“Fruit Machine Simulator” is a fruit machine game by Mark Baldock.

First released in 1988 for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Atari XL/XE and Commodore 64.

The Atari XL/XE version plays differently to the other versions of the game as it features Dizzy who requires the fruit machine to help him move forward.

Billed as “The first real Fruit Machine Simulator”, this is a game for 1-4 players that starts you off with £1.50 and sets about helping the player lose it.

Though not based on a specific machine, it has features that fruit machines of the 1980’s had such as Cash Box, Nudge Box, Skill Climb, Winning Streak, Cash Gamble, Hold, Mega-hold, and more.

The money that the player has is represented as a number of coins, £1, 50p, 20p, and 10p.
The player selects which coins to feed into the machine by the number keys.
All stakes are 10p.
After entering the coins, gameplay is a simple matter of pressing the space bar to spin the reels and see whether a winning combination comes up.

Whenever a win is awarded, the player gets the option to either gamble the win or to take the cash.

Some symbols on the reels have numbers on them.
Should these appear on the winning line the letters of the CASH BASH light up.
Rarely these letters light up part way and stay lit for the next spin.
Other symbols have a ‘?’ on them, these trigger a feature in which all the unlit letters of the CASH BASH feature flash randomly and the player has to stop them flashing at a time when all are lit.
If, by either means, all the letters of this feature light up the player gets a chance at the bonus features. There are four of these and they represented by flashing lights, the player stops the lights flashing and is awarded the corresponding lit feature.

— The Skill Climb starts with four columns of lights representing coins, column 1 is 10p’s, column 2 is 20p’s, column 3 is 50p’s and column 4 is £1’s.
The lights flash on and off and the player must stop them flashing by pressing an action key.
If the player stops the lights at the bottom of the column then they lose.
If the player stops the lights part way up the column then they win an amount equivalent to all the lights lit.
If the player stops the lights at the top of the column then the player progresses to the next column where the coins are worth more and the lights flash faster.

— The Cash Box is an sum of money that builds during play and is awarded should the player select this feature.

— The Nudge Box is a number of nudges that builds during play and is awarded should the player select this feature.

— The Winning Streak is a series of spins each one guaranteed to win something.

Randomly throughout, the game reels can be held or nudged.
Rarely, reels can be held after a win.