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I don't know if this is the best topic for this thread but here it goes:   

I was just in a casino today and noticed they have the same slot that I have.  I now know that I can peer through the window on the top glass and see the meters.  From the meters I think I can get a good determination of how well the machine pays out.  I then noticed that some slots have these meters on the outside for viewing.   My question is this - can a I get into trouble by looking at these meters?   

I don't want to get my fingers broken or anything. :127-

Nope, if they didn't want people to look at the meters they would have hidden them inside the machine

I just feel so sneaky!   I wonder if those meters are a good determination for picking a machine.  I had 3 machines in a row -

Machine 1 - Jackpots 4778
Machine 2 - Jackpots 2599
Machine 3 - Jackpots 3923

Which one would you pick?

 :97-

That was one thing I loved about IGT S+ machines!!  But now on the S2000, most machines I have seen don't have them anymore - at least now visible from the outside :(

Dan #2

On some S2000's they're on the bottom right side of the cabinet, behind a piece of plexi glass

remember the hard meters stay the same and do not reset from game kit to game kit or eprom to eprom..   :71- :71-
Machine 1 with Jackpots X10 4778 reading mite have been for the last game kit or prom that was in it and not the one in it now,,,  :47- :47- :47-
so the meters don't mean nada,
and if your in a casino with player tracking they don't even use the meters for booking keeping any more.. this is why you find a lot of stuck meters in old used games.

My wife likes to look at the meters in the IGT S+. Most I've seen look like they have rolled over at least once!
I would pay more attention to total "coin in" vs  total "coin out" than the jackpot total. Might get an idea of the % payout that way.
Don't really care myself.

I wonder if they all start at zero when new?   :103-
Don't really care myself.
You get in trouble when you tell the slot attendant what the error code is and how to correct it.  :97-

is this the voice of experience speaking...    :97- :97- :97- :97- :97- :97- :97-  you did did you ???

and don't volunteer your reset key :97- :97- :97- :97- :97- that starts a lot of fun if you tell them you found it in a machine

You'll be laughing all the way to the station to be booked on felony charges. :96- :30- :30-  Always leave those keys at home! :71-


Uniman, the pictures I've seen of new meters have them set at 999800 so that they can be tested up to 200 times before being put into play.
Not that you care.. :72- :72-

I modified my post!
Had inserted the meter at zero question and the "I don't care" was for looking at the meters!
Thanks Stat, never knew they started at 999800. Makes sense.

Once, while playing a Universal in an Indian Casino, a dollar token jammed in the comparator. So I gently gave the machine a tap with the palm of my hand, (like I've done at home with success) and then the machine gave an error 50, door open.  :25-
Didn't take long for attendant to show up! I told her what happened, she opens the door and begins inspecting the machine, like maybe I was in it.  :97-
Finnally she gets the token out of the comparator and hands it back to me and I tell her, "That cherry switch is set a bit far back, you should get that adjusted so you don't get a door open alarm everytime someone just taps on the machine." Oh, the stare I got then.  :58-  :97- :97- :97-

Jim, you edited your post and now my joke in the previous post doesn't work.  :96- :96-
You broke my joke. :8- :8-

 :30- :30- :30- :97- :97- :97- :97- :97-


... and then beat me to the re-post by 12 seconds!  :37- 

And all with dialup internet!!!!!!!!!!
Remodified to save your joke!

BIG FAT ANIMATED TONGUE STICKING OUT (think Fred Flintstone) :115-

 :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25- :25-

sorry no joke happend in the silver club[ sparks NV] a few years ago  a reset key was left in a machine boy the place went crazy

Hopefully, none of the customers touched it. Otherwise, I would think that they would have to review the tape to be sure that the key holder's story about finding it was true. I'll bet they also reviewed the tapes to fire whoever left it there.

Are there visible meters on the new video slots?   I know where they are on an S+ and a Bally.

on a majority of video machines they're inside the cabinet

You won't get into trouble looking at the meters.   However, one look at these meters won't tell you if this is a "loose' machine, because you'll have no idea how many times these meters have gone  past 999999 and then returned to 000000.  If you're hoping to determine the "loosest" machine (by looking at the meters) here's how you could do it:   Pick several machines to look at, and jot down the COIN IN and Coin OUT totals (seen on the meters).  Make certain you can positively identify these machines in the future. (perhaps jot down the machine serial number as seen on the ID plate on the outside of the machine).   Return to the casino a few months later (with your original meter readings in your pocket)  and look at the COIN IN and COIN OUT meters again, while confirming that "your" machine" hasn't been swapped out with an identical machine. (ie. verify the serial number).  Now take the final COINS IN reading and subtract it from the original COINS IN reading. This will tell you the NET number of coins that were fed into the machine between the 1st and 2nd readings.  Do the same for the COINS OUT reading to determine how many coins were paid out during this interval.   Now take the "NET COINS OUT" figure and divide it by the "NET COINS IN" figure, and the resulting percentage will be the percentage payout that this machine had paid out during the interval between the 1st and 2nd readings.  If you do this on several machines you'll be able to see which of those machines paid out the highest percentage during the interval between the 1st and 2nd readings. Naturally the longer the time period between the 1st and 2nd readings, the more accurate the final payout percentage will be.       
Good luck!

Good idea RV Doctor!  :3- :3-

Jdkmunch, just remember that jackpot hand pays and soft credit collects won't show up on the coin out meter, so the results will always seem lower than expected. You can still observe the relative differences between the machines and get a picture of which are paying out more.

You could take one more step and look at a PAR sheet or two (S2000, Wms, or whatever) that match the machine themes you're tracking to get an idea of how much of the payout percentage is tied up in the hits that hand pay. (You'll want to confirm the lockup amounts stated on the machines in the casino on your first trip.) Even though the sheet you look at will probably not match the chip settings of the machines on the floor, you'll have a good idea of how much to add back to your net totals at the end of the day to get a closer approximation of their actual payback percentages. Most of the time the differences in payback percentage on a game are made using the lower and moderate payouts (but not always), so the number of winning combinations of the top prizes is usually fairly consistent, regardless of the payback.

So .... the question then becomes..... which is the best machine to play ?
Is it the one that payed out the most or the least ?

For instance the one that payed out the least could be ready to hit.
I call this the California Factor .... waiting for the big one.

 :96- :96- :96- :96- :96-


Seriously though, the data collected would be more valuable in another way: it would give insight as to how much business the joint does!!  :148- :14-