6 replies to this topic

[FruitBash]

I think we've all heard of the phrase failed test machines. I was wondering what actually makes a fruit machine fail its test. For example, is it that the testers found an emptier? Or is it that the machine was just so boring that no one wanted to play it?

 

And does it get played in the wild, or is it just tested in the factory and the decision made there and then?

 

[nails]

its the cashbox.

 

just read the other half of your question (wouldn't want althric to call me a tosser would we...) Brewery's get them on test. that said, it could be a quiet harvester somewhere with no players.

Edited by nails, 14 May 2017 - 12:28 PM.

[fruitman69]

They are sited in various locations, and has to meet various criteria to not "fail test"

 

Its a bit stupid in some ways as we had games that were really popular but still failed test due to them not performing well elsewhere.

 

Every manu has there own criteria of whats considered a failed test or not, sometimes they will tweek the software mid test as well and collect all the data via datapaks, before making a decision.

 

Some of the criteria will be VTP compared to similar games rather than actual profit and % payout etc.

 

They also have to be sited for a while as any new game would have higher than normal VTP for the first weeks while its "new" players generally will try something new to start with so the first few weeks are not a accurate assessment.

 

 

There is more to it but hopefully thats answered a few of your questions.

[FruitBash]

Thanks both, thats really interesting

 

I'd assumed it was something similar to what was listed above, but theres a bit more to it than I thought as well.

 

Is it just the machine manufacturers who have access to a datapak? I've never seen one for sale anywhere.

[fruitman69]

Generally its the operators that use them,

 

Gala, mecca, larger arcades, casinos etc all use them and can be linked to a central local PC or even to a remote setup at say head office.

 

The playsafe system for example has been around decades and can remotely access all sorts of machine data / events, door entry, cash box totals ( coin breakdown ) float level, alarm status etc etc the list goes on.

 

The datapak itself can either be wifi or hard wired to the system via wall socket.

 

 

If you look at the MFME diag datapak  you will see its chucking data to it constantly, on every action, even on non protocol ROMS

Edited by fruitman69, 14 May 2017 - 04:56 PM.

[Wizard]

The only difference between Data and non Data ROMs is that Data ROMs expect a ACK packet back from the DataPak when it transmits a message. If it doesn't receive one, you get a 7.1 Datapak/Protocol error

[jon2007]

I'm sure qps loot the loot was want in our pub long