It's pathetic, I know, but I was young and broke...(anyone else use to do this)

[Twenty2AcaciaAve]

Back in my teen years (nearly 20 years ago) I would go to my mom's every other weekend and go to Hershey Park (had a season pass). I was never actually a ride guy so I mainly hung out at the HUGE arcade with a pretty impressive pinball selection.

Anyways, periodically I would go to the pinball section and check the machines to see if anyone had any matches/replays that they weren't aware of. NOTE: I did NOT wait for people to stop playing, the machines I went to were ones where no one was at the machien when I got to it).

Pathetic, I know. Takes me back, though.

 

[DrainoBraino]

Dude, I do that all the time. The second I walk into an arcade I look for flashing start buttons.

 

[Bass Mummy]

How is that pathetic? Call it frugal.

Besides, sometimes I'll leave a credit in a machine when I go. I always hope the person who finds it is very happy to get a free game and will pay it forward as well. If not in pinball, perhaps some other area of life.

 

[gooche77]

I've done it many times. And also gave away free games when i was sick of playing the machine.

 

[Butterkins]

How is that pathetic? Call it frugal.

+1

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I do it just to see if the game makes a noise like FAMILY GUY has Quagmire saying "It takes money to turn me on giggity!" I also like it when you find partial credits I think of the poor kid that didn't grasp how much the game cost to play ahhhhh I remember being a stupid kid then I enter the amount of credits required to play and become a stupid kid all over.

 

[jkonami]

I used to check the coin returns of arcade games all the time when I was a kid! I don't remember if I ever found any though.

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

This is not pathetic, this is pure youngster pinball business, hahaha.

Nice story, i liked it.

 

[superballs]

I did that a couple months ago. Not that I was looking for the credits but they were there and I played them and was oh so satisfied about it

 

[Twenty2AcaciaAve]

I used to check the coin returns of arcade games all the time when I was a kid! I don't remember if I ever found any though.

Way back in the day I was at one of the arcades at Hershey Park and noticed that when you hit the coin-return button on Ms. Pacman that it would add a credit.

 

[warh0g]

Finding credits left in machines is allways nice =)

 

[Carl Spiby]

I've started leaving credits on machines, left 3 on STTNG and 5 on WH20.

 

[Gord Lacey]

I STILL look for credits in machines, especially when I'm at the airport (sadly, the only place of that has a bunch of tables around here). Often people have to leave credits in the machine because they have a flight to catch. Unfortunately I think my wife has caught onto the real reason I want to be at the airport 3 hours early for a domestic flight

 

[Clawhammer]

This, combined with sticking my grubby little fingers in coin slots looking for stray quarters basically sums up my childhood. I'm still known to gravitate towards a glowing start button. No shame in the game.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Pinball shows with thier FREE PLAY take all the joy away...and no quarters either

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

I don't do that as much. For instance, when I got my first ever replay on Party Zone, I used the replay right away. Didn't walk from the machine.

However, I have seen a lot more ignorances. I once played a Shadow with coins already put in, I put two more in, and it started a six-ball game!

 

[norbert26]

on a good day in the arcade back in the day after playing a few hours i would get tired and leave a credit or two on the machine. i know arcade operators did not like this and as time marched on the replay gave way to an extra ball instead.

 

[FurVid]

Back in college an arcade I frequented had an attendant who would patrol the premises for unattended machines with credits on them - which he'd power cycle to clear. **** that guy.

 

[TomL]

on a good day in the arcade back in the day after playing a few hours i would get tired and leave a credit or two on the machine. i know arcade operators did not like this and as time marched on the replay gave way to an extra ball instead.

Why in the world would arcade operators not like this? Knowing that there's a tiny chance that someonoe left a free credit on a machine would be good for repeat business. It's not like freeloading lurkers are lining up around the corner blocking the paying customers from getting at machines, are they?