Star Tech Journal

February 1987 (5]
STAR*TECH Journal
Cranes: More On "Fine Tuning"
by Frank 'The Crank' Seninsky
Alpha--Qnega Amusements & Sales
F.dison, New Jersey
In many of the articles I've written on
cranes, reference has been made to the
term 'win rate' or 'win percentage'. There
have been sorre calls from operators who
are not sure what this 'win rate' is.
WIN RATE PERCENI'AGE
The percentage of the Cost (cost of the
total prizes won) divided by the Income
(total rooney in the machine) X 100 is the
'win rate', 'winning percentage', or'%
payout' . C/I = WR% .
For exarrple, if the crane has $1,000 in it
and has given out $250 worth of
merchandise, than the 'win rate' is 25%.
Of course you must do an inventory count
at the time of the collection to calculate
what and how much was 'won'.
WIN FREX.:!UENCY
A 25% 'win rate' does not rrean that the
player has won 1 out of 4 tries. The term
'win frequency' describes how many wins
there are, out of how many tries.
A true 'win frequency' should be based
upon testing a 'known adjusted crane'
stocked with a known sarrpling of items.
For our purposes, estimating 'win
frequency' can be accorrplished by having
average skilled players try 50 times to
win a prize and count how many items were
won.
WOOLESALE COSTS
When I stress the fact that a 'win rate'
of 25%-33% is a 'fair' rate, I am making
the calculation based on the 'wholesale
cost' of the merchandise. Crane operators
usually buy plush and jewelry items by the
gross and, therefore, get a much cheaper
price than does a person who buys one item
at a store.
To the crane player, an item that costs
the operator, say 80 cents, is viewed to
be worth two to three tirres that much.
t-bst retail stores mark up this type of
low-end merchandise by 2 or 3 times its
wholesale cost. So when I say 25% 'win
rate', the public would relate this to
roore than a 50% 'win rate'!
MAXIMIZE PROFITS
'Win rate' and 'win frequency', when
considered together, can help you maximize
profits! The roore times a player wins
something (high win frequency), the more
rewarding is the experience, up to the
point where winning becorres boring. On the
other hand, the higher the value of the
prize won, the more rewarding is the
winning experience.
The two must be blended together to make
the player want to play your crane several
times, each time he or she visits that
location. I feel that a 'win frequency' of
1 win every 8-10 tries is what to shoot
for.
CRANE OPERATORS
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Nat'I
Fla
1-800/237-0796
1-800/843-0437
305/77 4-9636