracombe. It was Silver Ghost by BFM, lo-tech I know. I ripped it for about £10 and suddenly every girl wanted to shag me 'cos I was rich (Pint cost 59p)....I got so pissed on my way back to the caravan I walked into the outdoor swimming pool...lol

[duplu]

The first machines i remember playing are these, the arcades were full of them,and the new pull the handle bandits were just arriving,i must be OLD

I can remember playing these when the school had a summer fete. There was a guy who owned loads of them and would bring them in. You could then pay 10p for old pennies to put in them, it was all for fun.

[nails]

there was a machine with a big green dragon that snaked all the way to the top?? £1.50 or £3 jp

i remember the each way shuffles (jpm`s good old days that had a tilt mechnanism built in) those were the days of 10p tokens.

i can vaigly remember a machine that was 50p cash/£1 tokens. it had a sort of super hold - though it went nearer 6 up and 6 down. could have been a bellfruit..

[Nudgeman]

I'd be lying if I said I could remember the name of the first fruit machine I played.

I was about 5 years old. I used to have swimming lessons at the pool in St. Nicholas Park, Warwick. There was and still is a cafe near th pitch and putt. Now it doesn't have fruit machines in there. However I went in there for a choc ice. I was quite excited as I'd found a big old 10p in one of the lockers in the swimming pool. Remember that? As a kid? Open all the lockers and see if someone had left 10p? Quite often someone would have done so.

All I know is....

1) I had to get my Mum to put the 10p in the slot.
2) She told me it was a waste of money.
3) It was a 2p machine.
4) It was in a wooden cabinet.
5) It had big round buttons with no writing on them.
6) I won 4p by sheer luck and thought that was amazing (40% payout!)
7) It was next to a machine with treasure chests on it.

I don't remember a single thing else. It could have been anything. I would guess this was around about 1984. It wasn't Party Time or Crazy Fruits or Pie Factory though. It could have been made by PCP, Barcrest, BFM, Bob's Bandits, I dunno.

It's in the blood though, 22 years on and I still like to put round metal objects inside boxes with flashy lights and spinning reels.

[Bencrest]

Ah they were the days. Literally 'feeling' you'd won when you limped off the pier/out the arcade with enough metal in your pocket to form the nose cone of a medium sized nuclear weapon !

Ah, but the weird thing was this one used to pay out the jackpot in mixed coins. The machine only took 2ps, but it used to pay what I believe was a £1 JP in say 60p of 2ps, 20p of 10ps and a 20p piece :S

Or was that one with a £2 JP I am thinking of? Yeah, I'm pretty sure the 50p and maybe the £1 ones paid out in 2ps, but one in there with a huge £2 JP, still 2p per pull, used to pay out mixed stuff.

[cliffc]

The ist machines i played i cannot remember all of the names but it would be by ace 1p play and thay had a feature in the back the one i played had a little man on a fairground ring the bell game, when u got the feature you hit the button and lights went up the ring the bell the further up that went the more you won if you rang the bell you won the jackpot a masive whole 25p in 1p's. The 1st 10p play machine i remember playing was about 1970 ish and was 10 up by Bell Fruit.

CLiff C

[DildoDez]

mine was, that i can remember anyway, a Fairground in Anstruther. I played ones before that, but never on my own, and i can't remember them!! Ironically i later owned a Fairground lol, and thats y i remember i played it!

Cloud 999 was around 1992 wasn't it?

[jayroller]

the first machines i remember playing were the old 2p OXO one armed bandit types with £1 (might have been £2) jackpot. This was at a travelling fair that came round our area every year probably around '89 or round about that time (late eighties early ninetys)