Fruit Machines

Fruit Machines are very much an English thing. Having grown up with “fruities” in my local pub, it was the slots concept I was most familiar with when I started playing games online. And quite a few fruit machines can now be played online, but as I progressed, I started playing the Vegas style 5 reel slots more and if I’m honest, find them far more fun. But nonetheless, a few online fruit machines are still worth a visit and I have attempted to review a few here. They all have the feature boards, nudges, holds and secret features that UK players have come to love (!) and just to complete the whole experience, the online fruity is just as streaky as the pub one!

Many of you who regularly frequent the bookies in our High streets around the UK will already be familiar with the Reel King fruit machine from Barcrest. But you may not yet be aware that an online version of Reel King has been released - one that you can play for real money - at Sky Vegas. More…»

A new website has bought together a number of popular UK fruit machines under one roof that punters can play online for free, with no registration required. The fruit machines site contains (as I write) 16 different fruities, some of which will be well known to UK pub-goers and include offerings from Barcrest, Bell Fruit, Astra and IGT.

One notable difference between the fruit machines in their online format is the expected return - or payout percentage. Where you will be luck to find anything over 85% in land based amusement arcades and bookmakers, the online equivalents all have a theoretical return between 93% and 95%.

New games on the site include seaside favourites Bar X 5 and Bar X Magic 7, simple fruit machines More…»

Regular arcade goers in the UK will probably be very familiar with Electrocoin’s popular Bar-X and Bar-X Magic 7 fruit machines…they’ve been around for years and I can remember them from…oooh…at least 10 years ago on Brighton Pier, if not longer! So I guess it’s about bloody time they were made available to online punters and sure enough they have now arrived at Sky Vegas Casino (no US players though) and Mecca Games . You can also play Bar X 5 for free here to check it out if you can’t be bothered to read on

And yup - they are exactly like the originals, even down to the 3 nudges and the “secret” holds. I mean let’s be frank here, they are basic machines - only 4 symbols and 3 reels, but there is definately something about them. Just recently I was down in Brighton stalking the Pier More…»

For those of you who have decided that the pub isn’t quite so appealing post-smoking ban but with a yearning to play the fruity, you may be pleased to hear, or possibly dismayed depending on your take, that the the good old tradtional English pub fruity has arrived in your sitting room, nudges ‘n’ all! And better than that - it’s bought it’s mean, crooked and somewhat streaky personality with it!

When I was younger, I confess that quite often I used to wander up the road with my last tenner and stand there for an hour or two - luck willing - pressing the buttons, stooping to look up the reels, nudging like mad before the time limit ran out and drinking the cheapest drink they served (lime ‘n’ soda in case you were wondering). But the pub fruity had something about it - something that made you think you were gonna be rich one day, when in actual fact a 70% payout meant you were more likely to be scrabbling under the car seats for lost change. More…»

Game On is an online casino fruit machine from Microgaming, an authentic emulation of your traditional UK pub fruitie with nudges, feature board and repeat feature. It is one of a series of online fruit machines developed by this software manufacturer and is good fun, if a bit streaky. Guess that classifies as authentic then! More…»

Cash N Curry is one in a series of authentic online pub-style fruit machines from Microgaming, complete with feature board and many of the quirky characteristics of your normal UK pub fruitie. On the surface, it’s a relatively straightforward 3-reel slot machine with wagers from 10p to £10 per spin and payouts of up to 500x your bet, but as pub-goers will know these fruit machines have some hidden talents. More…»