Tiziano Tredese of Elmac in Italy looks at how technology has changed the shape of redemption
In order to look at how technology has improved the design and production of ticket redemption machines we have to go back 15 years, when these machines were born.
One of the first machines was the Cyclone, which is still in production to this day. The design of the game was very simple: a certain number of lights are lighted in sequence; each one corresponds to a certain number of tickets. The player pushes a button trying to stop the light that is nearest to the highest number of points.
One of the very first developments was the introduction of step-motors, meaning it has been possible to produce more exciting games such as Smokin Token, Speed Demon, Slam A Winner and so on.
In these machines the position of the targets is established by the combination of a photo-coupler that starts the counting of every cycle and a special motor that counts, step by step, the angles of the targets in respect to the starting point.
The evolution of this technology has been the use of optical encoders and normal motors. The final position of the target is established by a certain number of photo-sensors (from one to eight) that read the codes fixed on the back of the wheel - a good example of this is the game Haunted House (pictured right).
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Another advantage of this technology, which has improved the appeal of the ticket redemption machine to operators, has been the use of computers and monitors as central processing units. The monitor is used to show thematic scenes, scores, the menu (for instance on Big Bass Wheel) or to show the targets (Sea Wolf) or the pins (Family Bowl II).
However, one thing must be clear when these games use a monitor or a sophisticated CPU, to be classified as "pure skill electro-mechanical games" the software cannot contain any mathematical algorithm of chance. In other words there cannot be any software connection present between the coin in and tickets out. The winnings have to depend on the skill of the players only.
Something truly innovative is due to be introduced into the industry in the next few months - a driving game for four players, which has already tested well in the US and Italy. The way power is supplied to the game is particularly interesting - the small cars receive power by electro-magnetical induction.
Under the playfield a group of coils generate an electro-magnetic field that is captured by the coils fixed inside the cars, meaning there is a transfer of energy without any contact. Moreover, the position of the cars on the playfield is tracked by a video camera.
Sophisticated software also gives players the chance to choose the difficulty level of driving: easy, medium or professional and this, for me, really is the top end of technology in the ticket redemption field.
Operating a group of ticket redemption machines is not an easy task, especially as operators have to count the tickets and in the past, and even in some FECs today, they were weighted. It’s clear that this is not the most professional way to count tickets, so a few years ago manual ticket counters were born.
This development led to the idea of giving the players more freedom and allowing them to insert their own tickets into a ticket eater and then obtain a receipt in exchange, which features all the relevant information needed such as number of tickets, date, location logo, etc.
Or even better they can, in some cases, transfer all this data onto a loyalty card, giving them more of a reason to play the games again and again.
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Advances in technology have also enabled designers to produce special kiosks with a PC and touchscreen in order to help operators manage ticket redemption more efficiently.
They can keep an eye on prizes going in and out of the machines and log customer details while giving the customer more freedom to choose their prizes depending on the total points they have won.
It has also been possible to develop automatic distribution of prizes using an automatic barcode reader, which reads the receipts or magnetic cards.
With all these facilities available it’s clear that operating ticket redemption has become a much easier, nice and very profitable job and this is the main reason behind the great development of these machines in the best arcades all over the world.
In the instant redemption sector technology has really aided a lot of designers to develop new games. For instance, cranes now use very sophisticated software where all the movements (left, right, up, down, catch) can be adjusted in order to give the players the real feeling that the prizes are won by their own skill.
Another important part of novelty games is the prize dispenser. In the past, in order to obtain a prize the player had to reach a certain goal in a certain time.In the modern games the player, at the end of a skill game, can collect a minor prize or they can risk this winning and enter a higher level of the game. If they are skilled enough to finish the second game they can get a major prize. Famous examples are Stacker from LAI and Road Trip from Bay Tek Games.
Coin pushers can also be considered novelty machines if using tokens - the operator puts small gadgets and prizes over the plates and the player has to use their skill to make the tokens fall and with them, the prizes.
As we’ve seen, technology has held an important role in the development and operation of ticket and instant redemption.
But the argument still remains - tickets or no tickets? Surely the emotion attached to winning lots of tickets is different and more desirable than acquiring points, directly from the games on a magnetic card. Perhaps a mixture of winning tickets for casual players and points for VIP players (owners of loyalty cards) will be the right solution for the future.
