------------------------------------------------------------- "BEATING THE HOUSE" at GAME CENTER MERCHANDISE AND REDEMPTION (v1) ------------------------------------------------------------- Use your browser's FIND function to skip right to the part that you want if you see any familiar machine names. If you want to submit information, see the contact info in the introduction below. I. Cranes and UFO catchers Ia. SUGAR LOAF / TOY SHOPPE Ib. NAMCO / BIG CHOICE Ic. Others Id. Japanese UFO CATCHER machines Ie. Other 'UFO CATCHER' machines II. Other merchandise games IIa. LIGHTHOUSE IIb. SPORTS ARENA IIc. MOVIE STOP III. Ticket games IIIa. SMOKIN' TOKEN IIIb. DRILL-O-MATIC IIIc. WONDER WHEEL IIId. CYCLONE/STORM STOPPER, WHEEL OF FORTUNE, and OTHERS IV. AT THE COUNTER ------------ Introduction ------------ As a gamer, you probably learned around the time you were 12 that playing Street Fighter was a better investment than taking home plastic spider rings after wasting all your tokens on that weird thing that spits out one to three pity tickets. However, a decade later, chances are you've honed your gaming abilities, not to mention your knowledge of math, electronics, and physics. It's time to put those skills to work and impress friends, family, and potential employers with a bunch of almost-free shit you got from the arcade. Let's go! If you're a parent, have a look at how you can get the most from your visit or birthday party at a fun center (particularly read the 'AT THE COUNTER' section). As a former Namco entertainment center employee with a ton of junk won from redemption games both on and off-duty, experience taking these things apart, putting them back together, and watching customers use them all day, as well as being a pretty hardcore gamer and nerd in general, I know the function of these things intimately well. If you want to submit additional information or info on machines not covered in this FAQ, please feel free to submit it. Contact: [real name removed for fear of previous employers giving me smack about info in here] AIM: paranoiasuper Email: codeguyty@hotmail.com -------------------------- I. Cranes and UFO catchers -------------------------- These are in almost every arcade and in a great deal of restaurants, Wal*Marts, bowling alleys, etc. In Japan, there are isles and isles of the "UFO Catcher" variety. These vary in difficulty greatly and are often considered a poor investment, but only by noobs. The one most important part of high level crane/UFOC ability is knowing what's a retrievable prize BEFORE you play. The one most important part of high level crane/UFOC ability is knowing what's a retrievable prize BEFORE you play. THE ONE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF HIGH LEVEL CRANE/UFOC ABILITY IS KNOWING WHAT'S A RETRIEVABLE PRIZE *BEFORE* YOU PLAY. Use your eagle-eyes to spot freshly stocked machines with prizes that can easily be LIFTED, TILTED, or DRAGGED. In the US, the two most common crane devices (at least in my territory) are the Sugar Loaf / Toy Shoppe machines and the Namco Big Choice machines. GENERAL ADVICE: DRAGGING prizes out of an overstocked machine that has free all-direction movement, when possible, is a great way to get prizes, sometimes more than one at a time if it's a real mess. TILTING prizes into the return, by grabbing and lifting the far end of the prize with the crane, is also usually easier than the regular lift and drop. Don't just trust your own depth perception, look at the prize and crane alignment from different angles. If the game center uses tokens, look/ask for a bulk deal to lower your cost per play. --------------------------- Ia. Super Loaf / Toy Shoppe --------------------------- The Sugar Loaf / Toy Shoppe machines are recognizable primarily by the extra-large three-prong crane arm and the fact that it's probably at a grocery store, convenience store, etc. These are usually black-colored, somewhat large, and have big, fruity, garish marquees. These are stocked and maintained as a route by someone other than the business proprietors (thus nobody there has a key, probably). These are tougher than most to win due to the weak, barely-there grip of the crane. It looks like more people win at these than actually do, due to very regular and complete re-stocking of the machines. Don't be fooled! To win anything out of this, the player needs to look for light-weight or non-grip (tiltable, draggable) prizes. Ball caps/trucker hats are easy pickin's. Plushes, however, are unlikely, even small ones, unless you can tilt/knock them over into the return without actually gripping them. For Toy Shoppe, sometimes it's easier to try to maneuver the hook into a loop for merchandise meant to be hung on racks or plushes with loops on them. This is possible sometimes, because the arm doesn't tend to tilt/rotate that much, and sometimes peculiar inventory can get into them (like tiny tool kits at my local convenience store). SUMMARY: This is one of the tougher machines. Don't play it except for the easy, obvious wins or very lightweight prizes. The first step to becoming a disciplined master in the art of prize-getting is to pretty much avoid these machines. Come back when you can spot easy wins. -------------------- Ib. Namco Big Choice -------------------- Big Choice machines often have no name on the marquee, but are usually recognizable by the red cabinet, usually with a black control stick with red button. The crane has three arms, like Toy Shoppe, but much smaller sized. I've seen these in single and triple varieties, and they work just the same. Big Choice machines are great for mastering. The grip strength can be changed by the operator, but the margin of difference is pretty insignificant. The arm comes down on a line, which may spin pretty randomly or get caught sideways on uneven prizes. To master this, become familiar with what the crane can grip; round items are extremely easy and almost guaranteed first-try prizes. Humanoid-shaped plushes are very easy if they are lying flat, as the crane can reach between its limbs and lift it directly up. Things to avoid are upright humanoid shapes and oversized items that can't be 'tilted' in. Namco arcades in the US often get prize packages that are way too large each than are appropriate for these things. Also common are elongated plastic capsules or sponges with other prizes inside (like YuGiOh cards). These aren't too bad if they are evenly grabbed at the center of mass, but are also slippery and may slide out of the crane arm if not balanced. SPOTTING WINNABLES: Typical Namco arcades restock their machines weekly, usually on Wednesday/Thursday as that's the start of their business week. Prizes are not placed to be hard to get, just to look nicely arranged (if anything). Immediately after a machine is restocked, there are many loose, easy-to-get prizes (like round and humanoid prizes). Most employees place a couple easy to get ones on purpose. It's also very common to overstock these, so prizes are easily tilted in. If the pile of prizes is high enough, the crane can be moved behind prizes to just push them around without even pushing the button! (This happened semi-frequently at my place) All Namco employees are insane, so the stock may be ready to be tilted or dragged by the armful, especially after a restock. Heck, even my boss got some flak for the DM for not moving prizes FAST ENOUGH, leading to some horrific overstocking (free prizes and heavy discounts at the counter). If a prize gets stuck in the chute or even snagged on the edge, most of employees will be happy to open it up and give it to you (it takes like 3 seconds). Sometimes, on the triple-sized machines, it's possible to tilt a prize into the return of the next machine. Not something that happens often, but it can be an easy win when it does happen. Because the crane is on a loose cable, you can swing it back and forth and knock stuff around and even smack it on the glass. Try this with the extra seconds on the clock. I've gotten a couple prizes this way. Not smacking the glass, I mean, knocking prizes around with a swinging crane. Easy prizes are often picked clean after a weekend in a game center, so it's better to have a look around Wednesday to Friday. If you can be the first person to play it after a restock, you'll probably get a bunch of one-try prizes. SUMMARY: This has a fairly strong grip (as far as crane games go) so it's actually a pretty fair game for even non-elite-grabbers. Be familiar with the loose-hanging swing. Go for the round and lying-flat humanoid prizes and tilt-able prizes. Drag stuff out when it's overstocked. Be the first to play after a machine restocking. Skip it if the easy stuff has been picked clean after a weekend. It's not even too hard to get over 50% success rate on this one. Pay attention to what the crane arm can do to get the most out of it. ------ OTHERS ------ ---------------- Ic. Candy-Man crane: ---------------- This is essentially a crane game for ESPECIALLY little/gullible kids. It also sings are terrible song. Chances are no candy in there is worth one or two of your tokens tokens, except sometimes a delicious box of Nerds or a Chico-stik. Sometimes other stuff gets in there (we put left-overs from the redemption counter in it, earning it the nickname 'Garbage Crane.' Also, when it arrived at our store, it had a bullet hole through it). If there's anything worth getting in there, though, it's pretty much yours for the taking, as (all of?) these machines let the player play indefinitely until they get at least one prize. Little kids often give up after one try or leave loose candy in there, so hell, reach in there and half the time there's free candy in it. (Info on other crane game models? Please submit!) --------------------- Id. JAPANESE UFO CATCHERS --------------------- I don't know how many of these are in America, but in Japan, game centers and isles and isles of them. Initially they may look too hard because they only have TWO arms on the crane, but they actually have decent grip and less room vertically for the prize to slide out, and it seems to be a common trend to have tiltable prizes. Japanese game centers seem to do more business than American ones, so they are well staffed and continually restock (some places are even open 24 hours). This is good for prize-grabbers! If you're visiting Japan, keep in mind that most machines take 100-yen pieces. That's almost a dollar. On the other hand, the prizes are much cooler and make great souvenirs for all your friends back home. UFO Catchers generally also have two different sizes of arms. Tiny ones for standard size UFO dollars, and bigger ones for oversize dolls, boxes, and other stuff. Some of the smaller ones only have ONE arm, even, for bumping round prizes off of a pile into the return. The easiest prizes are plush dolls with big heads in the small-arm size machines, which of course are quite common. These are easily tilted upright and slid into the return if the stack is high enough, and sometimes lifted straight up. (A Pikachu with big ears can be grabbed around the face, tilt forward, and be kept in place by its ears.) To grab one outright, look for that hourglass/giant-head shape and grab around the neck. Square boxes, as often seen in these machines, are a bad bet. You can't even tilt them in! The arms do not tilt, swing, rotate, and have a fair amount of gripping strength. That means less luck involved, leaving it up to skill. The larger-armed ones are not as easy, but the same rules apply. Gripping strength is weaker, so don't count on it. Focus on tilting larger dolls into the return. Some of these cost 200 yen, so take note before you put the first coin in. SUMMARY: UFO catchers, despite having two arms, generally have more gripping and lifting strength, and are especially great for tilting. -------------------- Ie. 'OTHER' UFO CATCHERS -------------------- Besides the standard UFO catchers, there's a variety of other machines with unique gimmicks. Japanese places always keep pretty up-to-date machines. --- TWO SETS OF ARMS and ROTATION! --- This is a risky proposition, but it can be done, and the prizes (like a gigantic plush horned beetle) are usually cool enough to be worth it. Notice that there's probably a third button for moving the arms together, and a fourth for rotating the whole mechanism. With these, leverage and tilting can be employed to their fullest! On a long, rectangular prize, instead of grabbing it by supporting it's weight evenly: | crane | ==/|===========|\== | ||| ||| | \| |/ | | | WRONG! | | | |-----------------| | |----prize--------| | return |________________ XX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Move the arms together, lift the far end of the prize, and tilt & push it into the return. | crane | ========/|====|\== | ||| ||| | \| |/ | | | RIGHT! | | | |-----------------| | |----prize--------| | return |__________________ XX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX It's the old tilt-in trick again! ------ MANUAL ARM ALIGNMENT MACHINES ------ I haven't seen a lot of these, but I found one and have a huge wall clock to show for it. This isn't completely intuitive, so like a lot of machines, it's a good idea to watch someone else play it first. On this machine, there's a crane the width of the entire game! You must move it forward, move the left arm in, then move the right arm in. Then the crane drops, moves both arms in about an inch or so, and lifts and moves forward towards the return. Don't try this if there isn't anything BUT a long, rectangular, tilt-able prize (which, fortunately, is usually what's in there). Often, they're raised up a little on a bar so you can get under them more easily. The important thing is that lighter prizes will slide forward far more easily, which is actually bad usually, as it will slide forward off the crane too quickly and off the bar if it was on it, while not making it anywhere near the return. It's probably better to go for the heavier prize, as long as it's not a rack of bowling balls or something. Tilting skills and weight judgement will win many prizes on this. --------------------------- II. OTHER MERCHANDISE GAMES --------------------------- Game centers are filled with other games that usually involve stopping a light or spinner at the right time to win a prize. MOVIE STOP, SPORTS ARENA, and LIGHTHOUSE are common examples in the U.S. These are, without exception, rigged to give out prizes only when the machine feels like it. The settings at most places are roughly to give out a prize after FIVE TIMES the value of the prize has been played through the machine. So you should just give up on getting these, right? WRONG! If you're a regular visitor to the game center (or god forbid, you work there), you can watch and note the sometimes shocking consistency of the pace that prizes are dispensed. Sometimes there's random variation on some machines, or they just don't work right (Movie Stop), but a majority of them can be calculated so so that you can throw a few bucks worth of tokens/quarters and get a new walkman, PS2 game, etc. --------------- IIa. LIGHTHOUSE --------------- LIGHTHOUSE, on the most commonly used settings, gives out a prize roughly $50 in value every $250 worth of credits. At my Namco arcade, this was almost EXACTLY every 11th day, counting Friday and Saturday (busy days) as two days. As such, with careful observation, I was able to snag $150 worth of prizes for less than $20 worth of tokens. LIGHTHOUSE is pretty easy to spot, with it's spinner, lights, and noise. It also lets you choose which of six prizes you want. Typically, you get three spins to try to get above 5 points, but it doesn't really matter what you hit, as the machine decides when it will give out a prize (I won without even watching the spinner and just randomly hitting the button with a bunch of credits in). This is for the classier, more valuable prizes, usually. One more note about Lighthouse: a factory defect, unless fixed, often causes prizes to not register properly with the prize sensor, sometimes giving out CONSECUTIVE prizes. Always try a few games immediately after you or someone else wins. Sometimes the machine freezes up when this happens and will give out a prize after reboot. Also, if a prize gets JAMMED in the return (and Namco arcades love to put in overly-large prizes), it will not properly register with the prize sensor, and may give out additional prizes, provided they will not jam, too. (Example: jam it with a big box containing a telephone or something, then drop some PS2 games past it) ----------------- IIb. SPORTS ARENA ----------------- SPORTS ARENA (also seen under many other names, but always has the manufacturer's (SAMMY) logo on it). It's not particularly large, has a grey finish and black and mirrored interior and a whole bunch of flashing lights. The object is to stop the light at one of the red ones, and you get the next prize on that rack (there are six racks). This operates under the same rules as LIGHTHOUSE, only with even worse odds typically, and less often any prizes worth it. Sometimes places like Namco stock them with valuable goodies like new GBA games, but usually not. This is also a popular route game (my K*Mart has one). It doesn't get a lot of business though, so it's not easy or worth it to track most of the time. If you want to cross the line between being really clever into outright breaking-the-rules thuggery, this machine is easy to shake the crap out of and get lots of prizes from, provided that nobody is watching, you unplugged the machine so the tilt alarm doesn't go off (which isn't that loud actually compared to the rest of the game center), and you don't tilt the machine over on yourself (duh). The reasons you should NOT do this are listed in the "AT THE COUNTER" section, and should probably be intuitive anyway. Don't get kicked out of the arcade, and don't be an asshole, unless you really, really need that Spongebob keychain. For arcade operators reading this, I recommend keeping this machine within full view of the counter because it's easy to shake down. --------------- IIc. MOVIE STOP --------------- Before you play MOVIE STOP, look carefully at the the point where you're supposed to stop the light. Hit the button at the arrow next to the big 'STOP' button, and it coasts to a stop at the row of green lights. MOVIE STOP usually has decent odds and a good pace of prize-giving, but there's a huge quirk/pitfall with it. If it's set to the hardest difficulty (1 on a variable from 1-256), it will not operate correctly and often will go up to a couple months without giving out a prize. Sometimes it will do random, insane shit like give out three movies in a day on this setting. If it's on a CORRECT setting (2 or greater), it will give out movies at a decent pace. If this is at a Namco arcade, they have been instructed to use the hardest setting, but some managers know better. Also, unlike with other redemption games, managers buy the inventory directly (within a budget), so there can be some rather choice inventory sometimes. Watch the inventory of movie stop, and if it moves at all (roughly one or two prizes a week at fair business), hit that for it's games and anime by playing at the right times, just like LIGHTHOUSE. ------------------------------------------- III. beating the house at TICKET REDEMPTION ------------------------------------------- There's a lot of stuff not realized about TICKET REDEMPTION that becomes clear and shocking from the other side of the counter. And I will bestow upon you these secrets! Almost all arcades, from Namco to Tilt to independent fun centers, use the same ticket redemption system. The ticket cost of their merchandise is equal to the cost of the prize to the company, IN CENTS, plus a 10% to 25% margin, whatever rounds to nice even number. ONE TICKET = ONE CENT ONE TICKET = ONE CENT ONE TICKET = ONE CENT Most arcades hit a balance of around 4-7 tickets per token spent. So when getting 8 tickets out of a machine for one token seems like big payout, well, game centers have a pretty good racket going there, don't they? Well, at least it's easy to calculate when you're coming out ahead. But hell, if MIT card counters can make hundreds of thousands at Vegas casinos, you can be damn sure you can do the same thing at arcades, and with a lot less difficulty and back-alley beatings. Also be advised that bulk token deals can knock down the cost per token from 25 cents down to 20 cents, 17.5 cents, or even the much-sought-after 12.5 cents. The big trick here is that there are at least about a half-dozen machines with big weaknesses that will cause them to give out absurd amount of tickets with the right knowledge. Aho, and there they are: -------------------- IIIa. SMOKIN' TOKEN: -------------------- This has disappeared from many arcades JUST BECAUSE it's so easy to hustle. It's played by using timing to flip a token into a doodad, apparently. I haven't personally played this machine, but according to everyone, ever, it's a simple matter to mark the glass or something and get nearly 100% success rate and a big payout of tickets. Watch for this one! -------------------- IIIb. DRILL-O-MATIC: -------------------- This big machine is operated by positioning a lining up a drill to a hole and pushing the prize out (or pushing in a free game or ticket button). The prizes aren't really worth going for at most places unless you really want a DALE EARNHARDT wristwatch, but the 500 ticket and 5 free games buttons are gravy. The challenge is two-fold; the drill will 'coast' a bit after the joystick is released, and there's a tough but fair time limit. The machine has adjustable difficulty (how far/long the drill will 'coast') and most managers leave it at an easy setting until some wiseguy wins two full ticket bundles in a couple hours. The only trick to this is practice and raw skill. It's not even THAT hard, but it takes a bit of dedication (my arcade had one or two 12-year-olds that could empty the machine for a few thousand tickets on one dollar or so). It's probably not worth it if it's on the hardest setting, but go for it if it's at a fair setting and there are upper-tier ticket prizes available, like video game consoles and stuff. Or, shit, fill your garage with bouncy balls. This is where the big tickets are if you (or your 12-year-old son) can pull it off. Be warned, though, the ticket/free game buttons are easily removable, and managers will do it if they're taking a bit hit from it. ------------------- IIIc. WONDER WHEEL: ------------------- This is my favorite because of the pure hustling math and skill, and the fact that next to nobody, including arcade managers, knows about this. Wonder Wheel is easily spotted as a combination of conveyor-chute and big, vertical wheel that looks like the one Bob Barker invites people to spin. It also yells "IT'S THE NEW, BIGGER, BETTER, W-W-WONDER WHEEL" about a thousand times per hour. The trick: the gaps on the wheel payout roughly 3-12 tickets, usually, and there's a small one that usually pays around 30 tickets. The big trick, though, is that after landing a token, ESPECIALLY in the 30, follow-up tokens get a multiplier for the next few seconds (the countdown is shown on one of the game's counters). With good timing and landing tokens in the 30, the ticket payout increases EXPONENTIALLY, and the entire bundle (3000-5000 tickets) can be cleared out for a couple bucks. If you're a veteran game player that probably goes to the arcade constantly for bemani and fighting games, chances are the timing skills needed will be cake for you. --------------------------------------------------------- IIId. CYCLONE/STORM STOPPER, WHEEL OF FORTUNE, and OTHERS --------------------------------------------------------- Cyclone and Wheel of Fortune are subject to the same "when the machine feels like it" rule regarding jackpots, as are the many other very similar machines (jackpots on Sega's Titanic pretty much never happen, though). At probably 25 cents a pop, it's probably not worth it to try to track Wheel of Fortune's schedule of jackpots when the average is only about 250 tickets. Cyclone, however, while having a fairly random variance of jackpot payouts, has an increasing jackpot that's plainly displayed. And the higher it is, the more likely it is to pay out. Cyclone ALSO requires good timing to hit the jackpot light when it's "ready" to give out a jackpot. The exact timing is less than 10 milliseconds, I think (the exact timing and pretty much complete mechanics of the game were dissected on aaroninjapan.com's forums, once - if I find the specifics, I'll get 'em in here). While Cyclone isn't exactly the most reliable (it also gives two or three nearly consecutive jackpots on occasion), it's possible to play the odds on it. ------------------- IV. AT THE COUNTER: ------------------- It's often fun and easy to make well with the customer service guys and work it to your advantage. Namco arcades don't count tickets incoming to the counter (only outgoing on meters on the ticket mechs on the machines), and I doubt other game centers do either, so employees have a LOT of leeway to give discounts, be haggled with, or even give freebies out to please costumers or to get them to go away. Part of this also depends on management, which can lean either way on "make customers happy" or "don't give shit away or you're getting written up." I think advice here is best suited to bulleted points: - Employees will round up your tickets to make you happy. They will round up more if it gets you to decide faster. If you say "oh, shoot, I only have 9000 tickets and I want that thing for 10000," they will probably round up THAT much. Employees are usually told to try to move the older, higher-priced merchandise. Haggling is A-OK! - Do one tiny nice favor for an employee and they'll give you the world. Bring them leftover pizza, cake, soda, etc, from the birthday party your kids just had or the fries you're not going to eat from McD's, and they'll probably give you a couple bucks in tokens. They're probably not supposed to, but it's their people's currency and they have lots for those who do even the tiniest of favors. - Arcades usually have small staff out of massive amounts of applications of people with only soft skills. Only two kinds of people work get hired: cool people and friends of the manager. Keep in mind that arcade employees are generally cool people. - However, if you steal, tamper with games (LOL SPORTS ARENA), harass anyone in the arcade, leave a mess, etc., the employees will hate you forever and watch your every move until they find a reason to ban you from the arcade forever (one of my favorite hobbies - oh, and there's plenty of word of mouth between employees about regular customers, good and bad both). - Kids who beg for tokens get none, ever, but normal arcade-goers who mention they are one token short for a game while usually get it topped off by a friendly employee. - If you are a mall security guard, you can probably get free games and goodies. Employees like having them around if they're cool, and managers LOVE having them around so nobody breaks anything or starts shit. - If you work in a mall food place, start a black market; food and drink for tokens and candy. This is extremely lucrative for both parties. If you work at GameStop or some place where arcade nerds like to go, offer up use of your employee discount for tokens. ----------- CONCLUSION: ----------- Getting the GOODS at arcades is really best done at the cranes and UFO catchers, but can be done through ticket redemption as well, and is only aided, and not hindered, by employees. CONTRIBUTORS: The author The SA forums That guy that likes Bridget a bit much