mechanical wall machine (it's normally a few seconds). The pin set has only one
possible position for the shilling/token win. Finishing on this one position results in a
twelve coin payout. A separate cam unit in the machine determines whether or not the
token is paid instead of twelve coins. This cam unit runs continuously until the stop
button is pressed, so everything has to fall right for the token payout. On most
occasions when playing my machine, it's the twelve coins that are paid, but the token
has come up once. The idea is quite clever.
So let's play Rondo. I inserted a penny and pressed the button just before the
shilling win. The arrow slid off the shilling position and onto lose. The next coin in, I
pressed the button to stop on the shilling and the arrow slid past the shilling, but it also
slid past lose, 3d, lose and finished on the right-hand side red 6d. On the next play,
when the button was pressed the arrow braked suddenly and did an emergency stop on
the lose position just before the shilling win. This showed me that Rondo's payouts
are random and it is all down to luck, with no skill at all. A bit of a disappointment
really. This reminded me of Electrodart - but hang on, wasn't Electrodart also made
by Jamiesons Automatics ?
Despite what I know, the game play on Rondo can become very addictive, even
though you know there is no skill whatsoever. However, I think I may have missed the
chance of making extra spending money on Rondo back in the 1960s. The selector
turns very slowly and you can clearly hear every click, so once you ' ve landed on the
shilling win, you simply count the clicks and on click 56 the top prize has come round
again. If only I had known this back then, I am sure I would have had the key man
puzzled as to how it was being done! Although, possibly the usual atmospheric noise
in a busy arcade would have made each click less audible. I will never know.
I have made a video about my Rondo for you all to view. Go onto Youtube and
search Rondo Penny Arcade Machine and you will see what I have been getting so
excited about.
What will I have bought next time? Make sure you keep up your subscription to
MMM, and you' ll find out next month. Bye for now.
Robert Rowland
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