Yet another attempt has been made to transfer the magic of a fruit machine to the computer screen. Super Nudge 2000 has a number of the authentic features to which all fruit machine addicts will be accustomed. You are given £1 credit to start; each attempt costs the usual 10 pence.
There are the standard three reels, with all the usual symbols. Prizes a re won with two or three of a kind on the win line. There is no explanation of what each fruit is worth; they do not fall into the familiar pattern where cherries are worth the least, melons the most.
To reach the exciting part of the game, the letters of Fruitbank need to be lit. On some reels symbols is a number. This relates to the number of letters fit; for example, a cherry with a '3', a pear and a plum with a will light the first four letters.
The game is not generous with its feature hold, making it far too difficult to light the Frultbank completely.
One of the symbols contains a question-mark, which gives the player a skill chance to light the Fruitbank.
The skill chance was almost impossible to miss - unfortunately unlike the
real thing.
There are four features on offer. Nudges are self-explanatory; it is rather tedious that no auto-nudge is supplied. With Spin-A-Wheel the first reel spins
and stops randomly. If the second reel appears, with a match before the third, a two-reel win is registered: otherwise all three reels are matched.
Stop-A-Reel lets all three wheels spin: your task is to stop them one at a time to make a winning combination.
The final feature with which I am unfamiliar is called Cash Plus. Whenever a certain symbol appears on the win line, 10 pence is added to the Cash Plus bank at the left of the screen. If you win the Cash Plus feature the bank becomes yours. After all the features, there is the possibility of a repeat chance; scoring a yes is very difficult.
The graphics are good, the reels while spinning look authentic, which is satisfying as you will spend a great deal of time watching them spin.
When I was a young boy, on one birthday a friend gave me a Pocketeer fruit machine simulator. I remember becoming bored with it before that happy day was over. A fruit machine is about winning money while drinking pints of Directors. Playing a computer imitation while drinking office coffee cannot compare.