Wouldn't this just tick you off..!

[Tokey]

Last night was night I finished my mame cab.  Got it up in the living room, a few of my roomates were around, and played games for a few hours.  I went to bed, they kept on gaming. 

I stopped at the bank and picked up a $10 roll of quarters to use figuring that'd be plenty for the next few weeks.

I go downstairs this morning when I was getting ready for work and look in the quarter drawer (was going to play a quick game before work) and there are 14 quarters left.

Those guys pocketed 26 quarters in one night.  I am going to have to go tokens I'm afraid

I imagine they were putting them in until they ran out, then emptying the door into their pockets and starting all over again.  Then they probably decided to quit not realizing they had over 1/2 my quarters in their pockets, but still... if this kept up it would cost me $100 a month just to supply quarters for the thing.

[Stingray]

Install a credit switch behind the coin reject button and you eliminate the need for tokens at all. You can still use them if you like, but you won't have to provide them for your sticky fingered friends.


-S

[missioncontrol]

yep I would be alittle ticked too.....

that's one good reason to go the token route.......

[Shape D.]

That would result in my friends being BURNED... um I mean banned from my machine. or at least some sort of probationary period.

[ChadTower]

Uh, they'll just walk off with the tokens too.

[Raven..]

Make them use their own quarters and don't leave the key in the coindoor.

[cbmeeks]

Why are you even charging for a mame cab?

But then again, I would probably charge too...lol

cb

[SirPeale]

He's not charging; he provided the quarters.

Ask for the money back.  If they're good mates, they'll do it.

[Generic Eric]

It would tick me off for sure.

You need a cover charge.

Tell them they have to bring you a case of beer or a bottle of your favorite booze/wine.

Or get better friends. 

OTH the quaters may be in your sofa or on top of the machine or somehting.

[Gunstar Hero]

LOL. Next time the quarters are on them. 

[Tritoch84]

Uh, maybe I'm missing something, but if you supplied the money, why wouldn't you just install a credit button somewhere on the cab???

That would have probably cost as much as the money that was taken.

And if you went this route to try and make money off of it in the future, serves ya right!

Unless, of course, you just wanted a way to save your money and play games at the same time....

It's a pretty smart idea to have a credit button somewhere on your cab. Mines on the side(s) of my CP, but Icould put in a coin door later if I wanted, for looks.

Guess I missed something.

[Gunstar Hero]

There's something authentic about having to "insert coin" that a credit button just can't match.

That said, I set most of my most played ROMs to freeplay anyways.

[Tokey]

I just have the quarters for credit thing for the authentic feel of pumping quarters into a machine for credits.  Pushing a button just isn't quite the same thing.  If I were trying to make money I wouldn't have provided the quarters

I suppose I can wire a button, I've got 3 inputs I didn't hook anything up to.

[Stingray]

You don't need another input. Just wire a leaf swich to the same wires that go to your coin mech switch. Position the leaf switch where it will be hit when you push the coin reject button, and you have a "hidden" credit switch. That's what I did on mine.

-S

[thrash242]

BTW, I know this is slightly off topic, butI am going to be adding a coin door and hooking up the coin slots as my main method of adding credits (agains for authenticity...just pushing a button to get more credits seems...I dunno, cheezy), although I will have addings coins as a shift function as well.

Is it correct that that Happ coin mech can accept both normal tokens (of whatever size--I forget) *and* quarters with no probs?

Is it just me, or would that definately be the way to go?

Otherwise, I'd be kind of torn between quarters and tokens.

[Thenasty]

use PENNIES or NICKLES its worth less than a QUATER at least...

[missioncontrol]

blah....hidden credit button...we don't need no hidden credit button.....

[RayB]

There's something about that urgency, fumbling around for another quarter while the "Continue?" is counting down that makes it more exciting 

[rescue161]

Try losing $100.00 a pop.  I have a slot machine too and I used let people play it.  If they won they'd keep it, if they lost, I kept it.  After 3 people won $100.00 each (on different days), I don't let anyone play it anymore... 

I never had any one person put more than $10.00 into it.  It was mostly "my" change that I put in it after work.  It seems that I would "prime" it after a month or so and then a friend would get lucky and walk off with the jackpot.

Scott

[NoOne=NBA=]

I put the coin door in so that I could make the machine pay for its upgrades.
I just pump any quarters I have left over at the end of the day into it, and use that to pay for upgrades.

[DrewKaree]

It cost you $6.50 to learn exactly what to expect of people when you supply the money or tokens to play your cab.  There are several suggestions given here.  I'll list them - kind of like those "good / bad" lists you make when trying to decide something.

• make them use their own quarters & no coindoor key
• ask for the money back
• cover charge (booze)
• get better friends
• "next time" quarters are on them (although if you can't ask for 'em back....)
• put a "credit button" somewhere(s) on your cab
• use tokens, pennies, nickels - anything less expensive than quarters
• don't let people play it

If you can't ask these people to put the money back because it's truly ticked you off, you absolutely WILL NOT tell them that "next time" the quarters are on them or that there's a "cover charge".  Since you weren't home and they did this, they prolly WILL take whatever else you use instead of quarters, for whatever reason they are missing now.  If you're a believer of the "just can't replicate the "feel" of the game if you aren't pumping in the quarters, then you simply MUST lock your coin door and hide the key since you evidently will find an empty hollow point in your heart by installing a credit button. 

You cannot always vouch for the people who will be coming by and playing your games.  Therefore, if you don't wish to remove the keys, and you feel some overwhelming obligation to supply the money to play, you're a sap "hoping" the same thing won't happen yet again.  GW said it best when he said "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice....fool me.....well, we won't get fooled again".

You only have three solutions.  One will get you thrown in jail.

• Tell your "friends" to start bringing their own money and they need to replace yours
• Lock it up and take the key, force them to pay to play
• Grab whatever is thick and of sufficient weight, and set about educating them about the punishment for abusing your generosity and the price they'll pay if they do such a thing without thinking again.

My personal choice would be a combination of the last three.

[Lilwolf]

Hack your coin mechs to handle any coin.  It took me about 10 minutes and some straws (my coin mechs wheren't as easy as some others to hack... you just needed to provide a path to the right location.)

Then leave pennies... If they are stealing pennies... They need the cash more then you do.