Lemmy's touring slot machines
I’m very happy to have finally finished this one. It's taken me longer to make than most videos, approximately five years.
It’s an unusual tale with a bit of a mystery, a bit of history and a bit of a demo. Way more niche than a review of a dishwasher, but far more personal too. I know it won't attract a wide audience, or even appeal to all the usual viewers but it's a tale I wanted to tell.
As always, take care and keep smiling.
Anyone want a broken geldspielautomat? - No charge, but buyer collects.
Comments (75)
I used to work for a company that having hit hard times within the UK after years of seemingly unstoppable early 80s' to mid 90s' success, started to produce machines exclusively for the (then) promising post-1992 European market. One of my jobs was to play machines like these to get a feel for the game, and then software engineers would shamelessly copy the whole thing but with different artwork. Wall machines were always popular in Germany, but also tabletop types in Spain and Italy (usually using reels on bands to save space) purely to stop the machines taking up too much floorspace. Some countries welcomed outsiders selling machines - Spain was 'tough but fair', needing a lot of donated machines to pass their own testing regime, others worked on near-bribery, some like France were basically (and effectively illegally, given free trade requirements) shut out to the UK supplier. The company I used to work for are long gone, quite a sad story (personally) for the people involved really, after a period of consolidation, all the famous British AWP factories went and lived on only as digital brands. We used to be jealous of the huge, ultimately US owned, but still UK based Barcrest who claimed to have a room equipped as a STUDIO for effects and a 3 day a week employed 'musician'! But as the days of the breweries placing large numbers of machines dwindled, as pub estates got split up and digital started to creep in (or just punters using their own phones to gamble) the pinch started even there. First things like cabinet building were outsourced to subcontractors, then the build, then the spare parts supply, it's like Rover all over again really :( After a while, the only company left in the UK making brand new, reels based machines (known as 'analogue' machines in the industry) was Bell Fruit Manufacturing in Nottingham. They were owned by German based Novomatic (sound familiar?) and did try to introduce wall based machines to the UK but with little success. As it happens our company did try and convert Pashislo (token type) machines to 10p payout, £3 jackpot low tech gamblers, but no-one was really interested despite the machines being two a penny. By then second hand AWPs were always cheaper, and offered more. In 2001 you could have effectively bought any 3-4 year old, fully working full size AWP machine you wanted for £50, provided you were an approved trade buyer. Bell Fruit produced their last new analogue machine in 2019 I think, and by 2020, they were gone :( https://www.flickr.com/photos/buzzer999/50058070267
Hello Matt. If you’re still hoping to get the machine working again one day, perhaps this will help: A swiss IT professional, who also happens to be a YouTuber, just released a video (less than an hour ago, from when I posted this) that just might send you in the direction of somebody that could help! His channel name is “Play With Junk.” https://youtu.be/24JRPMDzYzA Here is the website that belongs to the museum: https://www.outlane.ch
Thanks for the links but I’ll be passing this one on in its current state for someone else to work on. It’s served it’s purpose for me now.
That look after you struggled to get the machine on the table around the 13 minute mark. :-D
My cousin had a fruit machine in their house. Not a huge payout, I think the jackpot was £25. They kept the money it made for their annual family holiday.
They do make good piggy banks.
That German machine is like watching an iTunes visualizer while 8-bit tunes play and the barkeeper steals your wallet.
Yes that’s pretty much it in a nutshell.
Great video, Mat. Was it terribly wrong of me and the missus to laugh at your exhausted look to camera when you'd wrestled it on the table? Sorry! :-) Two things to add: Whether fixed or not, if you ever seriously reach the point of taking it to the tip, drop me a note and if we can, we'll try to come and get it. (In the Nissan Leaf :-) Also, If Mrs Taylor would allow, you might paint that garage wall dark grey matt, it would look really very acceptable as a background and dark grey would make the lighting shine out better. Just a thought. Thanks for a very entertaining half hour! S.
Its fine - you were supposed to laugh. I could have done a quick dissolve to the Geldspielautomat sat on the table, but this was more fun. If I get the chance I'll try painting the wall sometime. I might have to use it again some time. Oh and yes after I've put a new capacitor and one resistor in it - it's yours if you want it (Euros not included).
Great video, I've never seen those types of machines before. Quick thing, if you ever decide to do more content with the Japanese machines, the "ch" is a hard sound, like "chin" not like "chic." To Japanese ears, it's a major huge difference.
Loved the video. I am very familiar with those German machines. Brought back a lot of good memories for me. I was giggling at the “flippin ‘eck”-moment at about 06:26, when you lifted the machine onto the table. Found that really funny. I think I even moved with the video as if I was lifting the thing myself :)
This is the kind of thing I'm a subscriber to your patreon for.
Great video again! I really enjoyed the backstory about the machine. Any story involving a rockstar is worth telling in my opinion! On a sidenote, it might be worthwhile to check if the warning light comes on because it doesn't have enough money to pay out. You obviously don't want anyone winning anything, with the machine unable to pay out.
It did dawn on me later that this might be the reason - so once I’ve replaced the blown components, I’ll try again.
Because of a heavy work schedule, I finally got to finish this one. It's frustrating, because I like to watch Techmoan vids with nothing distracting going on, so I had to wait. My mom bought a couple Pachinko games when I was probably 15 or so. I think she found them at some sort of sale. They looked like someone had used a sawzall on whatever they had been mounted to and just sold them that way. As there was no electronics connected, all we could do was play it without any blinking lights or sound. Since no money is involved, my friends and I decided that the only object of the game was to never stop playing, as there wasn't any reward other than more balls. We never considered that you could hand in your balls for money. Not at that age, anyway. Nyuk nyuk. We did have a lot of fun with them, though. Years later I connected a car battery to the leads and saw the thing lit up for the first time. I don't think this one made any noise other than the bouncing of the balls on the pins and the bell that rang when it paid out. Now I'm 62 and in a band, and I can assure you I wouldn't want to haul one of those things around. We carry our own sound system and instruments, but I'm sure that the roadies at minimum wage (thank you, Jackson Browne), wouldn't be delighted that a band member had an 80 lb game that needed to be dragged in and out of the dressing room. Oh, and the bleep made my day. I appreciate the fact that you keep your videos clean, but it comforts me in some odd way that you do have that talent in your repertoire.
I believe that those old mechanical Pachinkos are quite collectible now - far more than the more modern ones. The skill side of that game seemed to be removed by the electronic shooters compared to the spring loaded ones age. I’m sure the parlour owners were over the moon. The bleep was a bit of a joke - I said the first half of b*stard which then morphed into a grunt - but I thought the beep was more entertaining.
When you showed the very first picture of Lemme, my brain went "Looks German." Hah! T'was! Cheers from ... Germany!
One of the best video 😃 Now with Magic Smoke
When you show the LEDS in the inside at 20:41 the two of them in the middle say "Normal an", meaning they should be on normally, but the one at the top left says "Normal aus", meaning it should be off normally although in the video it is on. The description says "Short in the light matrix or missing clock" (clock as in CPU clock, not wall clock). That could be an indication of the problem.
The Psychology of a heavy metal star. A brief symposium on international gambling machines. A middle aged man giving himself a hernia. And some smoke. It must be a Techmoan video! Loved this one, a great story.
What a great watch Mat, loved every minute. I knew Lemmy was a keen video game player, but wasn't aware of his love of the fruit machines.
Great video as always. I liked the virtual section- probably the closest you'll ever get to doing a "let's play". All that's missing is a facecam in one of the corners :P
I can't get my head around the idea of being _so_ entertained by this kind of machine that I'd want to travel with one. Maybe it worked on Lemmy's brain like a big fidget toy...something that burned off surplus CPU cycles?
Maybe it was the candy crush of its time for him.
id bet that when the battery went flat the computer lost some data and thats why the tamper setting has been triggered.
Great video! I didn’t really understand how the machine worked though. It seems like kind of a terrible deal for the players in terms of chance. I was wondering if you had thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of each type of machine?
You're with me on that - if I could explain it better I would, but it's all still quite confusing to me. It just seems like it'll keep gambling all your money away until it's gone unless you stop it. Almost the opposite of most UK machines where you're asked whether you want another go after each spin.
Great video as always. In the before times, an idea would've been to hand it off to Big Clive and see him analyse and (maybe) fix the problem.
I'm always amused when anyone says 'pass it to Big Clive' - that's no mean feat. I can picture the amount of hassle including ferry journeys, overnight stays, meals out etc in getting something to Big Clive on the Isle of Man. I've never visited there yet - I might one day, but it probably won't be with a car filled up with a German slot machine.
If you like to gamble, I tell you I'm your man, You win some, lose some, it's all the same to me, The pleasure is to play, makes no difference what you say.
Soon as you started going down the rabbit hole of international slots configurations and then whipped out the Allwin machine, I knew this video was going to be something special. One of my favorite episodes in recent months, Mat. I hope it finds the audience it deserves!
Thanks - I've been building up to this one for a while, trying to do simple videos that can't go wrong in order to collect the extra time needed to get this in the bag. It was still a tall order though.
There is (or certainly was) a 'Penny Arcade' museum on Brighton seafront, where you'd exchange a pound for however many old pennies they gave you, and you could use those early machines like the one you've had since... did you say six? It's incredibly well kept for something a kid owned!
I made the mistake of storing it in the loft a few years ago and the plastic backing shrunk and warped. It really needs to go in the bin but it's hard to part with.
One fact I find amusing is that BBC Sport presenter Frank Bough and Lemmy were born 5 miles apart. One lived a life of drugs, debauchery and overall sexual disrepute, and the other became the bassist and lead singer in Motorhead.
I was hoping to get to see the motherboard. I'm curious what CPU it would have used from the time period.
That main box seems well sealed - I could be mistaken though. If I get a chance to take another look I’ll see if I can open it.
Pocket full of shrapnel? I bet you didn't know that Lt General Henry Shrapnel of the British Army invented the fragmentation shell in 1787. I've been waiting for decades for that question to come up in a pub quiz! I wonder why I never get invited to parties? Wonderful video as always - fascinating back story too. Lemmy outta here!
You definitely get variety on a techmoan channel. Interesting video, felt for your back when you lifted the machine up. I'm always wanted a arcade games machine but dont have the room. Got a ex pub digital jukebox that plays games though (including the old bullseye)
All the small towns here in Florida were taken over by "Aracades" in the past 5 years. They were not technically gambling machines so they were legal and you'd see Crown Victorias and Lincoln Towncars parked out front where the senior citizens were giving their money away. They still caused too much trouble in my hometown and the city passed and ordinance to outlaw them so a few moved outside the city limits. Also I remember reading that Lemmy spent his final days doing what he loved, playing with his gaming machines. It is so weird to see a man who sang the songs he did be obsessed with something like these. This was a great video as usual.
Yeah, one of his favorite pastimes was hanging out and playing the machines at the Rainbow Bar and Grill... and when Lemmy was on his deathbed, the owner of the place had the machine moved to his apartment so he could play in his final days...
The "Jacket in front a brick wall" look really suits you, and the video is fascinating in the very best way. I really didn't know that there was other kind of slot machines outside of what I'd seen in the USA
It’s cold in that garage - so it was more necessity than good judgement.
I just noticed after a re-watch that Lemmy's machine not only gained a Motörhead sticker, it also gained another sticker on the upper left corner.
Yes, deliberately omitted that one.
Ah, I miss Lemmy. By all accounts, he really did appear to be a complete gentleman--and probably one of the most honest people in all of entertainment. Great video, definitely brightened my day. (I always find the older electromechanical tech so much more interesting than our all-digital stuff today.)
Great episode! Any sense on could the odds be changed in the machine to increase or decrease the chances of winning?
If they could I suspect it would have to be via some kind of device that interfaced with the machine to 'reprogram' it - but it seems unlikely. There were no user accessible dip switches or any obvious 'free play' button.
Interesting history of gambling machines in general as well as the story of the Lemmy machine and your search for one like it (I was kind of hoping that you had acquired the exact machine featured in the news photo). Were you ever afraid that you would drop one of those as you lifted them up on the table? It looked like you might slip a disk or get a hernia. Why didn't you ask the Moans to help with the heavy lifting?
As the machines were broken - I wasn't too concerned about them. I think staging a puppet show in the middle of manoeuvres might have complicated rather than helped matters though.
Thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Older coin-operated machines are so interesting. One avenue that not many look into are the vintage Erie Diggers, the early "Claw Machines". Similar issues with authorities classifying them as gambling devices.
I used to enjoy those as a very young child. A few arcades still had them installed at that point and they weren't considered antiques so were often converted to electrically motorised operation. I remember doing quite well on them as far as lolly pops and sweets go.
What a wonderful machine it is. I'm sort of amazed at the difference here - I'm very much used to the American type that is much less overwhelming in terms of information all over the place, the German machines certainly feel like you need to sit down with a manual for a while to really get everything going on. It makes me wonder if there's other regional variations as well - I remember being on holiday in Spain a few years back and seeing an unusual slot machine at a tavern in Móstoles next to the cigarette vending machine (!!) that caught my eye, but I didn't catch up with it after.
I'm sure there's more - there are a lot of countries out there and with each making machines to suit the local market there must be plenty of other variations to be discovered.
Very interesting video. Yes, in the 80s and 90s these Geldspielautomaten were everywhere here in Germany. Pubs, normal Restaurants, Fast food restaurants... so you could always loose some money while you were waiting for your food. I never used one but I remember seeing them often with an out of order sign and there were also times I saw them being serviced. I think the concept was that the restaurant would rent these from a company and got a cut from the profit. Today these have become rare and are associated with smelly pubs which haven't been renovated in decades. Regarding your machine: Have you checked if the motors can spin freely? Maybe they are blocked with old grease? And I would bet money that the thing that started smoking was a Rifa capacitor aka Knallfrosch. ;)
The wheels get locked into position unless they are spinning, so they never really spin freely however they were working well at one point. I'm going to give it a cursory look over - but ideally it would go to someone who really wants to fix it.
That’s some great prop comedy when you lift the device to the table. Hope your fingers survived!
There's enough of them left to hitch hike.
That was a super-fun video. Glad you hauled that out of storage, despite the injuries. In a moment of exuberance, I once bought a used pachinko machine on Ebay. I had heard they were loud, but didn't realize that meant *ear-splittingly* loud. I retired it to the basement, with the plan of wiring in a volume control. That was 10 years ago...
My Pachinko machine had been neutered as far as the audio goes - a circuit has been added to temper the racket. It's not a fun game though. It's been in the attic for a few years now.
Hey Mat, when you talked about AllWins you reminded me of a place you may one day like to visit (especially with a young family member). Its a place called Dingles, aka Heritage Fairground Museum. It's located in Devon and its one of the most beautiful places ive ever been to. I know you mentioned in the past that you enjoy antiques that "work" and still provide something. Well this place is the antithesis of this. It's a charity that rescues and restores 1800's and 1900's fairground rides and attractions. I went with a friend in 2019 and it was magical. Everything is adorned with old bulbs and beautifully hand painted murals. I mention this because there was a section filled with "allwins" that were converted to take pennies. Even if you dont like rides, just going around the place is breathtaking. https://www.fairground-heritage.org.uk https://youtu.be/PQvXNeu1AM4
There's a very similar place near Filey in N.Yorks - I took this picture there of a two player proto-pong style arcade game. https://imgur.com/a/l9CIUr7
Certainly gives Ace of Spades another dimension. I remember seeing machines with that symbol in place of 7s and bars when I was a kid. Other card symbols as well. There was some one-armed bandits in Tivoli that were caller 'Poker' that didn't have any fruit at all, my great aunt Edith would absolutely not play on those!
Usual viewer here, very interesting video. Love anything about old mechanics and electronics.
@BlondiHacks could probably fix that right up for you. Unfortunately, she's in California. :-(
I always intended to give it away after the video was finished so I’m not really invested in fixing it now that the video is done. I’ll replace a few caps and if that doesn’t work it’s taking a one way trip to the tip. If it does work then I’ll need to find someone who wants it. But either way, it’s game over for me.
I used to work for a company that made a box that interfaced with the controllers in these machines, a standard port and protocol that is used to report takings and the like for auditing and reporting purposes. Remember spending many hours listening the the guys "testing" the sample machines that we got. IIRC the product that we produces was called "Datashield" but I wasn't directly involved in the product.
Yes this one has a little DIN (?) plug at the bottom near the cash box
I know of some addicted gamblers that went that route to cope with their addiction, get a Geldspielautomat at home. One particular used it as a piggybank for his kids, everything that went in there was theirs on Christmas day. I myself are rather fond of mechanical games, we call the Unterhaltungsgeräte, like the famous Herz Ass. Imagine a video poker with mechanical card views, ten games was like ten Pfennig and you couldn't win anything, much like an arcade machine.
I appreciate those split flap poker machines too - if I had the space, I’d definitely seek one out.
I think this appeals to more usual viewers than you might expect... Techmoan + metal is the ultimate combo for me. And also what a great story! Thank you for your work. Hope your fingers and your leg are all okay, haha
Fortunately all the injuries were temporary - later on I noticed blood all over the place as well, I’d sliced a finger without realising it. All sorted now though.
Lemmy once handed me his pint, from the stage, and though I only got once gulp before someone snatched it from me- I swear it was whisky and cider over ice. Which sounds about right for him! I look forward to this one.
A very brave(?) man in taking that gulp.