Universal Museum - a pachislo emulator

[davyk]

I've had this game for several years. I even created a review for this site as I like to review obscure games.
www.segasaturn.co.uk/games/jap/u/universalmuseum/

Anyhow, after posting pictures of my collection this week, I started to go through my games and trying them out with my new setup. I have a new 3m RGB SCART cable from my powered SCART switch to my CRT which means I don't have to use SCART blocks and extensions. The display is now far more vibrant because I'm using a single cable - so the games look even better than normal. The Saturn 2D games in particular really benefit from the change.

I had written this game off as an unusual peek at a Japanese pastime but after some more experimentation this week it seems there is more to this game than meets the eye.

One main barrier to full enjoyment of this game is the fact that there is fair bit of Japanese on-screen. Previously I had figured out most of the game via trial and error but it seems I have missed out on some key aspects of the game.

Pachislo is basically Japanese slot machines - similar to Vegas slots. (To those of you who aren't from the UK you won't have heard of our equivalent called fruit machines which are far more sophisticated with huge amounts of interactivity - even though the end result on your pocket is largely the same).

Pachislo has a bit more interactivity than Vegas slots in that they are so-called "skill stop" machines. There is a button for each reel that you have to press to make it stop. Skill stop is of course a misnomer - as when playing it soon becames clear that the reels stop when the machine wants them to - and I had concluded that this was like any other videogame that presents slot machines - a pretty boring zero-skill experience.

Or so I thought.

There is an option in Universal Museum that when set to ON will from time to time display a winning reel combination at the top right of the screen while the reels are spinning. It's the second option down on this menu.



As far as I can tell when nothing is displayed there you won't ever get a winning spin. From my playing experience  when something is shown, you win. I always just assumed that this option was just showing the winning combination you were going to get - because no matter when I pressed the stop buttons I always got this displayed combination. 

It turns out that this isn't the case.

Sometimes - but not every time - this is a skill stop challenge. The machine will actually stop the reels when you press the buttons - but only when you correctly stop them at the symbols displayed at the top right of the screen.

Example of a winning combo shown while the reels are spinning. Three bells in this case. Sometimes you are guaranteed to get this win - but sometimes you have to actually successfully do a skill stop on each reel.


Then I noticed sometimes that multiple winning combos are displayed - with the most valuable one at the top of the list. So when this happens you have an opportunity to go for any of these using skill stops.

An example of multi-winning combinations. One of these 6 - again sometimes an auto win, sometimes you need to skill stop.




On top of this, I started examining the stats screens more closely. On the main stats screen, there is a payout percentage showing coins in , coins out , the balance (usually a negative number!) and a machine payout percentage (which can be over 100% if you have won more than you have put in but it's usually less than 100%).

But - below this figure is a second balance and percentage. That is either equal to the first figure, or higher. It seems that this figure shows the payout percentage that the player should get if he/she is getting all of the skill stop opportunities.

Here's the stats screen showing the 2 payouts - note that the second one is higher after I missed a skill stop chance. The skill stops I missed are listed on the right - only missed one!



So its seems - that this is actually a game of skill - albeit a limited one.  It explains why there are so many other player aids like 8 different spin speeds and the ability to mark selected symbols on the reel with a red background so making them easier to see. There's even an option that shows whioch symbol was on screen when you pressed the stop button and when it actually stopped.

So I will be examining this title a bit more.

Does anyone know anything about pachislo? I think I have this game largely figured out now - but there are still a couple of features that I am baffled by. I will have to take some screenshots and post here as I can't explain one of them clearly just using text. So I would welcome anyone's opinion or explanation of it.

[buckoa51]

Skill or pseudo skill elements are common in gambling machines around the world. This is usually done to skirt around laws that say machines must have some kind of skill element to be legal in certain locations. You say our fruit machines here are complex, but other countries in Europe especially have their own variants with different rules and mechanics. How these machines evolve usually comes down to local laws and of course how strictly those laws are enforced.

I used to be a lot more interested in this when I actually worked in the industry, not so much now.

[davyk]

Yeah - at the end of the day slots are a con if they present themselves as games of skill. Our fruit machines have loads of features but ultimately they still only pay out what they are programmed to do. I can see people enjoying learning a fruit machine if it was presented as an actual game of skill and made more generous in its payout. Vegas slots by comparison offer no entertainment at all even when playing for real money.

I actually really dislike gambling. I have the occasional flutter on Grand National Day which makes the race enjoyable but that's it. I didn't realise how much I disliked it until I went to Las Vegas a couple of years ago (was a 2 centre holiday - stayed in New York too). I do enjoy playing Poker machines though and if I get a casino sim with a good poker machine mode I'll play that from time to time. Won't play them for real money though!

What's interesting about this particular Saturn game is that it tells you when the skill element is activated (well - at least tells you it MIGHT be activated) when one of the options is switched on. And that makes it at least have some interactive entertainment value. And I'm wondering if there are more features that will enhance this. I haven't come across a title quite like this - the config options and features are comprehensive to say the least.

If you worked in the industry you might be able to make sense, or at least have an idea about, what the screenshots I'll post here later are about. Hope you do!

[barryburton]

Not my kinda game but enjoyed your write up. Nice work and good effort for spending the time to learn it. I know I wouldn't have the patience these days.

[davyk]

I've added some screenshots to the OP to illustrate what I'm trying to describe.





Now - this is the bit I need some help with.



Here's the in-game menu:




This is a query about the NOTE and LOOK options.

You have to activate NOTE before VIEW will work.

NOTE seems to "save" the contents of the reel window. After using it you can then select LOOK. Do that and you will see this display:



The numbers in the grid are locations of the symbols on each reel. I can save as many different instances of these as I want. Pressing A shows all 3 reels on the right of the screen with the numbers against the symbols. If I press left or right I page through the content I have saved. In this example there is only 1 saved (1/1 - shown at the bottom right of the screen).

Another example - this is what you see after pressing A



Pressing X deletes the current saved entry from memory. 

I can only assume this is some sort of player aid but I haven't a clue what its purpose is.

[davyk]

Here's the player aid that shows when you pressed stop (the pointing finger) and when the reel stopped (the red arrow). This is animated when the reels spin with the 3 red arrows moving to show where in the reels the reel window are. You can see the 1st reel moved on 3 symbols while the 2nd and 3rd reel stopped when I pressed the stop buttons.

[buckoa51]

You're mostly correct about our British fruit machines/puggies. If you know what you're doing then you do improve your odds in certain situations but at the end of the day these things are designed to run on percentage so even the most skilled player will lose more often than he wins. Unless of course you find a genuine exploit/bug in the machine, which happened more often than you might imagine, at least not on any machine I programmed though

IDK about making sense of any Japanese gambling games, I never made any machines for Japan.

[davyk]

I think it's pretty cool that you coded fruit machines. Am I right in guessing you need to have good stats/prob maths or are you given the algorithms to code up? Who writes the random number generators (if they are used) ? Maybe RNG is seeded from a clock or a button press?

Maybe I'm asking too many questions and you have to sign non disclosure clauses?

[buckoa51]

You don't really have to have great mathematical ability since the computer basically works it all out for you, what you really needed is a feel for what made a fun game... how to make things feel unpredictable within the confines of the law and the target payout etc. Do you go for a machine that pays only jackpots and barely any little wins, or lots of little wins with scant few jackpots etc.... honestly it was a pretty fun job and the level of polish we put into those machines was insane, especially as most places don't even put the sound on half the time... but yeah, was a fun time in my life for sure.