I’m sure most of you have had a similar experience I’ve had when sitting down at an old slot machine to play, only to find many of the buttons to be not functional. It can be frustrating, even as you somewhat understand that after so many years on the casino floor, it may have seen better days, and parts aren’t as accessible as they used to be.
Unfortunately, my recent trip to Las Vegas, with my side trek to Lake Tahoe, got me doubly frustrated when seemingly new or near-new cabinets by multiple major manufacturers seemed to have major issues with their spin buttons.
Many of Aristocrat’s newer machines have the triangle-shaped spin buttons that are their trademark, but so many of them seem to struggle to respond to the button press. This has been something I’ve seen across a couple of their newest cabinets, in multiple casinos, which leads me to believe this is a cabinet issue.
I first recall encountering this as an issue when on a cruise last year, where they had a lot of these Aristocrat machines, but I had to use a lot of force (me, the anti-button slapper-er) just to get a spin to register. Or, I had to tap the bet button on the touchscreen, but that became unsatisfying quickly for me. I’ve seen it more and more since, and it’s clear it’s some sort of a design issue.
I’m also starting to see regular issues with the Cosmic cabinets that Light & Wonder has put so much emphasis on in recent years. At least in the case of Cosmic, there’s two physical buttons, but what’s been even more frustrating is having them both only sort of work for the same reason.
In the case of these buttons, they seem to get stuck being pressed down, and you have to sort of finagle them to get back to their unpressed state to get another successful press. They seem to be susceptible to something getting caught inside them, leading to more stickiness that makes it harder to use.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. These new and modern slots should be their most robust yet, thanks to decades of knowledge and evolution from two of the biggest manufacturers in the slot world. Yet I found myself getting excited to sit down and play a newer game, only to become extremely frustrated and be forced to move on quickly.
At a time when industry metrics watch how well new slots and cabinets perform against overall averages, having new games be a struggle to play can’t help these big brands show convincing data that their new games and machines are performing well. Imagine how much better the numbers would be if the machines were consistently in top shape… and playable?
I have to imagine it’s not just frustrating for the players, but for the casinos investing in these machines only to have these things happen. Or, if it’s a maintenance issue, maybe it’s the false reliance by casinos on newer machines being expected to be more reliable (and not checking the machines enough to ensure they work), but regardless of the issue it seems to me buttons shouldn’t break down this quickly.
With casinos investing more regularly in newer cabinets in recent years, it should be a better experience than the ancient Konami machine I played in Tahoe. The spin button was broken, and the bet buttons were barely responsive. I could press spin by touching the exposed light bulb that normally would be covered by a button, but had broken at some point (probably awhile ago, if the age of the machine was any indication).
Ironically, this machine, with the broken buttons and no sound, was more playable than the practically new cabinets that were giving me trouble.
Fortunately, this is not something I’m seeing universally. Hopefully the manufacturers are aware of this and on it. But it certainly was one of the less enjoyable discoveries of my recent visit, and left me bummed with the experience I had on some of the most popular slots on casino floors today.
So…. Josh can’t push the buttons?
Yeah I’m not having that problem across the universe of old and new machines I play.
Sure if you’re playing at hoopdy casinos with duct tape on the buttons maybe.
Might try better more well run casinos?
Strange you call out the manufacturers, like trashing Aristocrat and others, when they’re rarely responsible for daily maintenance onsite.
Shame on you for creating a problem that rarely exists in well run casinos.
You make assumptions here P that are addressed in the article. For one, we mentioned the aspect of casinos and maintenance, and that they should be keeping on top of it.
But the reason for calling out the manufacturers, and we mentioned this in the article, was it wasn’t a situation of an isolated casino, or even casino owner – this was widespread. And so we’d use a similar analogy to a car – if you don’t maintain your car and it breaks down, clearly that’s on you. But if it’s a consistent and common problem among a particular car model, that’s a sign of a more widespread issue related to design and/or manufacturing, and it means an opportunity for the manufacturers to take a closer look and make improvements. So we’re comfortable in our approach here based on how we arrived at this conclusion.
The issue is people who constantly bang with their fists. They bang the screens, the sides, etc. If a rubber hammer was available it would be used. I have seen people bang so hard that the screen gets cracked and they look around and say, “How did that happen .” I point to the sky and say, “The eyes in the sky know, prepare to pay some money.” I have seen the electronic reset go off. One guy caved in the entire glass screen, that is when I found out slot machines used tempered glass. It is horrible. Go to any Indian Reservation Casino and just watch.
We believe it goes beyond the issue of button slapping, because some of the games that take the biggest beatings (machines on the floor used for slot tournaments, any Dragon Link machine, etc.) don’t have the same frequency of issues in our encounters with them relative to the machines we mention in the article. But even if button slapping was an issue, these same manufacturers have made other machines that can withstand it, so it’s a bit odd their newest ones take a step backward in that way.
I just spent the weekend at an Indian Casino near Cortez, Colorado. I go there about once a year, and every year many of the machines that I liked old and new aren’t there anymore. So I’m wondering if the manufacturers are trying to save money and it would also help if the security slot technicians would do something about people that are just slamming the machines. That is a casino problem, though.
Machines can get replaced for a variety of reasons – how much they’re getting played over time is one, but maintenance issues can certainly be another. This can be particularly true for older machines where parts are harder to come by, or the slot makers no longer support them. Especially in the modern day where computers are effectively inside, as the machines age naturally those parts just won’t be made anymore, and while you might be able to buy third-party or used parts it just becomes too expensive at some point to maintain, especially when older machines aren’t often played to the level of the newer ones.
And yes, casinos have to make their judgement calls with the more aggressive of the players to decide if/how they want to intervene. We’re sure that factors into things too.
Brian I’ve waited years to see you. You came to AC and spent the rest of the week in the hospital. I’m bummed. But I do have question. If you see a player hanging off of the front of machine. Banging it and jumping up and down. Should you get security. My friends all tell me no. It’s always the same type of people and they tell me they can be aggressive to other player’s. So they say walk away.
In a scenario where you see something unsafe or disruptive, you can certainly let a security guard know. It doesn’t mean you have to stay around to find out what happens next, in case they do take issue with security interrupting them. The odds are pretty good though if they’re making that sort of ruckus security already knows, and the eye in the sky or guards on the ground are keeping an eye, even if from a distance.
Josh is this a cabinet issue or the buttons being hit so hard from the more and more aggressive button slammers? That is what I call them now button slammers. My local casinos are getting really bad with them.
Thanks for the question Cherish! We think this is a cabinet issue. The frequency with which we’re seeing an issue on the new cabinets isn’t the same as, for instance, those cabinets Dragon Link are on where people are constantly slapping the button.
I disagree with the comment that you’ll only run into stuck buttons at “hoopdy” casinos, not “well run” establishments. I live in metro-Boston and frequently visit both Encore Boston Harbor and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Frequently run into stuck or broken buttons at both places, and neither would be considered “hoopdy” by any stretch of the imagination. I think that part of the problem is that there’s no reporting mechanism. If the slot maintenance crew at any casino is not aware of these issues, how do you expect them to fix it? Who are slot players supposed to report these issues to? The drink server? The hand-pay person? Security? My trips to Mohegan Sun are usually for one or two nights, so I’m often on the casino floor early in the morning when not much of anything is happening. I frequently see the slot maintenance crew pushing their repair carts around the casino floor, tending to whatever issues they’re aware of. If I was having a problem at a certain machine the previous night, I’ll tell them about it, including the name of the machine and the general location. They’re sincerely appreciative and have occasionally mentioned that they only find out about many problems from player feedback. Perhaps I’m just gullible, but I think they really do want players to have a problem-free experience. I’m not doubting the larger “design flaw” problem of the manufacturers, but what’s the best way for a player to report the problems they run into?
This is a really thoughtful approach, Larry! Sometimes we can help our fellow players out by reporting the issue (and maybe ourselves if there proves to be a quick fix). Many casinos have slot techs as the first line reporting to a machine when you hit the service button, so this we think could be an option, especially if you don’t have any staff within your line of sight to call over (as long as they respond within a reasonable amount of time, anyway, which can sometimes itself be a challenge if they happen to be tied up with other issues at that moment).
We also agree that casinos don’t want this to be the experience – machines that aren’t playable can’t help the revenue numbers. So it’s nice to see some problem solving factored into the thinking here!