soundawake

Yeah here in South Australia we have IGT, Konami, Stargames/Bally, Aristocrat and Ainsworth. In my state, BNAs are illegal, so we still only use $1 coins! No printers either. No linked progressive jackpots. Only individual progressive jackpots. Unfortunately, due to pretty much the rest of the world using banknotes and printers, less and less R&D goes toward good coin path design. Hence, pretty much all new machines from all manufacturers have increasing levels of coin faults, diverter faults.

Although we have a casino here, most pubs and bars also have gaming machines, so I am out on the road all day. Which means a free company car I can use for private use too. Ford Fusion wagon. I would struggle to work in a casino now.. I am so used to being by myself out on the road all day.

Is it just me or are the newer machines coming out getting worse and worse as far as design and build quality goes? We just got the Ari Helix here a few months ago, and it is a piece of shit. Ainsworth have always been absolutely fucking dreadful but they are getting better. Boot up times are ridiculously long now. Just say I had to clear a fault or whatever for a customer, and I reboot the machine.. I'm left standing there for over 10 mins just waiting for the game to come back online, all while the patron gets more and more pissed.

The only thing I like about the newer Ainsworth (specifically the A560, don't know if you have that there) is the menu system is well designed and laid out. Try and replace one of the LCDs by yourself though... good luck. The Ari menu system on the Viridian and the Helix is FUCKED. Ari also thought it was a good idea to put the audit switches on the front of the very heavy lower door, so the key will sometimes fall out when the door is opened. These engineers I tell ya... I'd love to meet them to give them a piece of my mind Steve Jobs style. 'See this? This SUCKS. Why would you design that?? IT SUCKS'. Ainsworth also have a fault on their older SL machines where intermittently, they will accept 2 or 3 coins and not credit. Ains have been aware of it for over 5 years and can't/won't fix it. Constantly getting calls logged for machines gobbling coins, and I have to attend and explain that there is nothing we can do about it. I reckon the last, great, simple designed machine was the Ari Mk5/6. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sWHC4nv8POg/STHZT4_DNBI/AAAAAAAAAA4/fdVr3vComfk/s1600-h/Mark6.JPG

Yeah I wonder re the Ainsworth problem, that if I went public and the tabloid current affairs programs that air here got a hold of the story... I wish our Liquor and Gambling Commission went after them a bit more.

I haven't had to replace a single Viridian PSU! We only probably got the Viridians here in SA a couple of years ago now, with the widescreen LCDs. Because of our draconian laws on note acceptors, (this is due to one particularly hardline anti gambling senator) we are probably 3-5 years behind the other states here.

When I was in Melbourne a month or so ago I saw a Bally machine (I think), with a curved LCD screen? Know anything about that?

Edit: The SHFL/Bally machines we have here are the Equinox and the newer Equinox multi game machine... the one with the backplane on the front of the logic asssembly. Don't have many faults with the Equinox's, top 3 would be coin jams in the coin entry due to bent coins, broken QL coin mechs due to staff breaking the bottom of them and random rebooting due to PSU or I/O or processor board faults.

I have been a slot machine tech in Australia for over 10 years. What's the job market like in Vegas? If I got a green card etc etc and moved there, would it be easy for me to get a job?

I have a family history of psoriasis and about 10 years ago I had a full body breakout. Not as bad as yours, but still pretty bad. My dermatologist said 'do you like the beach? Do you smoke weed?' I said yes and yes. He said 'get out in the sun, and swim at the beach as much as you can. And weed will help too'. And he was right. Seawater is fantastic for psoriasis along with lots of sunlight. Mine cleared up in a little over 6 months of sunlight every day and swimming regularly.

If you live near the ocean, do it!