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Can I just say again that these notes are taken from my perspective so I am bound to figure large in them. If this seems self indulgent or self promoting it's not meant to be so be honest, re-direct me if I drift off subject. The appeal of Development and creating new ideas and (truth is) actually being “recognised” for my abilities was beginning to appeal to me. It was here where I learnt how to create, wire and programme the analogue computer (for that was what it was) from the schematics prepared by Alan and Howard Parker. I never knew what a schematic was and the consideration that it bore no resemblance to the actual physical layout took a while to get my head around. As by way of explanation consider the London underground schematic is not geographical and gives no idea of the distance between two points! Constructing them as we did with a hole cutter, a plastic tray, a rivet gun, a soldering Iron and several rows of SAIA or Starpoint (more of them later) rotary switch timers, dozens of Omron relays and yards and yards of tri coloured wire. Bad Boys Race Our Young Girls But Violet Generally Wins Oh my lord where did that come from…. Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green Blue,Violet,Grey, White Isn’t memory a strange thing, I can forget anniversaries but that came from no where? Anyway, I digress (sounds Welsh?) Working for the first time with Alan and Howard and Ron (Watts) I learned how the machine was wired and constructed. I was also introduced into the world of ‘programming’ as indeed that was what it was, sequencing the operation of the timers and cams so that the various components operated in time during the game cycle. As a simple example the reel motor had to start momentarily before the reel stop solenoids were lifted or the reels would not start quickly and together. Oooh if I remember it was 10 degrees before, now where did that come from! All these little ‘sub routines’ would be recognised for what they were many years later with the introduction of the computer programme, perhaps it was around even then I don’t know. Furthermore I was also exposed to statistics, probability, chance, randomness and game structure and I eagerly started to read about them and found them fascinating. Although basic calculations could be worked out and a free running machine could be constructed to record the wins on meters without a player, believe it or not, the only way a machine was percentage tested was by sitting there with a black coffee (Nescafe) and a fag (Marlboro). Playing the machine over and over again and trying to get maximum return from the benefits offered via holds and features was second nature after a while, all the time recording on sheets of A4 paper the result of each game and what you had done to influence it with hold or hold after win etc. Example…. 6421 Gr | Gr | Or |.......|......|.......| 6422 Gr | Gr | Gr | H1 | H2 |.......| 20p | H 6423 Gr | Gr | Gr | H1 | H2 | H3 | 40p | HAW And so on. By the way I guess the payout amount is wrong but you get the idea hopefully, and the big number? That is the game number and until you got to around 5-6 thousand the results, apparently, were not very revealing unless they were really crazy by which time you knew there was something wrong with the design. With a 3 reel machine and 20 symbols per reel the full game cycle was 8000 games and until that number was achieved we sat there and played - and played. This was the boring bit but it helped that I had a colleague to share banter with and Charles Hazel or Bingham, was that man. One episode that was amusing was brought about while checking the percentage of a machine and realising that I had not recognised a 'Grape' win, or three grapes appearing in the win line. This was about 40p or some small amount and this appeared to be bringing the percentage payout down and certainly should have appeared more often than it had appeared to have done. I checked the spec and the glass and and there was the win symbol but looking at the third reel there were no grapes and the wiring had not accommodated the win either. It had been missed out of the design. I wont mention the guys name but he did go red from embarrassment! I mean 'what' are the chances eh? I found that I was really happy in the development arena. I began to notice that the later endeavours from the research area incorporated electronics, micro processors and plug in circuit boards some of which could be seen in the ‘extra secret’ development area. Plug in sub boards could be seen on a back plane and discrete components such as transistors and capacitors could also be recognised none of which I knew of at the time. So I decided it was time to get some serious studying done and I enrolled in Llandaff technical college for a course in Micro Processor Controllers and Electronic Circuitry and turned up in my Vauxhall viva HA ( to give a time reference). I was not alone as several of my colleagues decided that this was the way to go so we used to got to college and this was an excuse for another night out! Working with industrial research and development teams and being exposed to ‘cutting edge’ technology of it’s time meant that much of the stuff we were exposed to was ahead of the college’s mediocre supplies. I began taking orders and quite often delivered components, circuits and odd parts in to donate to the tutors which they were grateful for and helped me to become friendly with the tutors. All this was sanctioned by the company as it gave us an ‘in’ to the University. As an aside here it was during this period of development that we were working closely with Texas Instruments and as we were about to take a great deal of their products, particularly the TI 9980. This was to be the heart of the new system I was told. Anyway, one of their consultants came to work alongside us to help with the interface. The guys name was Peter Crow. I can remember some years later the hilarity caused as a receptionist in a hotel took down the names of myself and my colleagues. Martyn Stork, Frank Bird, Peter Crow and Ian Wingfield when we all booked into a hotel for the night. Cheeky girl laughed and her name was Abigail. Part of the development of the Electronic system for JPM was the adoption of a cutting edge drive for the reel unit, those spinning wheels that display the recognised symbols such as Oranges Grapes and Lemons etc. Again as an aside here, many people are unaware that the symbols or Icons of fruits, are actually supposed to be a hangover from the early days of coin operated machine in the US. Or at least this is what I have heard from many people both in this country and the states and it is the subject of much conjecture. Most people (well those not on this forum anyway) probably don't know where the term ‘fruit machine’ came from. The modern day ‘fruit machine’ is actually supposed to be a result of several American companies around at that time one of which was called Bell and they produced chewing gum, or so the story goes. They developed a machine along with the Mills company (again so the story goes) that dispensed the ‘Bell’ fruit flavoured chewing gum and sold them in early coin operated machines that used the reels as a gimmick. The game would play and the customer would get delivered a fruit flavoured gum! The ‘Bar’ symbol is again, supposed to be, a representation of a stick of chewing gum and the Bell symbol, well that goes without saying. Of course the typical bar owner would always have a little ‘book’ on the side and you could give the guy a dollar or two and bet him that you would win your stick of gum. If you did he would give you back a prize whose value was based on an arbitrary amount depending on the fruits that came up or perhaps the Bell or the Bar symbol would have been the top prize and gave perhaps 10 to 1 on your stake. Of course the odds were heavily in favour of the Bar (for Bar read Mob, of course). In any case enough of ancient history, the next step (sic) is into the future with the Stepper Reel unit!

Chris's fruit machine emulation boots are almost infinitely large to fill to be honest, he dedicated literally decades to FME, and was an lovely bloke to boot (from our private chats back during the mfme2mame times). It's a vibrant scene for the small numbers involved in comparison to other less niche scenes, but we have some dedicated hard workers in all disciplines, so I'm just hoping we can do him proud mate!

Fuck me John looking through all the threads and numerous posts across all forums you have brought to life a whole new game since Chris left us, you, Andrew, Tony and many others across all sites have given hope to the scene, many thought and some may not like this that Chris's death was the end of everything but knew with the outcome of great people like yourself breathed life again into our whole realm, you have my respect mate and have done for a while just like a few choice others. Many including myself thought that when the main MFME man left us it was game over but talking to those on and off the grid I just knew that you would give us hope and pay it forward to keep the pot still boiling. @orchid obviously knows you better than everyone else and even though we have clashed at times he too has my respect (but still don't like him), it is not for just what you are doing with Chr's and AS but to know there are still good and honest hardworking people on the planet that keep the flame burning for what we truly love, is the main backbone to it all. Whether MFME or MAME the goal is to keep emulation alive and kicking, Chris will never be forgotten in my book but reality states that someone has to take the reigns for the greater good and I couldn't think of anyone better than you and would bet that he would say the same thing. **You all know I live off the sleeve and don't give a fuck what others think but if truth really be told my statement says it all** Take care all and @johnparker007 keep kicking fucking arse!!!!

Hi there, happy to be back. I was (eventually) the project manager for the SWP Product and that will certainly be mentioned in time, I am trying to be as historically correct as I can.

sorry mate i was waiting for some blanks to arrive im all out of blank 64kb roms 😁or i would of messaged you

PCP - Blankity Bank Tech: System 80 Time to get your 2p's at the ready for this bank holiday release from me. Keyboard shortcuts in the notes. Thanks to: Wizard (RIP) for MFME The Mecca for a group buy for the machine @AK45 for testing. Plays in MFME V20.1 only Blankity Bank.zip

Hiya mate Good question! I had no idea so I tried it - it does seems to work fine (running multiple Arcade Simulators simultaneously), so if you wat to do that you should be all set...

That 10p token reminds me of the great machines JPM were producing that accepted not only that but the 5p tokens too. The playing card symbols, the coloured roundels with the JPM logo and the JPM embossed start button.

No no no, no boot filling you have your own boots (mine has got pink frills on it😁), no-one can fill anyone's boots as we all have our own styles. This is the difference between keyboard text and irl, anyway I have a question AGAIN... Would AS be able to be split/multi-screened i.e. have two AS running at the same time (would have to have some crazy specs though) like with MFME, half MFME half AS lol that would be insane?

I have to explain first of all what brought me back to this forum. During a long lunchtime exercise walk around the ex WWII aircraft hangers in Llandow, my colleague picked something up from the grass verge... would you believe it!

Thanks mate.

This all sounds great 😃 but for a newbie like me I haven’t got a clue what your all talking about.

whoever buys this one has work to do to get it up and running again. Main glass is a re-print and has a burned out reel solenoid then there is the rust. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265303049761?hash=item3dc54b4621:g:OjAAAOSwuslhN4KK

This was the sister machine to Super Chance... Mid 70s Money Multiplier JPM club electro... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265302420573?hash=item3dc541ac5d:g:98UAAOSwy2dhNxI8

One of their many Bf conversions, This one fitted with the Up & Down nudge. Good auction start. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393553150684?hash=item5ba19882dc:g:dgMAAOSwFy9hLi9x

I've added it to the list I can't get it running in MFME though, says "NO DATAPORT COMM", so I'll need to get it working with help from the layout whizzes over on DIF first (so I can test the patch when it's done).

At long last I have spent some time giving this classic some tlc! Had it a few years and picked it up at a local auction house, it worked when I picked it up but needed a good clean and service. This is happening now, I have the reel deck stripped and the clutches soaking in neatsfoot oil as per Ron's guide. I guess I will need to look at the control deck, I'm getting some squeking whilst in credit from one of the modules, looks to be the one at the very back? Also the earthing looks suspect? I see an earth wire has been extended and was hanging loose? Looks like it might have earthed the control deck? Maybe you could advise me Ron, should be clear in the pics. Cheers Ronnie

Great to see Plenty of these still about. Working and a cheap auction start but expect it will end up for silly money. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185014793167?hash=item2b13bdb3cf:g:mLEAAOSwdNBhJRda

That's a shame as it looked like a nice example before damp got in the wood! Same cab as my pool play

Would it be this one, JPM brought out some very good games in this cabinet. It will be great to see it back in working order again.

I based this redraw on photos of the £2 version I had, when I realised I was working with the £4 roms I edited the decal accordingly. Thanks to @stevelancett who pointed out that the £4 version was red and not blue. I have a creacted red version also in light of this.

In the early days at Bell Fruit it sounds very similar (1994). There were temps that often got laid off as soon as the work dropped. Good week we was doing 600 - 800 machines a week and overtime was unlimited. We got an attendance bonus which worked out at around £500 which was a lot of money back then. I started on £120 a week bit could earn £300 with overtime. At 16 and being used to £5 pocket money was a huge boost

A blast from the past in 1980 for Frank.