i think i've bitten by the slot machine bug!

gotya

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i've alway been with vids and pins, but recent trips to the casino has perked my interest in some of the latest slots!
how hard is it to pick up a slot like the monkees???
 
i've alway been with vids and pins, but recent trips to the casino has perked my interest in some of the latest slots!
how hard is it to pick up a slot like the monkees???

Winning your own money gets old fast. I had one for 6 months or so, once the novelty wore off I sold it.
 
I have a Japanese pachislo machine. They're fun for parties or when you have friends over, but I never play the one I have on my bar on my own. It's for show more than anything, because it lights up and makes a lot of noise. Plus the attract screen is cool when nobody is playing it. But that's about it. I had two before, but I sold one to a guy for helping me with some bathroom construction work, and I never missed it at all.

The older original American slot machines will run you a lot of money; figure between $750 - $2000 for some of them. Pachislos are Asian, and much, much cheaper. You can pick one up for around $200-$350 (avg). If you're talking newer games you can only play in casinos right now, good luck. Those can cost many thousands of dollars. Your best investment is a Pachislo right now. It is entertaining and has an affordable entry price. You can find them used for under $200 easy.
 
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Keep an eye on CL and feebay... I just sold five IGT S+ slots, they are great machines as they rarely break, but if they do, they are easy to work on and parts are cheap. The newer LCD type slots will cost you $1500+ I don't know where you are located, but here is one example of a cheap S+ (They usually run $600-$900 in my area)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IGT-Slot-Ma...792?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51a03c46b0

If you go the "Skill Stop" route, play one before you buy. I had two and got rid of them as fast as I could, absolutely hated them (Grabbed them both off CL, one for $45 the other for $55 (This one had a cool 9" LCD screen, but screamed at me in Japanese, and I had not freakin idea what was going on)) . A real slot is the way to go.
 
bitten by the slot machine bug

Be carefull of Pachislo's. They are cheap but try to find someone who can fix them and fix them right. A friend of mine was a major distributor of them 10 yrs ago. He will not fix or sell them anymore because parts are very hard to come by and the labor is usually half the cost of the machine. Stick with the real deal.
 
I guess I'm in the minority. I prefer the Japanese pachislo over the American slot machines any day.

American slot machine = put in money; pull lever; watch reels to see where the stop; repeat. If hitting a jackpot, payout is all at once. Kinda boring to me.

Japanese pachislo = put in tokens; push lever to spin reels; time pressing the stop buttons to try to win. If hitting a jackpot, you have to earn the full amount of the jackpot by spinning the reels and timing their stop. To me, there's at least some interaction and skill involved with playing the game.

I've had my one pachislo for about 13-14 years now and no problems. I bought my other one about 2 years ago and no problems. I also get a kick out of my Looney Tunes machine with the characters speaking in Japanese. It's pretty funny! It's also cool to see the videos which pertain to if you are about to win and what they play during the jackpot rounds.

I did have an auto-stop board installed in my older pachislo, which makes it more like an American slot machine, making the reels stop automatically. After a few years, I took it out because it's just too darn boring to me.

That's just my take on American versus Japanese slot machines. My personal preference is that the Japanese machines are fun and the American machines are boring.
 
Well, here is another opinion for you to consider:

Pachinko's and pachislo slots I would avoid like the plague. They're cheap and ugly as hell usually full of Japanese text and speech. Old IGT S+ (90's or earlier) machines have awful sound, uninspired themes and are very boring but also very common. They can be bought in the $400-$1000 range.

Since you're already into vids and pins you'll probably enjoy and appreciate early 90's Williams DOTmation slot machines. They're cool looking with fun animation during attract mode. Innovative themes and designs and they usually have (somewhat) interactive bonus rounds featured on an oh-so familiar (but oversized) dot matrix display. They were also produced in fairly limited quantities so there is some demand for most titles. Because of the Williams name brand and the small production runs they seem to hold their resale value fairly well.

Another cool thing is the ability to change out titles so when you get bored with a particular theme you can easily switch to another game by purchasing new glass and swapping out ROMs. I also find the history interesting knowing this is what Williams left the pinball industry to produce.

These can usually be bought for under $1000. Take a look around any casino today and you'll find WMS machines are always the most popular titles. You can't go wrong with a Williams game.

Here is more good information:

http://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/wmsslot.htm
 
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Slot bug

Stick with IGT S+, super easy and parts are cheap. In the Cleveland area these go between $150 and 600.
 
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