Contra, Battletods and Mortal Kombat in one box. The story of how I made a slot machine and installed it in the office

How to beat slot machine? This question is asked by every gambler who has just become acquainted with slots. In this article, we will tell you about five strategies that will help you organize your slot machine play with the goal of winning. So let's get started.

1. "Play and Run"

Before describing this strategy, let’s explain a couple of terms.

An empty spin is a normal spin of the reels without winning. For each individual machine, you need to determine the maximum number of such spins. Upon reaching this figure, the gambler must move to another slot.

The maximum loss is the portion of the bankroll that can be lost.

Now the strategy itself. To begin, divide your play money into several equal shares. For example, you have 1000 dollars. Choose 5 machines, allocating $200 for each. Start the game with minimum bets to determine the number of empty spins. Also note for yourself the size of the maximum loss. Be realistic in determining these numbers and stick to the strategy. If this is not done, then winnings from slot machines are simply unrealistic. When we reach the limits of empty spins or lose part of our bankroll, we move to another slot. For example, you set a limit of 20 empty spins. If this number is reached and there is no winning, you need to leave the machine. If you win something, you need to withdraw money and start your gaming session again.

2. "One game"

This strategy is quite risky. Its meaning is that you choose any interesting slot and make the maximum bet on the first spin. If luck smiles, then split the winnings into small bets and continue the session. This is what all those who know how to beat a slot machine do. If you lose the credits received in the first spin, change to another slot. Some gamblers believe that the first spin of the reels is very often winning, and the casino specially adjusts this to lure them.

3. "Up the Stairs"

First, decide on the betting threshold. That is, decide what amount you will not bet less than. If spinning the reels brings nothing, the bet does not change. If you win, its size must be doubled. Then you act according to the same principle: if you win, you double your bet, and if you lose, you double it.

If you manage to “catch” the wave, you can earn a decent amount. The main advantage of this strategy is that large bets are made using the money already won. Winning is an amount twice the size of the bet. For example, if the bet was one dollar, and you won one and a half, then you should not increase it to two for the next spin. Many experienced gamblers will notice that this strategy is very similar to roulette.

4. "Umbrella"

The essence of this system comes down to the fact that the player increases or decreases the bet size gradually. The Umbrella strategy does not have strict rules. It is quite diverse, and everyone can adjust it to their needs. The only thing you need to consider is three factors:

• Game time.
• Style (conservative, moderate or aggressive).
• Available bankroll.

How to beat a slot machine using this strategy? Quite simple. First, think about the template you will use to place your bets. Decide on the minimum threshold, then increase the amount and then lower it again. Avoid sudden jumps. Change the bet size smoothly. Her step does not have to be the same. The sequence should also be thought out in advance, or better written down. Here are a few models:

• 1122233444455333221;
• 1224455554332111;
• 1112333445433311;
• 11122244455543322211;
• 11112333335554433222221.

A similar strategy is used by those who know how to beat the Monkey slot machines. It should be noted that it is very common among gamblers.

5. "Bare Backs"

The essence of this system is to quit the “unlucky” slot machine on time. To do this, you need to set a limit of empty spins for yourself, after reaching which you will move to another slot. Let's say this limit is ten. In this case, as soon as ten empty spins have passed, you need to leave. If during these ten spins there are at least a couple of winning ones, you can continue the game. It is important to always be on the plus side. Experienced gamblers divide their gaming session into several rounds, in each of which they have from seven to fifteen losing spins. If you make them smaller, then you will have to change slot machines very often. The secret to winning is to stick to the specified range of spins in each round. If there are more than fifteen of them, then there is a high risk of losing money.

Also note that the bet size in the “Naked Backs” strategy is always the same. Only the number of spins and rounds in a gaming session is set. And remember: as soon as you find yourself in the red, immediately change to another slot. If the outcome is favorable, you can start a new round.

Conclusion

Now you know how to beat the slot machine. Follow the strategies described above. Good luck!

And I would like to tell the continuation of our story.

After all, there is something to talk about. We attended a number of events, tried to raise money to build a machine through crowdfunding, and finally agreed with the authors of the game Shovel Knight and made our own arcade machine with our design.

In our first experiments, we made an arcade cabinet on a Chinese jamma board, which failed after six months.

But during this time we managed to take the bedside table to Starcon, Geek Picnic and a couple of smaller events. Everywhere there was a queue for our Ikea arcade cabinet. It looked something like this:

During the events, we tried to attract players to our crowdfunding project on the Russian analogue of Kickstarter - Planeta.ru. There we wanted to raise funds to build a really cool arcade machine. And then install it in a publicly accessible place in St. Petersburg. We failed to implement our plan, but we didn’t even think about giving up.

Then we wanted to not just copy a classic arcade machine, but to make something of our own. During all our experiments, we met a lot of interesting and interested people and our team grew from two people to five.

Around the same time, I backed a retro toy project called Shovel Knight on Kickstarter. A year after Kickstarter, I received my game copy and I was absolutely delighted with it. Adventures of a knight with a shovel, cool bosses and juicy levels - just what you need for a new arcade machine. And I decided to contact their developers to get their permission to make an arcade machine using art and the game itself. The developers were delighted with our proposal, and work began to boil.

To begin with, we sketched new version arcade cabinet in Google Sketchup, inserting Stan Lee for scale.

Then we made a detailed drawing in AutoCAD and took it to the workshop to sign and assemble the frame.

Since the game is developed for a PC, a budget computer with power and reset buttons is installed inside the machine.

Buttons and joysticks for the control panel are connected to special Chinese boards, which are connected via USB and are perceived as controllers without additional software. For easy access to them and convenient replacement of buttons or checking connections, it was decided to make the control panel hinged, like a car hood. Naturally, the hood can be secured so that unnecessary handles do not get in there.

The machine itself is made of laminated chipboard and plexiglass. The stickers on the sides were printed on film, but the top title and the control panel overlay were printed on special plastic. And here it is worth saying that difficulties in assembly arose at every stage.

At first, we fought with the craftsman, who for a whole month could not start cutting chipboard sheets, coming up with more and more excuses. After a “serious” conversation, the frame of the machine gun was sawn and assembled within a week.

Then the right to delay the assembly process passed to the printing house. At first, she couldn’t print our order for a week, and then she spent another week remaking the defective rolls. But the result was worth it! True, it turned out that the sides of the machine were cut out by eye and did not coincide with the drawings and stickers, but we dealt with this problem by sealing the voids with strips from defective versions of the film. On our next machine we will print illustrations directly on a sheet of chipboard. And, of course, in the future we want to cut the frame with a laser in order to reduce errors to a minimum.

We installed the Shovel Knight build on the finished machine, which was provided to us by the game developers. And for them we shot a short demonstration video with an appeal.

You may have noticed that the game is designed for one player, but the machine has a pair of joysticks and two sets of buttons. Since the machine does not have a coin acceptor, we also installed the MAME emulator on it and bought the Maximus Arcade shell, so that in addition to the knight with a shovel, you could play “Marvel vs Capcom” and any other arcade hits.

Here, by the way, there were also difficulties. Dealing with the MAME emulator is quite a bit of work. You need to download the emulator itself, bios for games, the games themselves, and all this must be compatible with each other. Some games had to be installed five copies in order to choose among them those versions that run correctly, contain the least amount of “unnecessary” screens and work normally at the required resolution.

And now, taking into account the accumulated experience, we have already begun production of the next device. We will try to get rid of all the rough edges, hone production processes and optimize the design.

It seems that the creators of slot machines have thought through every detail for their enrichment. Hoping for easy money, gambling people try to win against a smart machine and rely only on their luck. However, there are ways to cheat the machine and remain a winner. Many of them work on old classic devices, because... On new ones, developers provide enhanced protection.

1. If the machine accepts small change, then drill a small hole in the center and insert a thread 50 cm long into it. Wrap the thread around the coin several times and tie it tightly. This cash return from the coin acceptor many times.
2. If the machine accepts paper bills, you will need tape. One side is completely covered with it. On the other, 2 strips 1 cm wide are glued. A thin strip of tape 30 cm long is cut off. A loop is made. The strip is attached to one side of the note. A pencil is wound in the middle of the strip. And the second end of the tape is glued to the opposite end of the bill.
3. This method works on machines with three lights. Glue a thread 20-30 cm long to the paper bill. Place it in the bill acceptor. Pull the thread. Next, place the banknote folded in four, but do not let go. After a couple of minutes, the slot machine will give out the first bill.

I really love all sorts of retro game consoles from the 80s-90s, but even more, I love arcade slot machines. Apparently due to the fact that he was born in 79 and spent his entire childhood and youth in the “harsh 90s” inside the central children's world, in the gaming pavilion, which was then located on the ground floor. And if anyone remembers, or maybe not, then at that time there was just a huge pile of different slot machines. There were all kinds of arcade cabinets from such companies as: Sega Model 1-2, if I'm not mistaken, an arcade machine with Mortal kombat 2 (unfortunately, I don’t know what company made it) Midway??? and ending with my favorite Neo-Geo and Capcom Play System atoms. How much money did I spend on tokens in those glorious times? Nostalgia... And all this despite the fact that at that time I had my “charms” of dandy and sega lying around at home, and later the first Sonya. The most hit games on them had been completed by that time, and they usually led a miserable existence as dust collectors. I played them at that time, very rarely. Because my imagination has already been completely taken over by completely different thoughts. And no, it wasn’t girls and it wasn’t even drinking or dancing until dawn, like my friends at that time. The mind of a 16-year-old teenager was completely fascinated by thoughts about: “Why do these slot machines have such beautiful and detailed hand-drawn graphics? And such fighters, well, just huge, like ancient gods" - take the same Art of Fighting for example, or the same arcade MK2, and I couldn’t understand then, "WHY THERE ARE NO SUCH HEALTHY PUMPED GUYS AND TIGHT SICK TUNTS ON THE ENTIRE SCREEN, AND WHY THE BACKGROUND IS SO MUCH MUCH BETTER DETAILED (with all sorts of moving characters) than on my seemingly “not weak” 16-bit console???!!" I’m talking about sega. Let me remind you that at that time the Internet was just beginning to be “available” to the very elite, like myself computer. And therefore, I remained in sweet ignorance regarding such a colossal difference in graphics between my Sega and all these slot machines... Before buying a PC. For some reason I am sure to this day that many teenagers of that time , just like me, were puzzled by this very problem of “graphics inequality.” It was only later, after a while, somewhere in 2002-2003, when I had already forgotten about my former passion several times, I read it in the vastness of the world, it turns out that these were Japanese gaming arcade machines or cabinets (as they are also called) and in fact, some of them, although they were based on the same processor as the Sega Mega Drive - Motorola 68000, but otherwise had more powerful characteristics.

The idea of ​​making my own arcade machine already visited me in those days and more than once. But there was practically no material at that time about how you could build such a machine online at home! Well, as far as I remember. And I had to be content with only my computer - Amd Athlon XP 1600+, a joystick and emulators Neo-Geo, Capcom, M.a.m.e and others. I played quite a lot of arcade games. And I forgot about my idea again. And so, in 2014, when I remembered the past again, I decided that now I definitely had to do it! Otherwise, it’s simply indecent, many have already done it to themselves, and me? Why am I worse??? But there is not enough space in the apartment and therefore I had to temporarily abandon the idea of ​​​​making a full-size office, but I will definitely return to it, probably this year during my vacation, and maybe earlier! My choice fell on an unusual device for Russia - Raspberry Pi model B, or as we also call it “raspberry”. One of the slowest models, of course, but it was bought before the crisis, for some ridiculous 1350 rubles and for emulation of Sega and Super Nintendo it was more than that! Of course, now there are also 4-core modifications with support for Win 10, but we’re not talking about them... Since this particular model is based on ARM architecture (tablet PCs, yeah), unlike our computers on x86/x64 processors, and therefore installing Win OS is not possible, or I'm bad at surfing the Internet. On this moment Instead of (Raspbian) I have OS Linux Debian and so far only 2 emulators for Linux - Gens, Snes9x and that's it. While I’m playing Sega and Snes games, those that I didn’t finish as a child or didn’t play at all... The rest of the filling is as follows: the raspberry itself - 700 megahertz percent, LCD screen 7" 800x480 (was taken out of a half-dead Chinese tablet, who was ordered to live long by the touch), micro sd card on 32Gb Class-10, 2 speakers of 3" a little less than 8 cm each, they were taken out of some old computer farts, the SURE amplifier works in class D - 2x20w (I took it with a reserve), oak plywood (I bought 1 sheet in size 2 meters), so that there is a reserve in case of a “crooked cut”, all sorts of analog buttons and sticks (2 pieces of different colors) for the arcade joy, control with it: up-down-left-right (nowadays such sets are frequent guests on the Chinese Internet - stores), I also bought on Aliexpress, numerous bolts, and a short Hdmi cord to micro USB. The energy consumption of the whole “THIS” assembly is quite small, and therefore it’s all powered by a Chinese power supply from a 5-volt tablet. What I forgot, I’ll add later or I'll change it in the article. I would also like to add that this micro-computer is able to play Full HD video, and the entire structure can be easily dismantled down to the buttons, but can also be firmly screwed back in! Such pies.

If anyone suddenly has any questions (for how much, what and where you bought them, write) if possible and busy, I will answer. And below are the insides and the actual device itself and my first Sonya from the 90s, just to compare sizes:

And here is the little one in action:

There are also plans to either paint the body, or cover it with some material, or perhaps order a drawing of heroes from old-school games from a printing house and stick it all on the body. But most likely, I’ll forget about it and start building a full-size arcade gaming machine using computer guts... And this one will remain as a “first draft”.

P.S. Let no one be surprised about color range push-button I experimented with the layout, first for a super Nintendo joystick, and then for a Seg one... Therefore, the buttons are in the same place, but different in color... And I have 2 sticks (red and green.)

Many children of the Russian 90s fondly remember the hours spent on consoles - how they played Tanchiki, Battletods, Rockenroll Racing and a bunch of other games with friends. I am sure that there are those among you who still play and collect classic consoles and games for them. There is something about them that connects them with a carefree childhood.

I’m kind of sick of this myself. But when I delved a little into the world of retrogaming, it turned out that in my childhood there was a lot that somehow passed me by. Now I'm talking about arcade machines - a phenomenon that in the 80-90s was actually the engine of progress. Many of the games we know were first written specifically for arcade machines, and only then ported to home consoles in a stripped-down form.

Among those interested in retrogaming, there is an opinion that you need to play on the original hardware, and emulation is not work. This means that if you decide to remember the old days and play “Chip and Dale” with friends, then be so kind as to get yourself a console (preferably the original NES or Famicom) and a couple of cartridges for it. IN modern world This is not a problem - you can buy all this at online auctions. The only question is how much money you are willing to part with.

But what about arcade games? You can buy an original machine. But its delivery will cost an indecent amount a large amount American money, and there will be only one game there.

Here we inevitably come to emulation. But you want to get a special feeling from the game, like in an arcade.

The solution is to assemble the arcade machine yourself

What will our arcade machine be made of?

Which joystick to use is not important. AliExpress has a lot of offers of various DIY kits. My choice fell on this one.

As I already wrote, we are going to run games on an emulator. This means that the brain of our machine will be a completely ordinary PC. You can, of course, do everything on a single board computer, but:

• I chose the full-length version of the machine gun. Its height is about two meters. This means you don’t have to save on space inside the machine.
• With a full-fledged PC it is easier in terms of modifications and connecting peripherals.
• Since the machine requires a 4:3 monitor, I don’t want to create the problem of connecting an old monitor via HDMI.
• I got the system unit cheaper than a single board computer.

As for the monitor: after looking through thrift stores, the most that I could find suitable was the 20-inch HP L2035 monitor. The main criterion was the aspect ratio 4:3. Well, the bonus was the convenient design, which is extremely easy to modify.

The last major part of the machine gun is its body. Without it, it's just a PC. I decided to assemble it from laminated chipboard - to be reliable.

Housing assembly

Having assessed the result as satisfactory, I decided that the easiest and most convenient way to order a cut of laminated chipboard.

To do this, you need a specific list of parts with exact dimensions. Therefore, we remember our students and “Compass” and draw a drawing of the side panel. We mark all the internal details on it. Now with these artifacts you can go to any company that sells chipboard and provides cutting services.

Here's what happened specifically for me: cutting and drawing

In principle, for most parts you can order edging with PVC tape, but, most likely, curved parts will refuse to be edged in the place where you order the cut. There are three ways out:

• Buy PVC tape and use a hair dryer to trim the ends yourself.
• Buy an overhead edging and glue it with double-sided tape or glue.
• Buy a mortise edging and install it using a router loaded with an end mill and a mallet.

The designs of all arcade machines of the 80s and 90s always had a visor on which the game logo proudly shone, attracting players. Of course, it is also necessary here. I made the logo itself from a piece of plexiglass covered with a pre-printed sticker with the name of the machine.

To make the front panel of the machine look beautiful, you need a part made of plexiglass 5 mm thick; ordering one according to size is not a problem. We paint the plexiglass on one side with black spray paint, leaving an unpainted rectangle the size of a monitor screen in the center.

I summarize the algorithm:

• We order cutting of laminated chipboard according to the list of parts.
• We buy edging (mortise, overhead or tape).
• We buy consumables (euro screws, furniture hinges, door locks if necessary, ventilation grilles, etc.).
• We order plexiglass by size.
• We arm ourselves with a drill, a screwdriver, a jigsaw, and a router (optional).
• We spend an unpredictable amount of time assembling the case.
• Profit!

Software

An important issue is the convenience of selecting and launching games; you want to control the machine exclusively using the installed joystick. To do this, you need a kind of frontend shell that conveniently displays a list of games and launches the emulator with the selected game on demand. Fortunately, the open source community has already solved this problem a long time ago. As they say: “everything has already been written before us.” For example, the Attract-mode project has versions for all popular platforms, including the interesting Ubuntu. The shell supports design themes, which, by the way, are written in Squirrel, so fans of modifications will have plenty to choose from. Well, or you can visit the project forum and find something you like.

Working with the shell is extremely simple: after launching, press tab and get to the menu. First of all, we set up emulators - paths to games and all sorts of beautiful things: logos, video previews, covers, posters. Depending on the theme, different beauties can be used. By the way, you can try to pull them together using the built-in function scrape artwork. Don't think that everything will be found, but for the majority popular games everything will come automatically. To search for video previews of games, you can also use the Progettosnaps.net project - the guys have collected a lot large collection video and distribute it absolutely free.

After setting up the paths, you must press the item generate romlist- after the counter reaches 100%, the screen (display) of this emulator will be automatically added. After exiting the menu, on this screen you can already scroll through the list of games and try to launch something.

The main emulator will be the well-known MAME - fortunately, its assembly also exists for Linux. It was a discovery for me that the roms for this emulator are just as versioned as the emulator itself, so it will not be possible to run a rom with old version. But since you won’t be able to find out the rom version, you will have to download a lot of update packs and update the roms that you choose for your arcade machine. Many roms and updates for them can be found on the Emuparadise.me project.

For variety, you can install a few more emulators: nestopia, gens, zsnes and configure them in attract-mode.

There is a small nuance - not all emulators have the ability to map the output from the emulator to a joystick button. It can be solved by installing the antimicro package, which hangs in the processes and maps the joystick buttons to the keyboard buttons: just select a button on the joystick and map it to Esc.

All that remains is to make sure that attract-mode and antimicro are launched immediately upon login and that’s it!

Wires and stuff

To illuminate the logo, I used about two meters of 12V LED strips (because it’s easiest to power it from a PC power supply).

It’s easier to take speakers powered from USB - somehow it’s more comfortable to work with 5V instead of 220V.

To make it convenient to turn the machine on and off, adjust the volume level and turn on the backlight, we make a small control unit on the front panel of the machine.

We put it on the panel:

• power button from the system unit;
• volume control;
• sound switch (just solder the toggle switch into the speaker power circuit);
• backlight switch.

At this moment there is only design work: if you can design and print beautiful sidearts to make a black box sparkle with new colors, then I envy you with white envy. And if you are a techie like me, then you have to look for ways to get out of the situation. For example, buy an abstract vinyl sticker or order an obscene amount of stickers on AliExpress and cover the entire machine with them. I used the last option. It took about 500 stickers.

As a result, the arcade machine moved to the 2GIS office on the 20th floor and is currently doing good and bringing joy to everyone. It feels like a lot of people are trying to play the slot machine. After work, you can always find someone trying to find exactly that game from their childhood; there have even been orders to add something. On a Friday night, a small crowd of people creates the feeling of a small arcade. It seems to me that this is exactly how it was - when you are waiting for your turn to play a slot machine - you watch with interest how your friends play and sincerely experience especially difficult moments with them.

That's it, s compulsory program finished, now for the free part.