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@@jonnyp2432 Very true. This machine doesn’t like me!

@@jofisher9692 Thanks ever so much, Jo! Merry Christmas to you and yours too! I’ve just had my first Christmas meal of the day at work - I’m not as unfortunate as I made out in the video 😂

@@brutaltooth3900 Thank you. I’ve never yet managed to use an emulator to play the original versions. Luckily I can confirm that mine really do work with the Spectaculator Spectrum emulator 🤡 Merry Christmas!

@@Bernard.Mitchell Merry Christmas Bernard. I know you are working across the season, but cheers to you, have some great down time when you can. I will try to find out where the games can be downloaded. I've got the app on my phone so I might get lucky now, many thanks.

@@brutaltooth3900 You may not be as lucky as you think - the last time I checked, all programs are blocked from working on phones. I can’t play my own games on my own phone! Downloading Spectaculator onto a PC is the only way as far as I know to play anything you want. If you have the PC version, mine are downloadable from the Spectrum Computing website or I can email them to you - my address is bjmzxs@gmail.com .

@@richardpenstone4330 I think you’re right. My Viper holds about £18 in tokens and cash so, since Chances and Snappy look like they have similar tubes, it would likely have run out over one jackpot before the end of the video 😂

@@richardpenstone4330 Thanks ever so much, Richard. All the best to you for the festive season and for the New Year. Yes, it’s nights all over Christmas for me then the morning shift on New Year’s Day! It was the same last year. If my boss doesn’t sack me in the next 12 months, it’ll be the same next year too 🤣 I’m on the case with the flo-tube - nicely spotted in the last video!

@@brutaltooth3900 Thank you very much. I didn’t realise the link wasn’t working. Not to worry - email me at bjmzxs@gmail.com and I’ll send you whichever ones you would like directly.

@@chris-io1ki Thanks, Chris - I’m almost back to my usual self but still firmly testing positive. You’re right - Miss Viper was feeling much better than I was 😊

Thanks very much, Richard! It’s not you - nor is it actually flickering in real life. It’s a consequence of the filming angle - I’ll try a different angle next time.

I owe you an apology, Richard - the upper flow tube has failed! I couldn’t see the flickering during play - only on the video like you did. I thought it was the camera! 😃

Thanks, Chris - I’m getting better at it all the time 😂

I’m sure you’re right - she just goes about showing it in a very odd way 😊

Miss Viper asked me to thank you and asks why you haven’t been to meet her in person 😊

@ I will :)

Good point - I’ll try that if I get another chance. Thanks for letting me know.

Thank you, Richard - you’re absolutely right, she’s a great girl. It’s good that the simulated version was so stingy - it proves that they don’t always chuck the wins back at me!

Great video Bernard. @13.00 both machines gambled to 3 nudges and about 13.36 both spun in a 20p win at the same time. Great token fest on Miss Viper. The simulator proved she wasn't as snappy this time round. I wonder who sparked everyone into coin cleaning😂😂😂 See you soon mate.

Yes - true enough, Chris! I’ve just looked again and I think my version is a bit quicker in flashing between wins and nudges but it does look very satisfying 😊 Steve was good enough to give you full credit in his video - like him, it hadn’t occurred to me either! Yes - not too long before I come and wreak havoc again. I’m looking forward to seeing you!

Thanks very much for this and for subscribing. I’ve a real Snappy Viper but the other machines belong to my friend chris217. Best of luck with building a collection - it took me three years to find Snappy and it was Chris who spotted it. I had to resort to simulating them on my Spectrum - it kept me fairly sane during the lockdowns 😊

Yeah, thanks, Chris. You can never tell with this one but it’s rare that it doesn’t give an uplifting performance.

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much. Good luck with the Pineapple Rag. For some reason, it’s always the third section of these rags that I find most challenging - Maple Leaf, Pineapple, Fig Leaf etc.

Yes, we all find different bits tricky. Having not had much formal training, I use Joplin’s instruction not to play his music fast as an excellent excuse for playing them at a speed at which I’ve got a reasonable chance of hitting most of the right notes 😀

Thank you, sir!

I don’t recall SFM myself. These days, I think these machines live mostly in the memories of those of us of a certain age but those we do remember somehow don’t seem as long ago as they really are.

I know this song from the PS2 game "muppets party cruise"

Great stuff!

Sadly not, but I’m sure I could work it out. Did you, by any chance, mean your Wheel of Fortune machine? I’m sure that music is better known - you always let it play fully before taking the final nudge for the jackpot when you get unlimited nudges 😊

@Bernard.Mitchell No,its defo the nudge tune on 0s n Xs

Very good, Chris. I’ll have another listen to your videos of it and see what I can do 😊

@@Bernard.Mitchell Do you know what that tune is called?

Sadly not - but it would be a big help! I could probably lay my trotters on the sheet music 😊

Thanks, Chris. Joplin’s music featured in several fruit machines. Steve has one which features all of the sections of ‘Kismet Rag’ depending on which feature you get 😊

Not at all, Marcus - thank you for the comment. She was much less generous than my version 🤪

Thanks very much. Unfortunately, I had very shallow pockets so I had to leave all the loot at Chris’ Palace 🤡

I know - it’s always embarrassing when it does that. I didn’t think the lack of cherry earners would make much difference to this one 😊

Thanks, Jeff - I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Me too - you can’t beat a bit of Line Up action, even when she’s not in the best of moods!

Thanks, Chris - I thought you’d put nothing back in for the first £10 or so. Then she suddenly decided she liked me 😊

Thanks, Richard - I confess that I made some decisions I’d never have made in real life. Then again, my mother would have collected £1 and declared that she’d won, irrespective of how much she’d put in 😊

Thanks again, Marcus - I’m delighted you enjoyed it.

Thanks, Marcus - I’m hoping to pick up a real Line Up too one day…

Yes - I totally agree. I did speak with Rob a few weeks ago and he said quite a few of his lot are still out of action. Hopefully, he’ll find the time to get them fixed.

Thanks for this, Carl. There are two main schools of thought on this. I always exchange at the earliest opportunity and have programmed the autoplayer to do the same. Chris won’t exchange 50p or above on this or Chances Unlimited as he feels he’s being done out of nudges compared to Super Line Up. Rob Tovey almost always seems to gamble once or twice before exchanging (as does Chris occasionally when he’s recently spent time with Rob!). I understand the idea of getting up the board a bit but I can’t help thinking it’s not quite in the player’s best interest. For example, starting from 20p on this and Chances, gambling once then exchanging requires six gamble wins to get up to unlimited nudges - the same as exchanging immediately. It’s worse if you gamble up to 50p first - now you need seven consecutive wins. It’s not the same on Super Line Up or Snappy as the number of nudges and cash values are on the same line of the matrix. I suppose there’s a third school - on the real things, you could argue that it doesn’t matter what you do as the machine will not pay more than it is happy to do so on that credit 😊

You learning the reels😂 Another great video BTW. You can play a real one when you come up😊

@@chris-io1kiLOL - we’re watching each other’s videos - I’ve just finished your Maygay Exchanger 😊 I’m beginning to know where the bars are - but not much else 🤪 I’m looking forward to making a complete fool of myself on the real versions!

Thanks again - it’s very kind of you.

Thanks, Marcus - much appreciated.

Yes - I suddenly thought that, with the simulation, I could play with it and see how things changed. I was surprised that the payout dropped as much as it did - maybe the others will not be so tight…

You’re welcome, Chris - it’s my pleasure. We’ll arrange something after we’re both back from holiday 😜

Yes, I could happily sell the second version commercially 🤡

Yes, mine too - it was even more disastrous than I’d imagined, but good to show how two small changes can have such a devastating effect 😊

Thanks ever so much. I kept the cherry earners for this and Super Exchanges Unlimited because I couldn’t think of any reason why you’d want to hold anything on these machines. With Snappy and Line Up, there’s a chance you could use the numbers, but not the other two. For a simulation, I thought it a nice way of boosting the winning turns - there’d be significantly fewer without them! My Chances will go for the earner even if it needs bell-bar-grape for a full matrix - my SEU goes for the matrix 😀

@@Bernard.Mitchell The cherry earner is only a Line Up thing. What many don't realise though, is it's not just a cherry earner, it works on all symbols. When you hold a symbol on the middle reel (in most cases, a cherry), if the left reel was naturally going to spin to a cherry, then it won't block it from doing so, and give you the 20p (or 30p) win. It will only block, if numbers got in the way. So, for example, if you were on 36, held a cherry, and it was naturally going to spin cherry1 and nothing (thus giving you £1.50), it would block it. But as I said, this works on all symbols. There's no reason why you shouldn't hold a star as well. There are 6 cherries on reel 1, thus giving you a theoretical 6/24 chance of getting a win. But there are also 6 positions where a star is active. So, I'll hold stars, I'll hold the lemon 3 (4/24), and similarly with the orange 3. Even the plum1 has a 3/24 chance. Of course, this is only true if you hold the middle reel. It doesn't work if you hold the left reel. For whatever reason, the machine knows to block the win, if you do it that way around. It is also possible to narrow down your chances of getting an "earner", depending on the reel position where you're spinning from. The left reel can only drop one of the 16 positions above where it left. It cannot spin back to the same place, or any of the 7 positions below it (although there was a later ROM that did allow this). So, if you hold a cherry in the middle, when the plum (two below the bar) is on the left reel, you can actually hit 5 of the cherries on the left reel, thus giving you a fairly decent 5/16 (31.25%) chance of a cherry win. The only cherry you wouldn't be able to hit, is the cherry 1, 8 below the bar. Conversely, if the left reel is on the lemon (two above the bell), you can only hit 3 of the cherries. You wouldn't be able to hit those either side of the bell, or the one below the bar. So, when people say you shouldn't hold a multiple of 3, I don't agree with this. I will hold the lemon 3, and I will hold the bell 9 with a star above. When it comes to other machines, this theory just doesn't exist. I guess you could hold a cherry, and if the machine is happy enough, it can drop another one in - but it's nothing to compare to the holding middle reel theory on Line Up. On exchanges, that's not bad at giving wins when you hold a star on the first or middle reels. When you say you don't see the point of holding anything, you'd rather try and fill the matrix... The only reason we hold stars etc, is just to try and get a 20p win. If the matrix looks like there is a good chance of it giving a line, then we'd let 'em spin. Chances is far more controlled than Exchanges. It pretty much gives what it wants. The only thing I can observe about it, is that I avoid Super Series, and just gamble. Sorry if this is taking the fun out of it. I'm only trying to explain how they play in real life. Plus, this video is nearly 3 years old, at time of writing, so I don't know how it's progressed between then and now. Thank you again for all the fascinating work! I hope you don't mind my comments.

Thank you, Jus - I’m delighted to read your comments. They’re a treasure trove of useful information. Needless to say, I didn’t know any of this when I started programming and, in the case of Chances Unlimited, I’d never played one - I’d done it all from Chris’ videos and liked the gameplay. I’m surprised that they blocked returning to the same symbol or any of the few below it - any attempt to restrict things can backfire, like the case of a hold on 1-3-9. My simulations choose three symbols at random, superpose what you have held and then decide whether they like the result. If not, they try picking different random symbols until what will appear on the reels is consistent with what they’re happy to allow that turn.

@@Bernard.Mitchell I'm assuming that it only allowing it to spin 1-16 above where it left, is just to do with the convenience of using the number 16 in computer programming...

Very good thinking. That sounds like the reason. Having 24 symbols does cause a slight issue with random number generation when the easiest numbers to deal with are powers of two.

Chris tells me that it will hold on 14 shortly after it’s been RAM-cleared but, once it’s done a few dozen credits it won’t. It’s strange because, as you say, it will hold 17 for £1 and 20 for 12 nudges.

I do hope that it was me playing - the autoplayer shouldn’t make mistakes like that. I put them on autoplay for the videos so I don’t look silly when I gamble nudges but already have enough for the jackpot!

@@Bernard.Mitchell I'll apologise in advance, I'm terrible for saying "you needed x nudges for £y", when nobody asked. It was you playing. I think what happened was, you had a reel guide nearby, but looked at the wrong bar, hence you thinking it was 11. I shall continue to watch these with interest. I'm finding them fascinating, not to mention, very cool!

Thank you! Don’t worry about your commenting about my missing wins etc - I welcome all comments. I remember that now you mention it - I can’t even read my own notes properly which is why I use the autoplayer most of the time - unless I want to waffle about specific points 😊

Thank you. I don’t think this one evolved very much. It was my first effort having not programmed for 30 years so it’s not the best of programs but still eminently playable.

Thanks very much - I appreciate that, and look forward to some difficult questions! 😊 I’m sure you’re right about the bells in nine nudges - even now I don’t know the reels!

There is one on Line Up, where if you have an orange on Reel 1, the 10p symbol on the middle reel, and have nudges, even if you get 12 nudges, and nudge nothing in, it will then say I can do better, and give you 20p for 2 oranges.

Very possibly, but it took me over 30 years to spot this one! 😂

My simulation of Line Up forced me to look more deeply at nudging when there’s already a win on the winline. I put up a GAIN video a couple of years ago where I waffle about the problems that avoiding nudging through wins causes. I failed spectacularly with Snappy but my later efforts were more successful. They’re still not perfect though 😊

@@Bernard.Mitchell There must be a weakness in the programming where you need zero nudges. It looks like all it wants to do is nudge reel 1 down then up. Nudging any of the 3 reels up first, or even nudging reel 3 down would have eliminated this problem.

Yes, and it gets it right with the same symbols when starting from 4 nudges. Usually she nudges reel 1 down then up but will do it on reel 2 if her first choice would give a win. If both give wins, it looks like she can’t cope if she only has two nudges. It proves that she doesn’t use a brute-force algorithm 😁

Yes - I think she wants to nudge either of the first two reels down then back up but she’ll match either the HV or the 2. With four nudges and exactly the same symbols, she gets it right!

Thanks very much, Carl. I’m going to try to recreate a bug or two in Snappy when I get home at the weekend. If I do figure out how to handle her with the back door open, I shall post the footage.

It’s a number chosen purely at random when the ‘start’ button is pressed. It doesn’t depend on how much has been paid out. I used 11 as the upper limit originally on my Snappy simulation as it meant there were fewer zeros, so made the machine more generous. I felt that it would be more fun if it paid more often than the original but not every credit. Originally, I tried 16 as the upper limit and it was far too generous!

@@Bernard.Mitchell Ah, OK, so it's part of the simulator, not part of the original programming. I've done a video of an emptier for Exchanges, but it's private at the moment, because I don't want anybody messing around with the one in the bowling alley in Preston 😂

No, it was all part of my efforts to simulate these programs. Sadly, I don’t know of anyone who can actually read the ROMs - I don’t think the emulator programmers considered the idea that there might be a lunatic like me who might want to try to read the files themselves. Of course, they might have done so deliberately! I don’t know what language the programs used but there can’t have been that many assembly-style languages about in the 1980s and I think they were based on similar principles. I’ve not given up hope of finding out how the professionals did it 😊

@@Bernard.Mitchell That's beyond my capabilities, I'm afraid. The closest I ever got, was playing them, and working out what they did. I don't have any coding skills, beyond writing a programme in BASIC for my 1987 O-Level. I'm full of admiration for the people who can emulate machines.

Yes, me too. I note that there have never been any comments on Chris’ videos along the lines of ‘I programmed these in the 80s’ which leads me to believe that it was just another job for those guys and they probably don’t realise how their work lives on and is so loved by devoted admirers.

Thank you very much. Next time I’m home from work, I’ll see if I can recreate the bug with the back door open. If I can, I’ll upload a video showing it.

@@Bernard.Mitchell I have another thing for you to check with the back door off, if you like. The machine traps itself, if it spins in 1 3 9 from the start of the trail. So if you can, with the back door off, bring in 1 3 9 and hope it then holds when it's on position 13 (also, the 1 just above the bell on reel 1 works best) If you then hold the 1 and 9, it cannot avoid giving you a win, because... If it drops zero, you have 4 nudges If it drops 1, you have a 20p win If it drops 2, you have a 50p win It can't drop 3, as the first reel to land (in this case the middle), cannot drop back to the same place, or any of the 7 positions below it. It can't drop 4 for the same reason If it drops 7, you've got down the snake to 20p And it can't drop the 9, as it's 5 positions below the 3. So, in reality, it can only drop 0, 1, 2 or 7, all of which give a win. It can also drop the 10p symbol. There is a similar but more obscure trap, if you end up on square 44 with 2 4 4 on the line. Hold the outside reels, and it can't avoid a win.

Thanks very much for this. I can confirm that you’re right about the 1-3-9 situation as I’ve discussed this at length with Chris and every word you said is true. I’ve not heard about the 2-4-4 trick but will try to check that one out at the weekend when I get back home. I’m on night shifts at the moment and work is too far away for me to commute 😊

@@Bernard.Mitchell Yes, I told Chris about the 1 3 9 trap a while ago. I wasn't aware that you had a Snappy as well at the time. The 2 4 4 on 44 is far more obscure, as it's so rare. It's just because if you held the 2 on Reel 1 and 4 on Reel 3, then you'd want a zero to take you to 50 (down the snake to 5 nudges). It can only try and avoid a win by aiming for square 52, but to do that, it'd drop a 2 in and give you a 20p win. It can't spin back to the 4 to take you to 54. Any other number gives a win. It'd be the same with 2 4 2 on 46, or 2 4 0 on 48.

Wow - that explains why Chris said exactly what you did 🤡 I’ve only had her since November and only once has she given 1-3-9 and held - and yes, she did give a win, after a lot of thought when I pressed ‘start’. I’m looking forward to trying to figure out how to operate her in door-open mode!

Thanks, Chris - I think you’re right. She’s paid out fully since the video. I’ll be doing the contact cleaner on everything next time I get more than one day off 🤪