A friend used to sand/file/grind pennies down to the size of a dime for disCOuNted pin play. Also, when the ice cream machine was 15¢ at school, two sanded pennies got you an ice cream and a nickle.

So that's why the operator went out of business!
Igot mine the old fashion way. I won them. But I do remember when I was around10 had a stuck ball and when the owner/operator of the arcade opened the glass he let me spin and switch everything. Like a kid in a candy store.

I'm appalled.

LTG : )

Well thanks for sharing how you ripped off people when you were a kid!

You stated that you were born in '65 and started playing that same year? Wow, that's hardcore!

The nickel and two pennies trick showed up here in my area between 1976 and 1979. I quickly corrected any of our machines that were being cheated that way.

As for getting into the backbox, we also corrected that problem by installing hasps and padlocks.

Also, some Bally's did not have the "anti liquid" protector on the top of their backboxes. The credit unit was always dead center of the backbox. A nice, 24" long kite stick was all that was needed to push down on the ratchet gear from the top and easily get 15-20 credits.

Now your squawking up my alley. It's real hard when you are a kid on a 5 cent a month allowance to figure out what's fair in life. But I watched the older kids put an ashtray under the front leg of Sea Ray and get the ball stuck in the bonus area on the right side and chalk up the games. So when I showed up and they were not there, I became a strongman and lifted up the front of that machine and kicked the ashtray under there myself. I played them down and realized that maybe Sea Ray was pretty, but not worth cheating over.

Mine was a two man method. One would hold the credit button in and the other would push the backglass in and pop it with the side of your fist just under the credit wheel window. Just had to watch for the operator watching and also had to watch your fist as I remember hitting the wood on the side more than once. OUCH.

At the local bowling alley. We were able to pick the games up slightly and drop it for credits... How did we figure this out.?? The owner's son... HA> It didn't work everytime.... But the owner must of known. As he just yelled at us once in a awhile... Small town living .. Good times.

A plastic coffee stirrer worked quite nicely in the coin chute of a stand up arcade game called Dessert Fox once there was no more money left for Fireball.

Awesome stories!!!

we just stole cars :O

I don't get it. People actually put money in these EM snoozers? Aren't all EM always on free play?

Moved to EM Hangout sub forum.

We used to have a few EM's in our our school cafeteria, one was a Domino, there was also a Ding Dong, can't remember the others, but on one you just had to bang with your fist in just the right place on the coin door to rack up credits, (by the time the game was removed the coin door was pretty concave in one spot!!). The other game the operator must have forgotten to push the lock tabs in to secure the backglass, so we were able to remove the backglass and spin the credit wheel up to max. Those games got played though, and not just for free!!

2x old UK 5p pieces glued together = £1 coin.

Didnt work in most machines, but did in Metro (underground) ticket machines. Cheapest ticket was 5p

So 10p in, 95 out. 85p for free

in the early days of video (late 70's ) there was a driving game that you held a copper coin in your hand, rubbed your feet on the carpet and the static electricity when you touched the credit button would activate the game

I was about 8 or 9 in 1981,82 and we would hang out at the busy mall that we were forbidden to go without adult supervision. One of the mall fountains was there next to Aladdin's Castle. Lets just say tons of people did not get their wishes.

Ah,so many memories of cheating operators out of their income!!

For starters,when I was 13 back in '75 I would take the bus to Mel's
southshore lanes (in Alameda,Ca) every Sat afternoon. Capt. Fan-
tastic was brand new,as I had custom made smashed pennies (in which I
would use a file for perfect size) that would work 90% of the time.It seemed
like my smashed pennies would work best on Bally and Williams pins,
but not so great on Gottliebs.

After moving 30 miles to Concord (Calif.) I continued my smashed penny
brigade (in '76) until I got busted with a "slug" red handed by the owner
of Clayton Valley Bowl who then gave me the "pitch"

The pin I got busted trying to slug that afternoon; Volley
I remember this like it was yesterday.

This is when I tried a new trick:Pop open the back door
and spin the credit reel to the max--15 credits on Bally
Space Time at Master Links miniature golf (closed in 2000)

These pin memories (and plenty others) I will take to my grave!!!

I am guessing you missed a line of text "This is like between 1970-75"

Get off my lawn you damn kids!

We just always checked the coin return slots for loose change. And checked the games for unused credits.

That's hysterical, I did the same thing! Time Out, Sunrise Mall, Massapequa NY. Usually scrounged up 25 pennies at a time, but the occasional nickel/dime/quarter were like golden treasure. The fountain was as deep as my arm was long, and I'd often head back to the arcade with part of my shirt soaking wet.

Not em related There was a type of coin operated breathaliser down in australia that if you punched the coin slot would give a free credit. You can imagine when half tanked the punishment these things got. Then it became a contest who could get the highest reading.

I didn't work a pin over, for me it was a parking meter. The main beach we surfed at when I was younger had parking meters that were only installed in the summer. Being that we were locals, lol, and surfed there year round we really despised those meters. Not to mention we were usually broke. Someone discovered that a popsicle stick would easily rack up a few hours of parking. That made my summer

Evel Knievel (And some other Bally machines...) were always my prey. Some machines with a diamond shape in the coin door could be tapped firmly near the center, and rack up a credit.

My favorite "hack" was the first generation Donkey Kong machines, because the front translite would slide upwards, and could be pulled out of the machine. Long arms can reach down inside, flip the coin trigger, put the plastic back, and off to the (barrel) races.

O

Some of you are way too uptight for fuck's sake. Great story.

Mom i need more wheaties! Mom responds with> This is the 3rd box this week!
No worries on free games for me and my brother as our grandfather gave us the coinage to play them.
It helped he also owned them too.

For kids that got rough with the machines they got one warning and if they didnt straighten up the master wall switch would solve any abuse. Funny thing is if one guy was having a good game he would get mad at the other who got the machines shut down. Lets just say shenanigans were not tolerated by the players.

I can fix an Em with a basic set of tools ,and yours?

As a kid in the 70's we used to go to new housing developments and remove all the slugs from electrical boxes, bring them home and smash them with a hammer until they were the size of a quarter. These worked great .To this day when I drive by the area where these houses are I smile and think about all the free pinball I played because of those electrical boxes. Ah good clean fun and nobody got hurt.

A free game today has a different meaning as they would take the whole machine!

I was born in 1965, however at the time of my birth, I was 0 years old. nice to meet you benjamin button

benjamin-button.jpg

The joys of growing up in a small town. No one to teach us how to hustle the machines. Plus the bowling alley was not that big. If you were being naughty, it was noticed somewhat quickly.

From my youth:

GTL Surf side. Game had to have a credit. Hit just barely to the right of the credit button. Game would reset, but wouldn't deduct the credit. In game cheat - the goal was to get the roto-wheel to 100x value and hit the target. If you drained by outlane, get your points, quickly tilt, and the value would stay at 100x. That was a huge advantage toward replays.

CC Gunsmoke. Lift game, get ball on 100 point rollover, gently place on ashtrays, wait for game to rollover enough times for max credits.

CC Playtime. Had a game feature where there were 3 additional reels, only numbered 1-5. 111 awarded a free game. Tilt it on 111, get replay. Tilt it again, another replay. Game over? Didn't matter, start new game, the reels were still at 111. Tilt until replay wheel at maximum.

GTL Pop-A-Card. Left outlane switch was slightly out of adjustment. As ball exited, shake lightly from side to side. The game would rack up 5000 points for as many cycles you could keep the ball on the rollover. If WOW was lit, you'd whack it to 10 balls to play with ease. Added trivia - I proudly own the same game that I did this to.

Pay phones - insert dime, hit the coin return hard, slightly on the right. Dime would return, but phone would cycle to allow the call. This worked in almost all of the phones in my area. Calls went up to a quarter, still worked.

i don't think anyone was serious in those remarks.

I only remember the repair guy from the amusement co. would always feel sorry for us youngins' with no money. He would put up 5 or 6 credits for us to play after he repaired a game and we would follow him around.

I also remember collecting any glass bottles I could get my hands on in the 60's. Between them and working a paper route I was able to play pinball and gain my independence too. I was one of the best customers for the local op.

Works for me. If they helped they got a can of pop too !

LTG : )

Just used to scan credit units hoping for a free game that person didn't know they had won!

And looking for coins that were uncollected......

Wish I could remember any of the games!

Cool story!

In the late 70s kids were drilling a hole in a quarter, tying on a string and "fishing" for credits.

We had to replace the coin mechs to put a stop to that bs.

My favorite was Frogger. I had it right by the counter. Where the marque was mounted was a part of the cabinet that stuck out far enough for people to put quarters on.

It seemed every time someone got four quarters they'd put three there and play one game and leave. I don't know how many times I'd find 75¢ on that ledge.

I also had a sit down pole position, the rear of the seat area had a gap the width of the seat. Big enough for change to slide down into the cabinet. The night before I traded it in, I cut a couple of holes on the bottom on both sides at the rear of the cabinet. Then up ended it and leaned it back and forth to get all the change out.

Great times for ops too !
LTG : )

Relax, all right? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

That's what I remember. We used thin fishing line. Get it the right spot and then jiggle up and down for credits then reel it back out. Two kids on lookout and one doing the fishing.

I seem to know somehow that the nickel-and-two-pennies trick worked on BLY, WMS and CC games, but not on GTBs. I have no idea where that info might have come from, though!

And be sure I'm not standing behind you laughing. I had cutters and I'd get your quarter and you'd get your one credit.

LTG : )

Unless it was Black Hole.....then we would only get 1/2 credit

Spicoli, howareya? How's Plano today?

Just learning about Cuba, and having some food.

yeah i remember that.. We could clear 25$ a week on bottles. There was a lot of construction around my neighborhood growing up and we "helped" clean up the sites

--Jeff

yup me too... returnable bottles funded a LOT of pinball for me...

ah, the good old days....

Ahhhh 1 liter pop bottles. There would be 5 of us....4 would get their pop and drink it. They would then turn in the bottles at 10 cents each. The 5th kid would drink his on the way home.