I'm sure those of you who have travelled to Sydney have seen the pokie (fruit machine) phenomenon...
Almost every pub in Sydney has cleared out the stage area that used to be for bands in order to make way for more machines.

Anyway, when I was a few years younger I used to spend some time in these gaming lounges. Here are a list of my fabourites:

"You were looking at someone else's machine! That's why we never get the free games, keep your eye on the ball!"

"Stop tapping the button so fast, it'll think you're in a hurry and won't pay out"

"Don't use that dollar you dropped on the floor! use it to buy a beer or something" (no explanation given)

And the one that made me realise that I was in the wrong place and should never play pokies again (said by a 40-something housewife type who had just doubled up on $1500 and won):

"I still need to win back another $4000 to make up for yesterday"

She doubled up again (on $3000), and lost. She then put another $50 into the machine and kept playing.
( gronkpan @vomitinglarry.bsky.social, Fri 7 Jan 2005, 2:39, Reply)