Electronic Slot Game

Hi,

This is part of a series of posts adding old projects that I have done years ago on to my website. Soon everything should resume chronological order.

About 4-5 years ago I saw a post in Make magazine about someone who had come up with some sort of slot game idea. They had a very small article, with about one or two paragraphs of info on this game idea, and I thought it looked interesting.

After a trip to the hardware store and a trip to RadioShack (argh, I know, I still face palm thinking about how I used to use Radio Shack) I had most of the parts. I made the slots in the wood with an normal sheet metal drill bit (the days before I had a jigsaw) and attached the L brackets. Then I wired everything up. I used a two pole six position rotary switch (RS still sells them here http://www.radioshack.com/radioshack-2-pole-6-position-rotary-switch/2750034.html) and wired up six different winning combinations. (If you look at the picture below, you’ll see I used magnet wire to make all the connections… ugh, If only I had known) I finished up by painting the wood blue and yellow and added a couple of LED’s and a switch.

So, here’s how you play the game:

You bet four quarters ($1) and place them between the L brackets. This completes part of a circuit, once you have placed all four quarters, you flip the switch and if the red LED lights, you loose. If the green one lights, you win and get $100. (The odds are of course in the house’s favor.) The rotary switch allows you to select between six preset combinations, that way if one person wins, the next person doesn’t copy their pattern.

Here are some pictures:

(View of inside wiring)

(Rotary switch box)

(Top view, quarters go in between those brackets)