A few more typical Wulff variants from recent auctions. The first of these has the number reels and a readable score card. The last one is the classic, and to my mind, most stylish of the Beromat line.
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 10:38 pm
by badpenny
badpenny wrote: ↑Wed Oct 31, 2018 11:43 am
I'm currently working on one of the English conversions now, a beautifully robust case, heavy quality chroming, lights and a perfect mech which is so shiny it looks like aluminium in places and no signs of attack by Monkey Metal Moth.
It demonstrated the common malfunction of paying out two coins every pull regardless of result, 5 minutes sorted that out.
So then I put 100 coins through it and won nothing. So I peeled off the single strips of lemons and ground out the brass bridges that filled in the pay out plates. Another 100 coins later and I'd won 105!
So back to the drawing board
Update ……… So I've swopped a few around and had another go. I've now got an average pay out of 56% which seems a bit mean from a purists point but probably quite generous from a fairground's.
BP
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:38 am
by malcymal
My British conversion 'Roma' (as in the revamped Beromat threads) is also very tight on payout. I calculated 58% and did the tests three times getting around same percentage rate. The other thing I noticed on my conversion is the restart middle reel function is still attached to the mechanism itself, in curiosity manually operated it and it reel shot round at tremendous speed, but of course starter button not present on the case of machine. I still love the slow 15 second operation, it's good when two winning symbols line up and you have that time to see third reel delicately roll and stop, often to lose!
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:56 am
by highfield
Yes the 15 second approach to slowing gambling would have been a good fix to some of the addiction on betting shop FOBT’s
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:29 am
by malcymal
highfield wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:56 am
Yes the 15 second approach to slowing gambling would have been a good fix to some of the addiction on betting shop FOBT’s
absolutely, I agree.
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 12:37 pm
by coppinpr
I agree BUT the world seems to move so much faster for the modern man (?), he's always in a hurry. I have this really nice German "Jupiter" which conforms to the "value for money" rules for German machines at the time, a great machine to play but it seems to take forever to get there. On machines with a restart I'm loath to press the button and wait even longer !!!
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 1:09 pm
by malcymal
That's a very nice machine coppinpr, unusual spheres for reels. Out of curiosity, what year was it made? Is it around the time of sputnik project space race etc? Thanks for sharing.
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2018 1:11 pm
by badpenny
malcymal wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:38 am
My British conversion 'Roma' (as in the revamped Beromat threads) is also very tight on payout. I calculated 58% and did the tests three times getting around same percentage rate. The other thing i noticed on my conversion is the restart middle reel function is still attached to the mechanism itself, in curiosity manually operated it and it reel shot round at tremendous speed, but of course starter button not present on the case of machine. I still love the slow 15 second operation, its good when two winning symbols line up and you have that time to see third reel delicately roll and stop, often to lose!
I put this post on 5 years ago, it burbles on about GW conversions, re-spin buttons and My Uncle Gordon.
malcymal wrote: ↑Wed Nov 07, 2018 1:09 pm
That's a very nice machine coppinpr, unusual spheres for reels. Out of curiosity, what year was it made? Is it around the time of Sputnik project space race etc?
Sputnik was launched the end of '57 and Wulff made the Jupiter in 1960, by which time things were hotting up. Pressing the buttons on this can only speed the game up (slightly). The first globe can be restarted when the button lights if you're unhappy with where it lands, and the other two can be stopped early by hitting the buttons when they're lit.
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2018 8:07 am
by malcymal
Thanks for the info pennymachines and the video. It does appear to be a very long game play, however when I timed the cycle it's roughly 15 seconds.
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:25 pm
by beromat
A bit late, been busy on other things, but thanks for the payouts info!
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:03 pm
by beromat
Those numbered reels, does anybody know if they are done using a known font, or are they just proprietary artwork? Looking at the fonts on my PC I can't find anything close.
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2018 12:45 am
by badpenny
Something that the Gunter Wulff arts department came up with I should imagine.
Not having a printer's background I'd never heard the word font before the introduction of MS Dos word processors
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 11:53 am
by arrgee
badpenny wrote:Not having a printer's background I'd never heard the word font before the introduction of MS Dos word processors
Before becoming an architect I spent a few years in my teens studying graphic design, prior to word processors we had to 'set' our type using individual letters from numerous fonts which were all cast in lead, strips or blocks of lead formed the spaces. We used a 'comp stick' which you held in the hand and supported the type. However, the individual letters of type were positioned upside down and back-to-front in the stick, the individual letters were of course also a mirror of the printed letter - screwed the mind for the first few times but soon got used to it. When the stick was full the block of type was then transferred - very carefully - onto a type table and all held together in a large metal frame with small expanding metal blocks around the edge that you tighten with a screwdriver. A simple page of type for printing could take hours to set. How times have changed.
Re: Vague memories needing clarity
Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 12:56 pm
by pennymachines
Yes, printing technology remained essentially the same for centuries. I visited Strawberry Hill on Sunday, Horace Warpole's Gothic tour de force, and location of the very early Strawberry Hill Press (established June 25, 1757). Composing stick in hand, Thomas Kirgate collects letters from the 'upper case' and 'lower case' of the composing frame.
