avengah Posted February 25, 2023 Report Share Posted February 25, 2023 I don't play club machines. The one time I did I got my arse tanned because the first board went very high (Club Dracula I think it was, the classic Barcrest). Turns out it was nowhere near ready and nowhere near full. I think I was offered someone's afters. That was the first and last time I EVER played a club machine. I vowed never to be so careless in future. Which brings me to MFME. Some clubbers are interesting to play, as something different. There's a nice Red clubber that's basically just the same as a £70 machine with a different name, same sound package and a top that can go for £75ish and occasionally £250. Given the "rules" that apply to club machines, it's much more obvious about giving hints, such as the big "Ahem!" for cancel slowdown. Surprisingly there's no hint for Number Runner holding, or Respin holding either I think. It was interesting to play, anyway. So, Club Grid Runner. When ready, it gives certain signs, including letting you get an Extra Life start from Choose A Trail. The steal is off nudges on the board. I didn't actually pot it this way but I did bring down £150, and it wasn't happy. It went 2 to 1 with life, then killed me the next press after winning on the 1 and nudging in four red sevens. I've had Jackpot closer sometimes, and since it clearly fought hard not to let me get the £150 but fucked itself, I think the same is possible for JP if you're lucky. Something I didn't realise at first: If you exchange a big win for the top feature, it auto collects when you're done, either if you collect or hit the bad square and lose money. To get the chance to gamble the winnings from the top feature, you have to get there from the main board, not the cash gamble. I'll mess about some more with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 25, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2023 (edited) I forgot to finish the Club Drac story. So after stonking the best part of £300 into it, the guy eventually decided he wanted to shut. He promised me - proper swear down type promise - that it would not be played until the morning, and if I make sure I arrive by whatever opening time, it would be saved for me. Lies. It was over £200 light at the start of the first session, which means probably someone potted it but didn't take the afters that ended up being the false sign I saw. It was full at the end of the night. The next day, no longer full. The barman was a different guy and he was understanding. He let me key it to assess the damage because I couldn't afford to get shafted again if it had been potted. Turned out someone took £60ish. I had to chase the pot after being so involved. He even said staff aren't allowed to play it. So someone lied or broke the rules or both. At the very end after I finally potted it and got my afters, the barman tried saying I had to become a member. He soon shut up after I said the guy from the previous night was quite happy for me to lose my shirt in the bandit without becoming a member! I was still a good £100-150 down. I learnt an expensive lesson about untrustworthy staff, not going in unprepared and not playing things I didn't fully understand (basically clubs). The daft thing is, I kind of had a feeling my big board near the start was someone else's unclaimed afters. But it was a case of just one more press... it might pot... Game Over. All that could have been avoided if I had prepared and learnt the machine. Experience would no doubt have told me it was afters not a potential JP... Some places ban their staff from playing the machines, as I said. I hated that when I worked at Wetherspoons; there was a £15 Spin On It at one point, and a £15 Jackpoteers another time - which was horribly loud. Before they banned staff from playing, I was able to keep an eye on my Spin On It and take the value when on my break. I was gutted when one of the local addict muppets got Note Tote and it went for £30, with a Super Feature board next... The ban came because some muppets started complaining that it was unfair as we could watch the machines all day. Edited February 25, 2023 by avengah 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 25, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2023 (edited) No extra life so probably not gonna be able to do it here. But this is how it started. Not had a press yet and it's 13 away for £150. A few extra nudge hexagons off the bonus might just do it. Didn't get it. But next board started 8 away! (I took one nudge already here...) Edited February 25, 2023 by avengah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 25, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2023 (edited) So you only get one "gamble session" per credit. Not only does the top feature bank without allowing a gamble if you exchange a big win to it... it also banks sans gamble if you exchange a smaller win for the main board and get four kebabs. No, it looks like forcing is quite tricky. I'm basically gambling all wins out, and sometimes you have to bank a couple of quid just to be able to gamble the rest. The highest win I exchanged for the top so far was £64ish. I might try and get a £100+ win to exchange and see if anything changes. EDIT: DIP Switch 2 of Bank 2 makes the game play faster. It does those special spins like you sometimes see on AWPs when they do things like Let 'em Spin and Hold Second Reel etc., except it does them every spin, making the game play a lot faster. Edited February 25, 2023 by avengah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) I've been asleep for a few hours after being up all last night.Back on the clubby, I exchanged £96 and got a £123 top before striking out. I hit Ctrl-R when it was at £105, not sure if it was still going down but thankfully reset it in time to void the win - so I don't have to stonk it all back. Still trying to suss it out but I am trying to get opportunities that don't risk being forced to collect medium wins. Edited February 26, 2023 by avengah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) Sometimes you get in a position where it's very difficult to avoid wins. I find the best strategy is to transfer the odd quid strategically to aim for £60-62, as £63+ can't be gambled, and exchanging for the top is very risky. The other option is transfer then gamble the rest, but if it loses (which it usually will), that also sets it back. All sub-£10 wins except the £3, £5 and £6 go up in powers of 2, so if you hit £16 or £32 that's a good time to transfer £1. £24 may look good but if it hits x3 you're screwed with £96 you can only transfer close to £40, or exchange for a top that autocollects. Edited February 26, 2023 by avengah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) Well damn. A £120 exchange this time, and it only went to about £116. It was still going down but I hit reset at £104. Looks like gambling or nudging it in are the only realistic ways to pot it... EDIT: There is one way to sack off a big win without plugging it, if it lets you: Exchange and take one shot, then collect. If lucky it won't hit £25 or Gold Run... I don't know if it's a bug with MFME or a quirk with the actual machine, but it really HATES being reset during the top feature. It often requires a hard restart and wipes credits and bank. Edited February 26, 2023 by avengah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 A workaround seems to be quitting MFME or using the Stop and Start buttons in the ROM loader. It seems to remember your credits and bank this way, as long as you haven't pressed Ctrl-R or opened the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) Sorry for the multiple posts - I can't edit after a certain amount of time. So it seems if the reset glitch occurs, the RAM isn't saved. So it's not that it clears everything - it reverts back to before the session. However, the GAM file IS saved, so the long-term meters tracked by MFME will be wrong, having taken the crashed session into account while the machine went back to its state before that session. It looks like an MFME glitch, then. Not sure why it happens, but Ctrl-R and opening the doors causes it if done at the wrong time. It's OK to reset the machine normally; it's only during certain times it responds badly. I don't know what's going on under the hood but it looks like all execution stops - the debug window isn't moving and the only fix, short of exiting and restarting the machine or MFME itself, seems to be to stop and start the ROM. It's safe to Ctrl-R if you're on the cash ladder with an amount too big to gamble but not enough to exchange: e.g. £96 if the exchange is at £100. This can happen if you get a top from the board and gamble the result. The unsafe time to reset is at the end of a top, as it's striking out. Edited February 26, 2023 by avengah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boulderdash Posted February 26, 2023 Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 Mfme is fabulous for doing this kind of research. RIP wizard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 Yeah. Such a shame, a great loss. The damn machine finally did a slow, careful spin with pots on 1 and 4 and above 2 and 3, and two nudges. So all those attempts to gamble carefully without being forced to collect a medium to big win were pointless and it looks like the way to force it is just to sack the boards off, and exchange cash wins into the board to sack off. Most of the time, the top feature wasn't great, although a bigger exchange resulted in bigger tops; I tried a £120 exchange at one point and got up to about £140 before being kicked off with about £112. I think I'll reload the RAM and try a few more things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 It does not respond well to knocking JPs back. On reloading the RAM it did a slow spin of on, above, on, on and 1 nudge at about the same credit, and this time I avoided it. It hasn't come back yet after about £100, and it tightened up for a bit as if it had paid it out. I wonder if it transferred the untaken JP into a different pot? Or worse - I hope it doesn't think it paid it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 26, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) I went back to the saved RAM a few quid before the pot was due to spin in. This time it didn't, but it gave me a large top that went up to £149 then struck out with £120. Next board climbed out and the top feature went all the way - it was noticeably different as it kept spinning in huge wins on the Gold Run. So that's £370 out within the space of a few quid. It's still off its tits too, doing good boards, although the cash gamble is stone dead and hasn't hit anything but lose since the jackpot. I do wonder if there are separate pots and how to make the most of things. I also wonder if the JP requires the machine to be forced, or if the JP is saved for steadily and is offered at a certain point regardless of how it's played? Although I think that's unlikely because the cash gamble got tighter after getting the JP or knocking it back. Hmm... I think I'll load the knocked back RAM again and see how far I can push it. Edited February 26, 2023 by avengah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougsta Posted February 26, 2023 Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) Always fun to do these experiments. There was an Epoch Maygay clubber released here back in 2018, I've forgotten the name but it could be trapped. See also the early Club Psycho Cash Beast ROMs that turned up a couple of years back - switchable to 1K jackpot with a working emptier Edit - the Maygay clubber was Rags to Riches. Detailed explanation of how I trapped it here, but I doubt it will be easy to repeat. Edited February 26, 2023 by Dougsta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyMonster Posted February 26, 2023 Report Share Posted February 26, 2023 @Dougsta I feel this may have been deliberate on Maygay Clubbers... I was playing a £1000 JP one in a casino, can't remember the name of it for the life of me....Which let me use the move back 3, from a lose on a question mark (with an extra life) for the extra nudges needed for a £500 win..... Then again - it may just have been a massive flaw. @avengah There are a couple of awesome posts on here about Super Blackjack Club - started by @Chopaholic Where he tries to gamble it out without much joy, and the fun some of the rest of us had, getting it back to percentage........ Highly featuring G for George autoplay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengah Posted February 27, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2023 Yeah, it's really interesting stuff because I never bothered with club machines. There aren't many members' clubs near me but I was always scared of clubbers and had no desire to play them. The one time I did as I explained before proved my fears right, and I may have been slightly drunk when I made that oh-so wise decision to have a stonk on it. I remember intending to just play one board, but I think I got a trail bonus that gave me the best start. As a result I got an amazing board and I think the feature I was offered was called "Super Reel Match" or similar. It was two off JP I think. I knew if I didn't take it and died it might not come back, but I didn't know the machine at all, other than the basics I'd read online. So I had no idea whether I had a chance of potting it, and felt I had to take the risk. Club machines are far too dangerous to take on blind without learning as much as possible in advance. Of course the local muppets will occasionally pot it and that's what keeps them playing it - but it's not a good chance. By playing it blind your chances wouldn't be much better than the muppets'. From years of playing AWPs I learnt so many little things, many of which I can't describe because they're more like an instinct. Things like the length of a spin or the length of a short pause before a spin can mean something, for example on Vivid's Fifty Fifty (shit machine but anyway), if the number starts spinning instantly with no brief pause upon pressing the button (for either a hilo gamble or a spin which changes the number), that means the next gamble will lose. If you're forcing it, it's not important but if you're collecting wins or going for afters or something, it's useful information that helps you maximise your boards. I'll definitely watch those videos. I saw them before on Degsy's channel and was going to watch them but forgot. Thanks for the reminder! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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