Hmm, where do I start.  There are so many types of machine and so many new ones popping up.  Firstly the best place to play fruit machines is usually in pubs, clubs, taxi offices, fast food places etc... However Arcades if you know them can sometimes be good, I personally like the ones in Bundoran, where I have made a lot of money, however places like Portrush Arcades are real Killers and it is difficult to make significant amounts in such places, usually resulting in the opposite...significant losses.  I would also not recommend playing in traveling arcades that go around with funfairs (although they are fun). 

You may find that on 5p machines you don't always get offered a win or feature as often as you would on 20p machine. I believe this is because you get more credits per pound.  So for a pound on a 5p play machine, you get 20 plays, as opposed to only 5 credits on a 20p machine. So you may think that after 20 spins the machines not in a good mood but you must remember that you've only put a pound in.

There are some 5p machines which have been converted from 20p play £8 jackpot to 5p play £5 jackpot, I find that these are usually the best of the 5p play machines, because the features on them are quite good such as money belt where you can get around  £3 which is 3/5 of the jackpot and this normally quite poor feature is usually offered regularly.

I've played a fair few 5p machines and given the choice of a 5p and 20p I would try and play on the 20p. When you play the 5p fruits you may start to find that there are some machines that are good and some not so good.  In general 5p fruit machines aren't as profitable as their big brothers. In most Arcades you'll find 5p fruit machines with a £6 jackpot.  As a rule do not expect to win big amounts out of 5p fruit machines.

All the usual common cheats work on 5p fruit machines:
1) The 3 holds - When you hold two of a kind 3 times it always spins in the third.
2) Holds after Nudges (Flash holds) - If you get a hold after a nudge and you have two of a kind on the win-line then you should spin them all without holding any and you will get the win.
3) The cancel cheat also works on many of the 5p fruit machines.

If you want to contribute your own information email:
joe3k@freeuk.com