O/T Fixed games machines (Stacker/Pile Up etc) - legality?

[jcdenton08]

Would love to speak to someone who understands how these work; note, not fruit machines of which I have a fairly decent understanding of.

Was playing a 'Pile Up' brand stacking game (made by Photo-Me), 50p per play. The game plays like this;


MAJOR PRIZE
[][][][][][][][][] <----
[][][][][X][][][][]
[][][][][X][][][][]
MINOR PRIZE
[][][][][][X][][][]
[][][][][X][X][][][]
[][][][][X][X][][][]
[][][][X][X][X][][][]
[][][][]X[X][X][][][]
[][][][X][X][X][][][]

The idea is to stack boxes on top of each other until you reach a prize. The game enables you to get to Minor Prize (a small plastic toy worth less than 50p) every time with the requisite skill or continue to try for the Major Prize. However - the machine is rigged between 60:1 --- 600:1 in allowing the player to win the Major Prize - this can be set by the owner and programmed into the software. When on the penultimate line, it skips over the box and makes it impossible to progress, making the game unwinnable.

What I want to know is if this is actually legal? The game advertises the prizes you can win, the stake (50p) to gamble and bills it as a game of skill, not chance. I got my girlfriend to record me playing on her HD video camera, and in slow motion the box clearly jumps over and misses the line despite being (to the millisecond) exact. What is particularly annoying is that the prize in question is ONLY winnable in arcade 'skill' games much like the Sega UFO Catcher.

Any thoughts? Inb4 'stop playing games' 'sore loser' etc.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

HMRC and Gambling Commission have said that stackers are gaming machines (essentially like fruit machines) as in some situations there is no way that any person could win a prize.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

i played stacker in the pavtav a year or so ago, got to one away from the major prize FOUR TIMES. I'm pretty sure that two of the times I nailed it aswell, but the bastard just jumped an extra square and I lost.

They should state on them that it's not a game of skill if what mr Hatters is saying is true.

 

[Gary Leeds]

The fact you have stated that it can be set to 1 in 60 to 1 in 600 to win the major prize shows you know they are fixed.

I suspect that they CAN be called a game of skill in that all that they need to do is prove that there is a 1000th of a second window where if the button is pressed it will result in a win and as the machine is played more without winning they just widen this window giving more chance of winning.

For a game to be skill it does not have to display the odds of you winning, it just means that you must be able to win the top prize every time.

As another example think of the grabber cranes. Classed as a game of skill as in theory you could win every time but after you have won a toy notice how loose the grabber grabs, as you lose time and again the claw becomes more powerful and more likely to grab the item and carry it out. Of course you could still get very lucky when you have just won and pass the hook through a label and bow and win when the machine is not expecting you to, that will just double the cycle before the claw grabs tighter to recoup the cash needed