Pub Fruit Machines in the UK

The common misperception is that pub fruit machines are the same thing as the typical slots machine found in the United States.  This can cause quite a bit of confusion when an American visits England and realizes that pub fruit machines are much more complex.  Although the two gambling machines are quite similar, the fruit machine has some features built-in that add an element of skill and a higher level of involvement on the part of the player.

With an American style slot machine, you pop in your coin or token and pull the handle - that's it.  The result is completely random.  Some of the video slot machines have bonus games within the main game structure that may involve a bit more, but the main game is random. 

On a pub fruit machine, however, there are cool features such as holds, superholds, nudges and let'em spins.  They also usually have a path, called a trail, which you need to follow in order to reach hidden game boards or levels.  Along the way, the player must make choices and this will influence the direction of the game.  Generally, the choices will be betting on the hi-lo reel or other challenges.

There are actually three types of pub fruit machines in the UK these days: the amusement with prizes (AWP), the club machine and the casino machine.  The differences in the types of machines are mainly in where they are allowed to be used and what they pay out for a prize.  The style of machine can be different, as well.

The AWP machines are what you will find in the pubs everywhere.  These are almost always 3 reel machines.  Sadly for many people, these pub fruit machines are regulated by the government to only pay out up to £25 but they do usually offer repeating chances on hitting the jackpot.  Most pubs  start with a 30p stake to play.

The laws have since been relaxed and you can often find machines where you can change the initial stake per spin, from 25p to 50p up to £1 as the law currently stands.  You can sometimes find machines with higher jackpots than the regulation £25 + repeat chance.  The current maximum is £70.

Club machines are 4 reel machines and are found in places like the Legion or in casinos.  These start with a 25p stake and jackpots range from £75 up to £250.  In casinos, the jackpot can go up to £1000 for that same 25p initial stake. 

The newer casino machines are often the same games as some of the club machines but with the larger £1000 jackpots.  Some of the casinos also have American-style games that are very like slot machines and therefore just as random.

There is a great deal of controversy over the regulation governing fruit machines.  Many punters are furious that it's often more expensive to play a game in the pub for a meager £25 payout than it is to play down at the Legion where you might win ten times the amount. 

Today these punters or anyone who enjoys playing the pub fruit machines can go online to any one of a number of online casinos and play the same style of game but with much higher jackpots.  Many people actually prefer to play online from the comfort of their own homes, rather than have to get dressed up and go to a club or casino.

Although superficially these online fruit machines can appear to be just like a Uk pub machine, underneath they are simply slots games without the interaction that you get from a real life fruit machine.  There is currently nowhere online that features the real mechanics of traditional fruit machines with all the real buttons and features that you'd expect when playing down the pub.   This will surely change in the near future as the demand is very high.  Stay tuned!