Gablaholic

The % setting display is only a voluntary code of practice that BACTA members are supposed to adhere to. Strangely, Quicksilver, despite being one of their biggest members, don't play along with this.

Again, the 70% minimum is purely voluntary on the part of the manufacturers. 70-80% will give you a bloody awful game and they're easy enough to spot and avoid.

Quicksilver low-techs (Electrocoins, Party Time etc) are usually on 92%, with the hi-techs on 84%. 10p play machines are around 78%. Used to be 88% for the hi-techs and 94% for low-techs, but they quietly lowered their percentages around 4 years ago, the same time that they stopped displaying percentages on the machines.

In the really good old days of tokens, they used to set their hi-techs on 92%. Ahhh... memories of Hyper Viper in Quicksilver Sheffield....

IMHO the Quicksilver chain has really gone to the dogs in the past five years - very little in the way of new games (apart from s.16 machines starting to pop up like the plague), cheapo decor. I remember when they were the best arcades in the country, but that was back in the token days. Nowadays chains like Shaw's offer a slightly better game. Nobles are not too bad, Shipleys are to be avoided at all costs for their dire percentages (e.g. 82% for a lo-tech Stars & Stripes in Solihull branch).

Are you sure?!

I know that the old BFM Scorp2 machines had a microphone capability - take Round the Town as an example - depending on how you sang, you got more/less money on the 'Karaoke' feature

NOBODY ever sang in to the mic though - they just hit it as hard as possible with a pound coin - did the trick !

Usually it's the women that will stick like glue to a lo-tech until they have drained it dry. They don't like to leave anything in for the next person.

Old people can and will make errors of judgement, as well as running out of money. It seems to be the overweight 40-something women who are the most aggressive and 'dangerous', especially on Electrocoins, Astras etc.

Very rare to see a woman on a hi-tech though.

Bear in mind that although licence duty will not be payable, you still need to notify your local authority and obtain permission to site the machine.

You could also consider one of the new random Section 16/21 machines, on which the duty is a lot lower, although these are invariably lo-techs. Also consider that many people prefer a 'controlled' game to a random one.

Explanation of S.16 can be found here :

http://www.astra-gam...explained.shtml

I hope Electrocoin tech will be emulated in the future. It's a very simple tech.

I know they are boring to some people but Bar-X ten, Bar-X Seven, Magic Seven etc. are great fun with some wild streaks.