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with 74 posters participatingAnyone who's played a crane game on the boardwalk or any number of timing-based ticket-spewing 'redemption games' at an arcade has probably suspected at some point that these machines are rigged against them. Now, a major industry trade group is trying to win back player trust, promising its members will only provide games that can be won 'by the application of skill.'
The American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) is a non-profit lobbying group that represents everyone from arcade game manufacturers like Bandai Namco and Sega to operators like Dave & Busters and Cinemark theaters, even the distributors and suppliers in between. Those members will now have to sign on to a 'Fair Play Pledge' (FPP) that promises all their games will 'meet a standard of performance that allows a player a fair chance of winning with every game played.' (thanks to Arcade Heroes for the heads up)
More specifically, FPP-compliant games will have to meet the following criteria:
1. An opportunity exists that allows for players to win by the application of skill such that the player will have sufficient time to identify, recognize and react with every game play.
2. A player can improve with practice and experience.
3. The player’s input controls the outcome of the game.
'That’s not to say it’s going to be easy,' Pete Gustafson, Executive Vice President of the AAMA, told Ars. 'But with correct application of skill, they can win every time.. there's no situation where the software will manipulate the outcome such that the player can't win.'
Gustafson made an analogy to a midway basketball game, saying that under the pledge 'the hoop can never be smaller than the ball.' Maybe the hoop is only 1/16th of an inch bigger than the ball, but that's still technically winnable through skill.
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'There needs to be more oversight'
Reports of 'skill' games that lock out potential winners at a certain, operator-set rate are easy to come by. Skeptics can point to dip switch settings on some games that limit the gripping strength of claw games or add a randomized delay that forces losses even on players with perfect timing. These kinds of settings have led to lawsuits over Sega 'Keymaster' machines and legal complaints that Chuck E. Cheese or Denny's endorse childhood gambling habits.
On the other end of the spectrum, extremely skillful players have exploited Dave & Busters ticket games to earn up to $50 an hour by trading tickets for prizes that can sell on eBay, proving that winning those games is not just a matter of luck.
A number of states have at least looked into laws to differentiate skill-based amusement games from their primarily luck-based casino cousins. The California Bureau of Gaming suggested that retail chains remove crane games from their premises back in 2013, and the organization cracked down on operators that offered cash or cash-equivalent items around the same time.
Those legal efforts have put pressure on the AAMA to self-regulate, just as it did when concerns over violence in publicly displayed arcade games led to the AAMA's Parental Advisory System. But the more significant pressure in this case, Gustafson says, came from a Today Show report from 2016 that said quite directly that 'yes, most claw machines are rigged.'
'There needs to be more oversight,' Claw Machine expert Jeremy Hambly said in that report. 'Right now there's basically none. If something is going to only pay out one in every 50 times, they should have to post something on it for people.'
Who watches the claw machine watchmen?
Even the claw machine in that Today Show report could run fairly with the right internal settings, though. And Gustafson left some wiggle room by pointing out that he can't do much about individual operators that modify fairly manufactured games to be unfair. 'You could put a bowling ball in a crane game… that’s on the operator,' he said.
Dave And Busters Ticket Redemption
As far as enforcement of the pledge, Gustafson said there's a compliance committee that's been set up to review any complaints that come in. Members found to be out of compliance will be given an opportunity to retrofit or pull their machines. Otherwise they risk expulsion from the organization as soon as the AAMA's next annual meeting in 2018.
While the AAMA will use outside software engineers to investigate the validity of some complaints, Gustafson said he suspects '99 percent of situations will be cleaned up with a phone call.'
'We’re not a police force,' he said. 'This is a code of conduct. Member companies will be signing on to this. I don’t see that we need to be more big brother than that. We’re the only industry association that requires compliance to such a high degree.. I find this to be a banner day for the industry, and I’m really proud our members are willing to sign up for this.'
In any case, Gustafson said that the kinds of games that 'would not give a player an opportunity to win' are losing popularity in the marketplace anyway. 'As an industry we’re moving rapidly away from games that don’t give players a fair chance,' he said.
The extra revenue from one unfair game isn't worth souring the reputation of an entire family-focused location, Gustafson argued. 'Just like any other industry, you want players happy,' he said. 'There's nothing better than a kid walking through [a location] with a big stuffed animal saying, 'Look what I got, mom!'
I am an arcade game expert; I've earned over 2,500,000 tickets at Dave & Buster's. AMA about beating arcade games and turning a profit from them.
Another thread done by an arcade tech inspired me to do this one. Ever since I have played redemption games, I've always looked at them in regards to whether or not I can turn a profit from them. I want to help others do the same, so I've written an FAQ on how to beat their games, often going into the tenths of a cent as to which games are profitable and by how much, and strategies as to how to extract the most tickets from any given game.
I've probably made about $7,500-10,000 profit just in the last couple years, and with some changes they've made, coming out ahead is still pretty easy most days.
My FAQ: (Down for the moment - will be up in the new AMA)
Screenshot of my card balance as of a few days ago, at roughly 500,000: http://i.imgur.com/4VdSJ.jpg
Youtube videos of the 5 currently beatable games at D&B Pittsburgh being won:
2-Minute Drill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLaE4Kft4iQ
Chip Away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_ic4s9vcaIhttp://i.imgur.com/V8Jk2.jpg (Screenshot of my highest score, over 6 million)
Hummer Off-Roadin': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-OahYm7KNk
Speed Demon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfo3uAqJ-CE
Tippin' Bloks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAB-tlFAVks (This game is probably the #1 moneymaker for advantage players in most D&Bs right now.)
AMA. While it appears my AMA has run its course as far as the front page is concerned, I will still answer questions indefinitely, at least twice a day.
Also, I'm an idiot and forgot to include this earlier - I'd like to thank Growly, a fellow D&B fanatic and advantage player, for proofreading and double-checking my info before this went live.
EDIT: Anyone in the Pittsburgh area who might be headed to D&B, feel free to hit me up - I'm hoping I might get to do a mini-meetup down there if this gets popular enough. (This is permanent - I will still be more than happy to meet up with fellow Redditors any night I can get down there - and I live 10 fucking minutes from the place so it's not hard for me to make a trip out. I'll still respond to notes here on Reddit well after this gets archived and can't be edited any more.)
MAJOR EDIT, but not worth updating the entire FAQ for - Chip Away and Spin Streak now share the same progressive jackpot at D&B Pittsburgh. Since hardly anyone ever hits the jackpot on Spin Streak, this means that all Spin Streak losing play from ploppies will now contribute to Chip Away jackpots. For those who have some skill at Chip Away, this will mean higher jackpots for you on a consistent basis.
EDIT 7/8/2011: Apparently there's someone out there who is SELLING a guide on how to beat Dave and Buster's games. If that person happens to be reading this: fuck you. Information was meant to be free. If anyone has been duped into purchasing this other guide, I hope they contact me and let me know how much, if any of the information from my FREE guide that they have STOLEN to produce theirs, in case I need to take any action against them.
EDIT 10/6/2011: Frogger may still be playable, but I'm not 100% sure. Advanced strategy on Tippin' Bloks verified and confirmed: 190 jackpots out of 369 plays for 100,370 tickets on 10/6. Hard mode can be beaten consistently!
EDIT 10/13/2011: Frogger was just dropped from 1,000 tickets down to 450. This may be a nationwide change. If it isn't, our D&B needs to be bitched out for this. If it is..well, shit, they've just single-handedly made Frogger nonplayable.
EDIT 4/16/2012: THE FAQ HAS BEEN UPDATED. EVERYTHING IS READY TO GO - I AM SIMPLY WAITING FOR A DAY TO FREE UP THAT I CAN DEDICATE TO THE AMA. I AM HOPING THIS WILL BE WITHIN TWO WEEKS MAXIMUM. Everyone who asked me to notifiy them will get a message when the new AMA goes up.