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Well hello there! It's been a while (by "a while", I mean 13 years, the last WWC was in 2013. Thirteen years!) 🙂 I don't even know if anyone will actually read this (lol), but hey. Let's do it for old times sake, this is an MPU3 machine after all. Grab a chair and a rather cheeky glass of Saint-Emilion! *** I think it's fair to say a lot has changed in all of that time, and not all of it good. |First off, Wizard - the one-man genius behind MFME has been taken from us. I won't pretend I knew him personally; I dare say we had perhaps a dozen online conversations and interactions. His work and legacy speaks for itself, as does the great number of people he has helped and provided hours of entertainment - for free. Much has been said of his passing, from people whom it is vastly more appropriate and fitting to express such thoughts. I will simply say that every time I fire up the emulator for some much needed diversion, which is often, I think of him. RIP sir. *** In terms of this "review", nothing has changed from before: just some hapless, clueless, even older old guy offering up some ill-informed waffle about some ancient old fruit machine that most people will have forgotten about, even if they'd known what it was in the first place (back in 1985). I remind myself: this machine (briefly) appeared in pubs, arcades (and in my own case, a chip shop) back in 1985 or thereabouts, fully 40 years ago. Crickey. Well, we old crusties know all about MPU3 machines, right? Played 'em back in the day, lost our shirts, made a few quid. The memories stayed with us; we all have the layouts and the lucky few even have the actual machines. In many ways, this was the golden age of the 10p AWP (and 2p-ers as well), all a very far cry from now. That we get to play these old classics (and thus they live on) is down to MFME and its author of course, but also to the layout creators - Vecs in this instance (and a very fine layout it is too, which is to be expected from him of course), as well as the play testers, the resource gatherers, the owners of these rare beasts who allow ancient ROMS to be dumped and all the rest. *** Unlike ubiquitous MPU3 machines like Line Up, Adders & Ladders, Hyper Viper, Exchanges Unlimited, Razzle Dazzle etc., this was a rare machine - I only ever saw one in the wild. If there's a "TL;DR" summary (getting down with the kids there 😉), I daresay I'm reminded of those old "naughty but nice" adverts for cream cakes (if you're a certain age, as you probably are if you've got this far, you'll remember stuff like this: There are plenty of others with the likes of Les Dawson, Larry Grayson, Kenneth Williams etc., a real 1970s Carry On fest. Thing is though, I don't know about you guys, but I've always thought cream cakes look and sound like a great idea, but as soon as you start eating them, you kind of regret it? They're a bit much - too rich, rather bland and too much of them. A cream eclair has oodles of piped cream, chocolate and choux pastry, a pretty awesome list of ingredients you'd think, but it's all rather sickly and disappointing, a classic case of being less than the sum of its parts, right? In a similar vein, Naughty but Nice surely has the most appealing, finest ingredients - it's a Barcrest MPU3 machine for starters (a late one at that, bearing many resemblances to the great MPU3 Big Shot, with a bit of MPU3 Big Game thrown in, and even a pinch of MPU4 Stake Up/Multiplay clubber, albeit without the benefit of that machine's more advanced light and sound show, thanks to the more advanced MPU4 hardware). And yet - it's all rather disappointing when you play it. Allow me to elaborate. A Barcrest sussed out very early on in the genre of MPU3 machines (AWP and clubber also) that an exchange path is necessary to "jazz up" small wins, beyond simply a cash gamble ladder. A 20p win on Line Up or Hyper Viper is exciting (even a 10p win in HV's case) because it can be exchanged for 2 nudges, with the promise of much higher prizes and/or an exciting nudge gamble. Of course, many such exchanges/attempts ended in failure, with the player stiffed with 10p, but that's the gamble. Another staple was a feature board of some kind (Line Up, Adders, HV, Autoroute, Razzle, Fortune Numbers etc.). Those few machines that didn't have one, like Circle Skill and Bigshot still had multi-word fill features (Cash, Zapp, Nudges, target board etc.), and Big Shot had a fully implemented nudge exchange - all plenty enough to keep the player entertained. Naughty but Nice does away with most of this; there's no feature board and there are only two trails to win stuff from numbers - the rarely given "Naughties" (a rather lame super series along similar lines to Fortune Numbers, although it can credit repeat if its really in the mood, perhaps for £3 or £4 tops) and nudges. A unique twist is that, when playing for super series (Naughties), the win values are all cash (£1.50JP for 10p play), with the lower wins enhanced. However, given that you won't ever have any nudges (by definition), you'll be relying on wins simply dropping in off holds or whatever (or the stingy super series). At least half the time, the nudge feature will give the minimum 2 nudges (and it'll be obvious the machine is wanting/expecting the player to collect, as they'll almost invariably be a lame 2-nudge reel set up with 30p/40p/60p win in range). Any unused nudges off the initial nudge feature (but not subsequent if nudges held over) will mean the player has a double or nothing chance next game. This could've introduced a fair amount of playability (e.g. like Big Shot), but it doesn't really work in practice. You can gamble, say, 2 nudges up to 4 or 6, then manually nudge a 20p win (instead of taking a 40p or 60p best win), leaving 3 or 4 nudges unused for next game. Often, though, the machine will stiff you with a Lose, or even if it gives it, the best win will still be 60p odd. Above all, this machine is tight as a duck's arse - Makes Nudges Unlimited look like JPM Rollercoaster on £6JP lol. Er, and that's it. Either naff super series (which the machine will number taunt you forever for, unless you're guaranteed it by having a hold and enough numbers on the win line to reach 10), or nudges - probably 2 nudges at that. At least it's a lot more willing to give the nudge feature. In terms of the Double or Nothing gamble, this is very reminiscent of Big Shot. Like that machine, it's progressive; you'll lose 20p wins if gambled if it's in a bad mood, but start pumping in those pound coins and you'll start to get to 40p, then 80p then £1.60 more often. At £1.60, bank 20p and go for the £1.40 double to £3JP. When it's good and ready, it'll go up (and clam right up again, in all likelihood). The machine is too easy to read, too tight, too simplistic. It's not a complete woffer by any means, but it clearly lacks both the depth and charm of many of its MPU3 contempories (not to mention classic JPMs of the era, most notably Reel Crazy). There is one thing that really marks it out from other similar 'Crests, though - Unlimited Nudges allows an autonudge for £3, albeit it doesn't have that wonderful "whirring" sound (I always loved that... <UNLIMITED NUDGES> in the alpha... <BELLS OR B A R S> 😀) It's an impressive looking beast; those two big win tables alternating lamps - there really wasn't anything else like it AWP-wise. Barcrest produced so many good looking machines. This one's a bit of a dumb blonde though, sadly, and you wouldn't take it home to meet your mother. (They didn't last long and there was never a 2p play variant. Presumably, most ended up as rebuilds like Chase the Ace, Win a Gain, Rat Race etc.). WWC JUDGEMENT - SAINT OR SINNER *** PURGATORY 5/10 👼

This is the issue

Yeah that’s a good point Nick, will see how re sticking the decal turns out

A dilemma indeed ronnie .I'd be using the genuine glasses if it were me .

Thanks Nick, got the glasses today and one side of thae art is lifting off the glass but not flaking off, just need to figure a way of sticking it back down. Also need to decide on using the repro or this original glass!

Nice one ronnie what a great result

Hi there, Newbee, but a longtime fruitlover. I used to visit Fruity.nl, but it doesn't excist anymore. So after searching the web I found this place. Hope to have some fun here. cheers Egbert

Hello. Truly a fascinating topic; fabulous, interesting from beginning to end. Thank you.

I know Mike and the chap is giving those for free, incredible

You couldn't write it Ronnie, quite incredible!

Yes, buttons not needed, found this lot by a group member on another form not fruity related, he was pucking up some video games from an op and these glasses were in a box of wiring bits and bobs

The buttons are wrong but the glasses are handy enough! 🙂

Hello So, here's an update. I replaced the 6561 RAM and a few other components and took various measurements. It still won't boot. Obviously, otherwise, where's the fun? I'll be away for about ten days, and I'll post the results of the measurements. Just wanted to let you know I haven't given up. Thanks, see you soon.

That's brilliant, thanks so much for that.👍

Well what’s the chance of these bits turning up after all this lol

here is a little video to show what the lamps for the reels are. i have done a few proconn layouts and they are always the first row of lamps for the reels 0-8 hope this is what you need? for midi bob.rar

Thanks Dave, I'd already downloaded it and unfortunately there's no lamp matrix info.

Hi! Just saying hello as a new member!

Hi Bob - Here's a manual with lamp matrix info, hope it helps. Dave. Coinworld Bear x manual.zip

Hi chaps and chapesses, I've been working on a project board which appeared OK on my test rig but back in the machine shows three lamps stuck on. I've been searching for a lamp matrix for this game so I can see if any are related via row or column. There are no docs I can find but there is a DX for it. I've run the DX in the emulator and have drawn up a lamp map although it's not complete. I can't seem to work out how you tell what lamps are in the reels as the 'properties' just gives reel info and not the lamp info? I haven't played with the emulator for many a year so I'm well rusty with it. From what I can see two of the lamps are on the same column with no other lamps but the 3rd one shares with others, row and columns, so I suspect the faults aren't connected. Be nice if someone has the docs and they could let me have a copy. There must be one knocking about from the original DX design. Cheers Bob

Thank you for the fantastic layout.

Lost my fruity enthusiasm quite drastically but making a bit of a comeback. Good to chat to you the other week, we'll have to grab that pint when I'm next in Nottingham

hi new here looking for old slots

thats great mate much appreciated

Hi all... Firstly, I hope you all had a peaceful Christmas and I wish you all the best for the New Year 2026. Sorry for such a long time in posting, but eh, those of you in FME-land who know me will know that is just me. I want everyone to promise one thing this year and that is look after your health - if in doubt, get it checked out! It could save your life. Take care everyone, Daryl x