How to Win at Classic Arcade Games
Even though I had a lot of access to PC games and consoles as a kid (oh, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was amazing), I loved going to the arcades. While I probably spent too much time trying to master games like Smash TV and Cyber Sled – and of course side-scrollers like Golden Ax and The Simpsons – I also spent some time with games that required a little more physical skill: Skee-Ball, countless basketball games, or that game where you had to throw a soccer ball into holes.
I don’t go to arcades anymore, but when I do, I prefer to waste my time trying to earn tickets for novelty prizes instead of telling the world about my bad Dance Dance Revolution skills. However, I always forget to research what I will be playing before I leave. While learning some tricks for practicing miniature free throws may not make me Steph Curry of the local mini golf center, at least it will help me not burn my money / tokens / credits, there is little to show.
The next time you pop into a local arcade – or a themed bar or whatever – here are some tips for getting better at the games you can find there.
Shooting hoops
First, try picking a basketball-themed game, which is easier by default. Don’t choose one in which you have to throw something that amounts to a free throw at a non-standard angle – or worse, a three-point (if such games exist at all). Also pay attention to the ratio of the ball you are shooting in relation to the ring you are trying to insert it into. Tiny ball, giant ring? You are golden. An ordinary ball, an ordinary ring? More difficult, but not impossible. And does the hoop even move or does something else weird? You can still make great strides in shooting, you just have to struggle with a different variable.
I think the most important thing about these games is to establish a consistent rhythm. Don’t grab one ball at a time, line up your shot and don’t let it burst – you will waste precious seconds. Think quantity over quality. You are a shooting machine, not a sniper. Use the first few shots to determine how much force you need to put the ball into the basket (nothing but the net is easier and faster than throwing the ball off the backboard), then make sure you line up a new ball. the second you fired your shot. Repeat as needed for how many seconds the game starts. Celebrate your insane result.
And if you really want to impress your friends with your arcade basketball skills, there is always a two-handed approach to playing:
Ski Ball
This makes me uneasy as I have always been terrible at Ski Ball and will probably always be terrible at Ski Ball. While it seems to me that mastering this game is all about practice and repetition, it is obvious that bending your knees while throwing is a good way to make sure you don’t bounce off the ball on the track, which affects the accuracy of your shot, rather than rolling it carefully. … up. When in doubt, do the same as Lil John and cuddle to the ground.
While some people are just aiming for the hole, I have found that others like to hit the ball into the hole by aiming at a specific spot on the wall next to the desired hole. It’s much easier to see this in action than it is to render, so here’s an example of what I mean:
As always, maintaining a consistent form is key. The more you play, the more you begin to figure out the pattern of how accurately you want to get your hand back, how much force you want to apply on the ball, etc. Your position is also critical, as the captain of the Skee-Ball team wrote last year. Carney Worth :
“You would never think, but the skibol has 80% lower body. Your position is the most important part of your game. Each person’s posture is unique, so decide where you want your legs to be so that you feel most comfortable and pick up the right speed. For my strut, I need my left foot to be firmly set and aligned with the inner edge of the left bumper. My right foot is crossed with my left and my right foot is on the tip of my toes, so I balance a little with my torso and push forward a little. “
Also, when you’re just starting out with the game, don’t be afraid to hit lower scores. As tempting as it may be to start tossing the ball to the most difficult corner point – a hundred points, or whatever your game may think it is – aiming for the top point in the center or just below it (for fewer points) is a great strategy … You don’t want to burn yourself out by constantly missing the hardest shot, when you can build muscle memory and score more points, generally by choosing something lighter.
Air hockey
Air hockey also gives me anxiety because I always play with one of my friends who enjoys smashing the puck like an angry Hulk. Speed is important to winning air hockey as it is much easier to block a turtle than bullets, but mastering the game involves two words: control and offense.
While you can probably get away with just throwing a direct hit on the novice players, the best hockey players will be able to defend themselves pretty well – unless you’re good at false outs. Angle attacks are harder to block. And even if your opponent succeeds, you can immediately shoot (or attack from an angle) that part of the gate that he left open. This is especially true if they haven’t been able to add a lot of power to their unit and you can benefit from the ricochet.
Taking advantage of your opponent’s natural tendency to direct your defense in the same direction as your attack can also be a quick and easy way to win:
While defense cannot be ignored in air hockey, I think you will do better – especially against amateur players – if you chase them like a Sith. If you shoot four times as many shots on goal as your opponent, you have a much better chance of a goal, and if you’re lucky, you will exhaust them from the flurry of flying pucks.
If or when you need to take a breather, use the triangle technique to protect your target:
One thing I didn’t mention in this quick tip overview is your grip. This is a highly personal choice, so I don’t have any great strategies for you other than to point out that whichever grip you use should give you more punching power through your fingers, wrist, and arm. Do not grab the center of the hammer as if you were grabbing your car’s emergency brake; try placing your finger combination in a curved groove between the center and edges, which should help your speed, punches and tricks.
Stacker
How easy it looks. You look at the screen, press a button to align the block on top of the block below it, and repeat this several times until your stack touches the top of the screen. Then you win a huge amount of tickets, some awesome prize or confirmation that you have won one of the most difficult games your arcade has to offer.
First of all, let me give some sobering advice: if it’s a digital game, those who run it can influence how it works – be it the overall difficulty of the game, payouts, and so on. This is why I stick with games that require a lot of physical skill, but it’s hard to deny the incredible payoffs that some of these more challenging games can give (if you win).
I’m terribly good at Stacker (and stuff like that, like a game where you balance blocks on top of each other), so I’ll leave that to the pros to help with that. As one stacker enthusiast wrote :
The first trick is to never listen to music . The rhythm seems to match the movement of the blocks, and at first it is. But the closer you get to the top, the more and more the music distorts in relation to movement, it confuses you.
Second, never embed in the center of the screen . When blocks move from side to side, they slide off the screen and then “bounce” onto the screen. This “cooldown” time can DIFFER, even slightly, and can ruin your game. Choosing one side – for me, I choose the right as I’m left-handed – and building the stack there, as it gives me the most time to prepare for the next hit as the blocks move across the screen.
Building a pile in the center is the WORST idea as it gives you the least amount of time after “bouncing” off the edge to react, but everyone tends to use the center, thinking it’s the best place. Each of my victories is the construction of a tower at the edge of the screen.
And third, explore the big prizes . Is the machine well stocked? If so, it is most likely that it was recently funded and the chances of winning are lower. If you visit the same machine twice with a difference of several days / weeks, and the items are different / missing, then a victory has occurred, and the win counter has also been reset. However, if you visit it with a difference of several days / weeks and the big prizes are the same, your chances are much higher, since there were games, but no victories.
Sounds simple, right?
Spin-N-Win
You’ve probably seen this game (or some variation of it) before. If not, here’s the basic setup: a large circle with a bunch of bulbs (or LEDs). You insert your quarter / token / whatever and the lights or LEDs turn on to create the illusion of a single “light” spinning in a circle. When you press a button, a light or LED will light up and you will receive a specific reward. Your goal is to stop the lights in place with the jackpot, which is much easier said than done.
This game looks like it’s all about physics and timing – of course it’s true – but that doesn’t mean it’s locked. Again, those who set up the game at their place can adjust the difficulty of the game as they see fit. As one Redditor describes:
“When I played, the difficulty of the jackpot was 6 milliseconds. For comparison: the time window available to the operator is from 2 to 20 milliseconds. The factory setting for Spin-N-Win is 5 milliseconds. And then I was able to play about 1 in 4 games, and ‘Captain Fecktard’ – AP, which is not very popular in our store, was previously banned and then allowed to return – was often closer to 1 in 3 on average. AP was viable for Spin, but WAY too viable as there were people who had no idea what a reasonable payout limit was doing by driving it elsewhere.
When the global settings were introduced, shortly after the Tippin ‘Bloks software change, the setting was changed to 4 milliseconds.
I could no longer knock 1 out of every 4 at this setting, and for a short time I tried to play like it was getting close to 1/8.
However, there are stores that do not meet the standard. I will not say set correctly because some states have legal regulations for skill games that require them to have a higher jackpot window. Arcade laws are strange. NO, I will not mention specific stores because I do not believe that this forum (currently) 5163 subscribers will not have at least 20-50 people who will either start walking every night or possibly stay open on 12 hours to close Wednesday and go kill him.
Is there a trick for Spin-N-Win? Yes. And that’s almost one hundred percent mental. If you’re in a slump or just can’t make it on time, you need to leave. It may not be your fault; the game can simply be set up in such a way that it will be incredibly difficult to accurately determine the jackpot size you are targeting. I’m sure you can get some winnings from time to time, but why spend countless quarters / tokens / credits on something so complicated?
Conversely, if you find a Spin-N-Win (or a similar game) that you destroy, don’t assume that will be the case for every iteration of that game you come across. If you can, stay in this game for as long as possible, because you’ve found a rough diamond that will bring great benefits – I hope.
Crane game
Again, another incredibly simple game: you place a crane over a prize, press a button, and the claw magically drops down and grabs whatever you want. Just like that.
If you’ve ever invested a few dollars in one of these arcade games, you probably already feel that they are not what they first appear. The claw on the end of your crane always seems as strong as a newborn baby and will probably have a hard time picking up a loofah, let alone a huge scarecrow that you hope to win.
In this case, there is no real strategy you can use to win the prizes you are looking for other than the obvious advice “make sure your claw lands where you want it to go” and “try to get the prizes that are actually the case is not packed there. “I think the best approach is to consider the War Games option before wasting time and money: the only winning move is not to play.
In the words of one slot machine owner quoted in a 2012 article on Smithsonian.com :
Most cars have a CMS (Command Module Settings) that allows the owner to change several factors:
* Probability of winning. Win / lose, usually 1/12 in Cali or 1/15 in Nevada!
* PSI claw. Most claws have a pressure of 5-8 psi, requiring 10-13 to grab an object. Note that the PSI Tuner is usually manual, there are springs on the gripper with small red marks. The module will tell you which mark to tighten the spring for the desired effect 🙂
* Cost / money accepted. Either DBA (Dollar Bill Acceptor) or Coins
By California law, my claws are set at 1/12, which means 1/12 of the players will have a chance to win. The example I used earlier is a “toy” that requires 10 psi to lift. My claw will do 4-6 psi on 11/12 attempts, either enough to shuffle it or barely lift it. During 1/12 attempts, the claw will apply 9-11 psi, sometimes raising and lowering it, sometimes successfully 🙂
And no, your game of “match the key with the hole to win the prize” is not much better. From the same Reddit thread quoted in the Smithsonian article:
“When a technician came to install it, he asked,“ Do you want an automatic shutdown feature installed? “
I thought, “What ?? Auto will lose? Sounds suspicious?
It turns out that this particular machine has an algorithm that knows every X / Y / Z key hole. Let’s say in order to win a prize, your key must be 50/50/10. if you line it up correctly in a 50/50/50 ratio, the position will be passed to the CMS, which will add a little 1 or 2 degree change to keep you from winning. The only way to fix it is to aim low and left / right until you find a way the machine is changing it. “
Uf.
Game “Jump rope”
Ah, jackpot jumpin ‘. While this is probably one of the few arcade games that can make you sweat as you try to win tickets, you don’t have to move your legs to beat the slot machine in this one.
The premise of the game is simple. The light moves in a circle. Your job is to jump so it doesn’t “hit” you – in fact, it doesn’t activate when you stand on a pressure-sensitive cushion.
The trick to win this one is simple. Until the operators of the arcade upset you, do not stand on the site at all. Use your arms instead to simulate jumping. You will be much more accurate and much less tired if you plan to devote yourself to this game for a while.