Coin pusher machines

I was on a cruise ship last week, and they had these machines where you put a coin in one of 3 slots in the front, and it spits it up onto a ledge with little things that sweep the coin into a pile of coins, and those eventually get pushed down another ledge, where the same things happens, except the bottom part is much bigger and when it falls off that ledge, you get the coins that fall down.

Does anyone know more about these? The boat had put some bills and chips in the mix, although the brick of 50 $1s moved way more slowly than you would think it would. It seems +EV if enough people have put coins in or pushed the prizes closer to the ledge, but I saw them open the machine at night. I didn't see exactly what they did, but it looked like they were taking coins out, which makes sense. Not sure if they moved the brick of $50 back overnight, it looks like they may have moved it slightly, but at the end of the cruise, they moved it all the way to the back of the machine again. A pit boss said they didn't move it overnight but did after the cruise, which would lead me to believe noone ever wins it, although it did look like it had moved slightly overnight.

That game is called Flip It. The webmaster of my Wizard of Odds site is fascinated with that game. That is one of the few games on my site where I accepted an outside article. Personally, I think it is a sucker game. I see fewer and fewer of them here in Vegas.

Ah, great article, thanks!

These machines are fixtures around British Seaside towns, and generally come in denominations of 2 pence and 10 pence. you will see elderly people spend all day at the machines, and they are protected as vigourously as slot machines by these people. Its mad. But entertaining.

The Nugget in downtown reno has a quarter machine of this game.

That IS a great article.

Quite frankly, I didn't know these type of machines exist where they actually pay the coins that drop.

I've seen that type of machine in arcades, but they pay in tickets redeemable for stupid prizes.

I'm reminded of the Roseanne episode where they go to Vegas, and she plays one of these machines.

Rather than read about it, you can watch it for yourself here (the first minute and 24 seconds).

Also, the last 40 seconds show a close-up (partially obscured by the closing credits) of Roseanne putting quarter after quarter into the machine without winning anything.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I've seen that type of machine in arcades, but they pay in tickets redeemable for stupid prizes.

In Vegas they pay the very same quarters back. In case you didn't know, there are margins on the edges of the tray, and if any quarters fall in the edges, tough luck. Those gutters accounts for about 10% of the space.

I seem to recall when I was a kid I played one of those machines at an arcade in Canada. I put in about $2 in quarters, which was a lot to me at the time, before any quarters pushed over the edge. When that finally happened, several fell over the edge. I thought I hit the jackpot (but was really just breaking even) but instead only ONE quarter hit the hopper. It was probably some kind of "entertainment device" where if x quarters came down you won min(1,x). What a jip!

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I've seen that type of machine in arcades, but they pay in tickets redeemable for stupid prizes.

I saw one at Circus Circus on my last trip (May 09), but in the upstairs promenade with the other (real) carnival games, not in the casino.

I've seen them at arcades, too. Back in the 70s they had a large one at a place called Pennyland in Mexico City. Instead of quarters it used game tokens. I've no idea what it paid because I never saw anyone win anything on it.