Mazooma's evolution from utter shite to some of the best players' machines around...

[avengah]

Any player worth his salt knows Mazooma made some fantastic machines towards the end. Gettin' Ziggy With It was the original version of Cabin Fever, which itself spawned several clones including Cluedo The Usual Suspects and Pink Panther (QPS). Grand Blaster Cash and clones had the "Vivid-style" method of guaranteeing two jackpots with the Super Skill Stop, although this didn't work too well on Ziggy and clones because it was better to just trap them (multiple times if they had value). £70 Cluedo TUS was slightly different - they moved a few features around to catch players out - but they were still really, really good. The Super 7 is the key to potting it off two of the features! The £70 Electrocoins in pubs were also based on this Mazooma code. Still, I remember when Mazooma were first starting out and their first few machines were pretty terrible. But they actually sought player feedback on the original fruit machine message boards including Arcadia back in the day...

Their website actually had some really good tips for their machines, when they started to become good. I've been going over some of their machines in MFME and wow, are they player friendly! Trail Blazer is amazing for players. So many cheats, see if you can find them all! You can step off a ?, you can trap it with steps, if it says "Yeah!" and holds, keep a close eye on what lights up when you press the holds because it may be hinting at something... Let 'em spins don't tell you until AFTER you hit Start... You can swap holds, like a JPM or Red (and I think you can hold pairs of crap; it doesn't have to be an actual pair like it does on some machines with swap holds). It has a Number Runner on the bonus (which is not just for show: it does give it, and works like a Red!) And the hiddens have some interesting quirks too: Try hitting Skill 7 on the 4 instead of the 7! That trick was on the website. It works on Mazooma's Coronation Street and a couple of others with the Skill 7 feature too like Cash Explosion, Adrenalin etc.

One more major tip I didn't know until recently for Trail Blazer and Corrie: There is a Hi/Lo Invincible board. If you get on the board and there are no ?s at the start (without using a Skill Shuffle - but if you do use a Skill Shuffle, you may find it hardly ever offers any ?s), you MAY have a secret Hi/Lo IM. That means you CANNOT lose on the Hi/Lo. BUT you CAN lose if you hit a ?, which can happen if you shuffle one on to the board. So if that situation arises, try bashing a 2 or 11 the wrong way early on if you want to be sure, because it usually won't matter and it will give you the icon back anyway.

A lot of their games around that time had little secrets that made them really great for players. Rise To The Top was another one. I only ever saw one of them, in a pub in Manchester, but I remember it being pretty sweet and easy to read too. Mazooma's take on the Spartacash / Beer Guide style of game, and it's really good!

Unfortunately, up until Ziggy and Cabin Fever, I never saw many Mazoomas out and about, except one of the bad ones from near the start (Pac-Man Plus). I had one Trail Blazer, one Rise To The top and that was about it. It's a shame there weren't more of them about, because they were really profitable if you knew what you were doing. A lot of players didn't bother with them because they just assumed they weren't any good based on Mazooma's older games, and not knowing their unique cheats.

Well, back to Trail Blazer!

Edited March 18, 2023 by avengah

[avengah]

Also, Crossfire on Trail Blazer's hiddens appears to have a pattern whereby if you hit it as it's going left around the 3rd or 4th column from the right, it stops around the left and lets you get Mega Streak or Jackpot quite easily.

Every "cheat" on the reels has a different bit of text associated with it, for wins on the bottom or top line, "hold left reel", let 'em spin, 3 holds, "here come 3 numbers" etc. An interesting one is if you deliberately do the opposite of what it tells you when it says to hold a specific reel. Hold the other two and it says "You tryin' to be a hero?" and matches the pair instead. Useful if the pair is higher than the single fruit it told you to hold!

Edited March 18, 2023 by avengah

[PekoJPF]

HOLD ODD SYMBOL.... ...VERY SNEAKY INDEED.

And can't forget the skill 7 hidden feature. "CLEVER CLOGS."

Edited March 18, 2023 by PekoJPF

[MikeyMonster]

Yeah - they were great for players. But maybe too much so! I mean, this sort of level of complexity, so that a punter rather than a player will always lose, wasn't great for the industry either.

For me, the sweet spot where games like Roller Coaster - enough to keep  punters interested and a definite edge for players. Barcrest found this sweet spot in their £10 to £25 releases as well. 

[hilolottery]

They made interesting machines, is Edward B not on here? I remember he would engage on forums and was always open to ideas. Can't say I really got on with Trail Blazer but i'm not surprised there is more to it than meets the eye. If you hit the skill 7 style features on 4 would it auto skill the whole lot? Been a long time. 

I remember Rise to the Top looked interesting, although only ever saw one in a bookies where a punter was forever on my case. Not the best place to experiment.  I liked a Mazooma (maybe QPS) called Stir Crazy, it had a barcode you could play for and one of the features was a true skill cash climb on the fruit symbols. If the skill climb went slow barcode would usually come straight back and do the same again. There were a few of them dotted around and I always did ok on them.

I'm not sure tweaking the Cluedo features around on the £70 versions was the best idea in hindsight, I take it the idea was to make it harder to get number runner and wild thing, but with the features being red on pound stake a super 7 was never far away from a red line entry. 

[logopolis]

I did better on the £35 jackpot Cluedos than the £70. The £35 ones often had value but the £70 always seemed to lose at the hi lo cash area which means it's dead. Probably due to the longer recovery time on the £70. 

Other games like Bedazzled and Cash On The Lash were decent too. The only one I didn't play out of those mentioned was Trail Blazer. I think I only seen one of these in the wild. The Impulse Trail Blazer was good though. They would spin 1s and 12s if they had decent value.

[avengah]

Ah yes, it was Cash On The Lash that said Clever Clogs. That and Cash Explosion I used to play for hiddens as it would often give Hit The Top / Biff The Bouncer even when not that happy (it wedges from the 7 to the 12 I think, so if you can exchange to hiddens on a 7 it helps). If it opens the super board you could play for Skill Spins / Firkin Hot, but the third reel slips so you need a pot on the line (I tried wedging it and it definitely slips). It tends not to give nudges once you have the feature lit so the best thing is to either get enough shots to guarantee it and get the nudges, or be on nudges on a good number and take shots, then hilo to put the pot on the line for the feature.

[avengah]

Oh yeah, Cash Explosion's Hit The Top also times out from 10 to 12.

[logopolis]

10 hours ago, avengah said:

Ah yes, it was Cash On The Lash that said Clever Clogs. That and Cash Explosion I used to play for hiddens as it would often give Hit The Top / Biff The Bouncer even when not that happy (it wedges from the 7 to the 12 I think, so if you can exchange to hiddens on a 7 it helps). If it opens the super board you could play for Skill Spins / Firkin Hot, but the third reel slips so you need a pot on the line (I tried wedging it and it definitely slips). It tends not to give nudges once you have the feature lit so the best thing is to either get enough shots to guarantee it and get the nudges, or be on nudges on a good number and take shots, then hilo to put the pot on the line for the feature.

Cherry above the green bar 4 on the 3rd reel for the wedge wasn't it? It did work but maybe that was on early programs. Hidden feature skillstop you could hit it on bonus 4 and it then finished it off itself? Or am I dreaming about that.

[avengah]

It wedges 8 places, so it's the melon after that cherry. Try it. I just did it twice in demo mode and it stuck this time. Maybe the wedge does work if the machine has enough value in it, or maybe something went wrong the first time? The left reel can be wedged 4 places, so from the melon before the red 7. The slow reel doesn't appear to time out (but if it eventually does, I assume it times back out to where it starts, because the fast reel does time out back to where it starts). I don't know why you would, but if you went for hiddens on Skill Spins, it won't keep the third reel there if it's lined up so that could be a use for the timeout.

Yes, hitting it on the 4 does finish it for you. One of the more interesting machines that I never saw in the wild (The Trident) had "Super" hidden features with a different-coloured bar behind the middle fruit (gold or silver I think, it's only a classic layout so I have no idea if it's accurate to the real thing), and on that machine, only "Super" Skill 7 lets you hit the 4 to skip the donkey work. Top Loader is another one I never saw with a similar setup but it doesn't have a Skill 7. But Top Loader is glitchy - one of the hiddens (Two Towers) is like 11th Heaven on both pots at the same time, and if you hit a 12 it correctly offers you a quid on the cash side, but collecting the feature causes the machine to reset. The lights glitch out too - the name and the buttons flash weirdly. It's like the wraparound on the feature pot just didn't work properly or something.

On Cash Explosion, Cash On The Lash, Bedazzled and clones, you can hold cancel in demo mode when starting feature for IM. On Cash On The Lash, the IM is slightly better hidden - instead of a flashing name, one bulb lights up that's named as "Woman" in test mode. The woman is on the left of the reels, quite big so that lighting up in full would have been quite blatant. Was it maybe just the eyes or something?

I also only just realised how many clones of Big Blaster there were. Often the shots were in a different arrangement but there were LOADS. Barcode feature 123 was nice, Blast Off / The Rocket (depending on machine) shooting up the cash ladder for a true skill shot at the jackpot if you wait too long it gives you three chances.

Edited March 22, 2023 by avengah

[avengah]

Emmerdale has an interesting mechanic where the logo flashes just for a moment at the start of the board if it's a jackpot board, but it doesn't mean you're invincible!

Oh, when I said before "On Cash On The Lash, the IM is slightly better hidden - instead of a flashing name, one bulb lights up that's named as "Woman" in test mode", the bulb isn't assigned in the layouts we have. I found it in the lamp matrix.

Edited March 22, 2023 by avengah

[avengah]

Another thing I worked out years ago about Cash Explosion and clones: The board will usually allow no more than two Big Money icons if it wants to open the super board. If you have 3+ symbols and super active, it's a jackpot board. On the same token, you're normally safe in assuming that if you have 3+ symbols, super isn't opening (unless it's pot happy), but it can still offer around £10 cash sometimes if it wants to. I think the super board is a separate pot from the cash and nudges, as I recycled several sets of hiddens and got several jackpots without once opening super. So it was probably possible to pot it off super AND hiddens if both pots had value in.

I don't know how the IM works and I don't know whether it makes any difference how you pot it. If I had a choice I'd probably take Big Money from icons as it doesn't come from the super board. Maybe that way the jackpot will come out of the current pot and you can still play for the super board pot afterwards, which is easier to get. Or maybe it doesn't matter how you get it on an IM - maybe it's a separate pot completely? I hardly ever got IMs on the real machines.

You can nudge hiddens through and take them any time afterwards with Exchange, even on a ?. Having been given Skill Spins from hiddens in the past, I try to put the right pot on the line if I do it this way, though sometimes it isn't an option as you hit a ? and have to take the nudge pot. And Roll Even and Yes/No Continue are true skill.

Edited March 22, 2023 by avengah

[edwardb]

On 21/03/2023 at 13:02, hilolottery said:

They made interesting machines, is Edward B not on here? I remember he would engage on forums and was always open to ideas. Can't say I really got on with Trail Blazer but i'm not surprised there is more to it than meets the eye. If you hit the skill 7 style features on 4 would it auto skill the whole lot? Been a long time. 

I remember Rise to the Top looked interesting, although only ever saw one in a bookies where a punter was forever on my case. Not the best place to experiment.  I liked a Mazooma (maybe QPS) called Stir Crazy, it had a barcode you could play for and one of the features was a true skill cash climb on the fruit symbols. If the skill climb went slow barcode would usually come straight back and do the same again. There were a few of them dotted around and I always did ok on them.

I'm not sure tweaking the Cluedo features around on the £70 versions was the best idea in hindsight, I take it the idea was to make it harder to get number runner and wild thing, but with the features being red on pound stake a super 7 was never far away from a red line entry. 

He is

I joined Mazooma in 1998 when games like Take the Piste, Grab A Granny and Blue Rinse were just launched. They were all dump-a-lump machines, and though sales were OK for some of those early machines, there were (in my opinion) two major milestones in Mazooma going from a BWB-alike company (who also made very lumpy games, go figure) to being a mainstream AWP brand.

Firstly was the recruitment of an ex-Ace, ex-JPM and ex-Maygay developer named Alistair Harris. In my opinion he's one of the best ever AWP developers and had a really good feel for how an AWP should play. He did a fair few machines, all of which were pretty successful, e.g. Cash Connection, Money to Money, Cashanova.

I worked with him later on at Global where he did the Beaver series and a bunch of other very successful games. Nice bloke - now at Novomatic, I think.

Secondly was Pacman Plus; this was a massive seller (2000+ machines) and really set the tone for the next few years. As you may remember, it gave regular features and though it often killed you off, you were soon back in and could take some OK wins from it. A softer game along the lines of Barcrest machines at the time. Very much a pub machine and the sales reflected it. The stake/prize ratio worked well back then. I think - and I may be wrong - but Pacman Plus was the basis for many games far beyond my time. My only claim to fame is writing the game spec for it - I did no programming on it at all. 

[infection]

5 hours ago, edwardb said:

He is

I joined Mazooma in 1998 when games like Take the Piste, Grab A Granny and Blue Rinse were just launched. They were all dump-a-lump machines, and though sales were OK for some of those early machines, there were (in my opinion) two major milestones in Mazooma going from a BWB-alike company (who also made very lumpy games, go figure) to being a mainstream AWP brand.

Firstly was the recruitment of an ex-Ace, ex-JPM and ex-Maygay developer named Alistair Harris. In my opinion he's one of the best ever AWP developers and had a really good feel for how an AWP should play. He did a fair few machines, all of which were pretty successful, e.g. Cash Connection, Money to Money, Cashanova.

I worked with him later on at Global where he did the Beaver series and a bunch of other very successful games. Nice bloke - now at Novomatic, I think.

Secondly was Pacman Plus; this was a massive seller (2000+ machines) and really set the tone for the next few years. As you may remember, it gave regular features and though it often killed you off, you were soon back in and could take some OK wins from it. A softer game along the lines of Barcrest machines at the time. Very much a pub machine and the sales reflected it. The stake/prize ratio worked well back then. I think - and I may be wrong - but Pacman Plus was the basis for many games far beyond my time. My only claim to fame is writing the game spec for it - I did no programming on it at all. 

What does grab  a granny look like

[edwardb]

15 hours ago, infection said:

What does grab  a granny look like

It was a clone of blue rinse - think it was done for arcade/bingo mainly.

[vectra666]

17 hours ago, infection said:

What does grab  a granny look like

Goto gala bingo at kicking out time 

[woodsy]

18 hours ago, infection said:

What does grab  a granny look like

 

1 hour ago, vectra666 said:

Goto gala bingo at kicking out time 

or ask me for tip and tricks to achieve the as advertised ganny grab

[vectra666]

2 hours ago, woodsy said:

 

or ask me for tip and tricks to achieve the as advertised ganny grab

Got to kick em off the bandits first, I remember gala the bids used to put a quid in partytime then leave a credit in them and then they reserve them all night just incase they won the bingo. Pissed me right off especially when one biddy saves three out of four and you’ve streaked the other one.

also worked the other way where dot and Mabel done their pensions in em for me to casually walk over with a quid, xs then player one it’s you!!! Bong bong bong “jackpot “ times three, done that once or twice.  their faces were like dried up lemons. Sour and wrinkly lol

Edited May 16, 2023 by vectra666