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Arcade Money Scammers

 
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phitter
Bandai FL Burgertime


Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 17 Oct 2023
Posts: 108
Location: LaGrange, IL

PostPosted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 11:16 am    Post subject: Arcade Money Scammers Reply with quote

My all-time favorite arcade game as a kid was Yie Ar Kung Fu. I would go to the Osco Drug store after school with my buddy to play at least twice a week.

We were so dedicated that when we did not have money we would go across the street to the Phar-Mor and would claim that we each lost a buck in the Coke machine. A can of Coke was 50 cents back then which meant that we had allegedly attempted to purchase 4 cans before seeking a refund. Those suckers gave us the money every time and sometimes twice in the same week.

I regret the dishonest method in which we obtained our gaming funds; however, I don't regret spending all those hours fighting cleverly named enemies like Chain, Fan, Pole, Star, Club and Sword.

Anyone else have the need to confess their arcade money crimes? It sure feels good to get this off my chest after all these years.

-phitter
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blue6demon
Adventure Vision


Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 01 Feb 2024
Posts: 442
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I confess... i've been bad ! I used to steal in my mom's purse to go play Defender at the LaFrite restaurant. Did it twice, got caught the second time. I was really ashamed and those are not very good memories.

But it has a good side, 2 weeks after i had my first job, newspaper delivery, which gave me the money to have a lot of great times at those machines !
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mario101
Adventure Vision


Joined: 17 Oct 2006
Last Visit: 11 Oct 2015
Posts: 439
Location: South Berwick Maine

PostPosted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My friends did that coke machine trick to get money for the gamecube, but at school.
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Roback
Bandai FL Burgertime


Joined: 27 Jan 2007
Last Visit: 27 May 2007
Posts: 125

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 1:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A buddy and I at the ripe old age of 10 would go around and swipe full cans of soda from people that were drinking them while bowling just for the deposit. We would gather 20 at a time, empty them and jog a few stores down to return them for the deposit. Yep, I'm going to hell in a basket. Very Happy
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bleepytoys
Coleco Pac Man


Joined: 07 Oct 2008
Last Visit: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 32
Location: Switzerland

PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

*bump*

there was a time when you could just short circuit the coin counter with the starter of an electronic cigarette lighter! we played hours and hours for free in lots of arcades around my hometown! but this was only with the arcades before 1986 and not all of the worked...but most.

mike

ps. i allway loved bomb jack, tiger heli, xevious, dig dug and wizard of wor!
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kisember
Entex Crazy Climber


Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Last Visit: 27 Feb 2024
Posts: 98
Location: Hungary

PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hahaha!
That's a good topic.
I'm really interested about how peple cheated on games or how to get money to play.
If I would confess it would fill the whole page and it would a second reason to to burn in hell. Twisted Evil
By the way it was fun. Yessss!
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Dan
Atari Cosmos


Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Last Visit: 14 May 2023
Posts: 576
Location: Neenah, WI

PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I was little and my Dad used to take me with him to the bar, for a while there was one of those electromechanical bowling machines where you use a heavy puck for a ball. We knew right where to hit it on the back of the machine with the puck to make it start up for free! (It was where the big dent was from other people hitting it!)
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kisember
Entex Crazy Climber


Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Last Visit: 27 Feb 2024
Posts: 98
Location: Hungary

PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Somebody metioned Adams Family pinball in another topic, so here is
Confess #1:
Preface
I wasn't really impressed by pinballs, but they were good games to spend some time and earn some money to play with games I liked. As you all know, after a certain trashold they give free credits some give more than one, and at the end of the game you have another chance to get extra credit. If you can always play until get the free play you end up infinitive play time. Additionally you may gather extra credits. And what happen if a guy want to play while you still have 10 credits ... he have to wait, and what if he don't want to wait ... we are generous so we willing to sell a credit! Cool
Ok, now all we need is to get to the infinitive playtime.
Requirements
skills: basic pinball playing
toos: a few inch of wire, sometimes handy driller Twisted Evil
Action
Most pinball machine have a hole at the side of the game where the console of the display joins. Others have hole at the top of the game at the corners of the glass. All the rest are good candidate to use the handy driller Embarassed. Then all you need is to make a hook on the wire and drive it trough the hole to one of the sensor, eg the big loop sensor. WIN
Many pinballs allow to earn score even if you don't even shot your first ball. It is reassuring if you have 2 extra credits before you tuch a button Wink.
Memorials
It was fun to hear gegegegegegegegeget the cpu from a T2 pinball while triggering the sensor a few times in a row.
Back to the Adams Family, we had about 30 credits already in the game when the repairmen arrived. As they don't want to wait they ask us to stop the game to allow them to work. Usually it is a lucky moment as they honor it with more than one free credits. We told them it is not necessary to give free credits (as we fear they sense some cheating about that much credits) but they gave 2 credits. Then start to investigate how could 2 credits became 32! They accept our explanation that we drop that many coins that game. Laughing
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bleepytoys
Coleco Pac Man


Joined: 07 Oct 2008
Last Visit: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 32
Location: Switzerland

PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

another good trick that can only be used if the pinball stands in a coverd corner is:

on the bottom of the wood casing there is a hole for the loudspeakers and /or to let the mecanical noises out in order to make a cool playing experience.
but the loudspeakers itself are not on top of that hole. mostly the hole is covered with a weak wireframe just bostiched to the wood casing. if you push that wireframe gently into the casing it gets loose. then you take the same piece of wire (maybe a little longer) as kisember mentioned above. with that wire (better with isolation) you can reach into the casing. somewhere around the area where the player normally stands you'll find a little calculator like foil keyboard hanging on a pin. just grab that keyboard and you can programme as many free plays as you like, without even knowing what exactly you have to type in..you'll shure find out.!

good trick to perform in a restaurant wich has the restrooms in the cellar with a pinball and a cigarette vending machine...!

and the cool thing about it is: you don't detroy anything if you do it with care!

mike Twisted Evil
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kisember
Entex Crazy Climber


Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Last Visit: 27 Feb 2024
Posts: 98
Location: Hungary

PostPosted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 5:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Confess #2:
Title: dummy button trick
Preface
How people start to play with an arcade game? Insert a coin then hit start button. That second one is a vulnerable point by a ridiculus trick. Most type of button have some claw to hold position and have a stick that touch the microswitch. If that apply, you may have free play.
Requirements
skills: patience
tools: little screwdriver
Action
Select the target game you want to play and examine the start button. Lets find another game with the same type of button. Use your screwdriver to pull out the button and cut the stick that pushs the switch. Go back to your favourite game and change its start button with this dummy one. Wait for a prey who want to play but somehow the game will not start. Many people doesn't even recognize that the button 'broke' but think if the machine just drain his coin. After a few minutes he will leave the game (maybe trying with other coins Wink) and your turn begins with the real button.
Memorials
It was fun to see people reaction when the game doesn't started, we always tried to hide our laugh. There was a backfire when we saw the screen of the game and it shows: 30 .. 29 .. 28 ... and the patient pray waited until the game automatically started, it was a bad target Rolling Eyes . Some evil people turned off the game when it happened but fortunatelly many game has memory to hold credits.
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LLB9977
Microvision


Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Last Visit: 06 Jan 2013
Posts: 28
Location: Toronto 138

PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 12:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

wow, i can't believe no one mentioned the coin on a string method. It only worked on limited machines though. But i remember it working pretty good on a Karate Champ tucked away in the corner of the arcade i used to hang out at.

cheers
Lee
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kisember
Entex Crazy Climber


Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Last Visit: 27 Feb 2024
Posts: 98
Location: Hungary

PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Confess #3:
Title: coin on a string trick
Preface
Everybody know this trick but most people think it is just an urban legend. When I started to hang around arcade machines about at '88 there were already electronic coin acceptors which (I believe) canot be tricked. Fortunatly many games operated with mechanical coin doors which is vulnerable. One of our 'team member' had expert skill with the coin trick, I think he had a spare coin door to practice. We only found one game that worked the classical way: the coin were pulled out, but all the rest had a mechanism that prevent the coint to be pulled out. Of course we already had a dozen of credits when we had to say good bye to the coin.
Requirements
skills: expert 'coin on string' skill
tools: coin, string, sticker
Action
Simply apply the string with the sticker. Finding a proper sticker needs some trying, it has to be strong but light. Drilling the coin doesn't work.
Keep the proper length of string (about 5 inch?) lazy to let the coin run through the checking mechanism smoothly as if it is without any string but stop immediately after it left that secion. That needs a lot of practice. Then very slowly let the coin down until credit earned then back and forth as many time you wish. We used another sticker to fix the line for further credit as we didn't prefer to put dozens of credits, everybody know that we never had more than a few coins. Sometimes we just left the game alone with the string stickered, then we go back after half an hour to play again. When finished the string must pulled out but the coin is lost.
Memorials
The inspector guy let us 'legally' try to trick the Mortal Kombat I, as it was so new and modern that it was impossible to trick with such a primitive way. We never use this opportunity in fromt of him just to let him live in the dream he is right. Wink
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kisember
Entex Crazy Climber


Joined: 10 Sep 2007
Last Visit: 27 Feb 2024
Posts: 98
Location: Hungary

PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2009 9:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Confess #4:
Title: Change coin trick
Preface:
The coin acceptor is a machine which has 3 doors, either in or out. Most people thinks it has one way in and two way out but it is not the truth. One way which leads to the till is hidden behind the door so it is not available for us. We still have two, the in door and the 'wrong coin' out door. What if we use the out door as an in door or block this out door?
Requirements:
a fistful of change

Action:
a) Use the out door as an in door
Use your finger to throw up a change in that door, it will land a place where it is after the coin check mechanism but still has a chance to fall in the till. Repeat until you get luck.
b) Block the out door and feed change coins in the regular way, after a couple of coins the out way will be filled so one way left for the additional coins...
Memorials:
When I was a child the smallest value coin was 0.5% of the one that cost a game, it worth a try to risk 200 of change coin to get one credit.
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billytherobot
Gakken Dig Dug


Joined: 23 Feb 2008
Last Visit: 07 May 2019
Posts: 152
Location: Ohio

PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:20 pm    Post subject: cheatin to play! Reply with quote

these were really fun to read. when we were about 11 or 12 years old, the ohio area had alot of alladin's castle arcades. there was always a cool teenager working & walking around the place with a big set of keys on his belt. anytime time we would lose a token in a machine, (or "SAY" we lost a token in the machine) he would open that sucker up and hit that little metal coin switch a few times, sometimes giving us up to 8 or 9 credits!!!
at the time we thought we had just won the lottery. we would play those awesome games all day long. i'll never forget the sight or sounds of kangaroo, galaga, tempest, tron, solar fox, berserk, robotron, jungle hunt, crazy climber, q bert...man, if i could only go back in time. arcades today are still fun, but nothing will beat seeing all of those games for the very 1st time...
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radiorob1
Guest






PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:02 am    Post subject: Arcade Money Scammers Reply with quote

We used to hammer nickels until they were the size of a quarter.
It took some effort as nickel is a hard metal.
It didn't work in most machines, but it definitely worked on Centipede, and a few others I cant remember. Razz
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