Previous Next

The blurb describes this program as 'an imaginative, high resolution' affair which 'perfectly imitates a real fruit machine'. I was prepared to grant it the high-res graphics. I even expected it to mimic a real fruit machine. But 'imaginative' I did not expect. What's there to be imaginative about. In the real thing, you pays your money and you takes your chance. With the computer version, you don't even get the odd ten pence piece as a reward.

I was wrong. It's addictive, even without the cash rewards. The nudge and gamble features on this program are where the imagination and most of the attraction come from. The rest is supplied by the superb mimicry of the spinning symbols on the fruit machine. The wheels start off spinning at the same speed, then, as the first ring stops, the second two rings click round a little faster, and the third finally flies around.

Being a Dragon program, the Dragon logo features as one of the more unlikely counters, but for the purists, there are the usual fruity objects spinning around.

The nudge feature is extremely forgiving. There's no time limit and you can nudge any ring up or down at your choice. I noticed that the program paid out a little more readily each time my statutory 20 credits were whittled down to five or six. But that could have been coincidence.

Fruit machine addicts who need a fix after pub hours will think it's marvellous. And people who always swore they'd never waste their money on a one-armed bandit can now have their cake and eat it.