Building a Penny Pusher Arcade Game

[NickG]

This would be the best present ever - remember the alarm in-case anybody tries to tamper with it!!

[raynerd]

Cheers Nick, she is very excited about it.

Like I keep saying, I`m actually building it as an elaborate saving/money box for my wife and I! Money will always be falling down the house collection box and therefore saving it. My idea is that the 10p's falling down the "house" shoot will fall into the hopper - these can then be changed out in a change machine I`m building in the machine lower down. That is the intention anyway!

Chris

[awemawson]

Now come on Chris be open with us. We KNOW it's going in the school playground to fund the Common Room gin fund
 

[raynerd]

haha -- damn, caught out.   

[raynerd]

 

It works!! Pennies slides nicely - motor doesn't have an issue with the atx supply - it could happily push a stack of coins I think. Atx supply is also powering the LED backdrop. I only cobbled the back drop together earlier this afternoon so lots more work to do... But you get the idea.

[John Rudd]

Cor...you got a lot of money in your house...


Nice job Chris and well done....

I guess you have a shute sytem to make now for dropping the coins in and out...?

[raynerd]

Yes, absolutely! In reality the project has only just started! I've now got to mount the back board and front Perspex glass to the back board to stop the pennies falling out. Then most penny pushers have some interesting way of making the coins fall down more randomly - normally random pins inserted so they hit the pins on the way down and bounce around. I'll probably end up doing that. I did consider putting a small motor right in the centre of the back board so if coins hit this, they would be thrown about a bit - not sure how well that would work.

A really important question for all your creative type out there... A prize for a good name/title for the machine. My children are called jack and Ella so perhaps something incorporating that? Or even Raynerd?
Any suggestions welcome! I'm going to have a vinyl sticker made and stick this to the backboard!

[awemawson]

Rascal Raynerd's Rapacious Random Rapscallion

or

Old Codger Chris's Coin Collector

[vtsteam]

The Rayn-Er-Shine Jack-pot Ella-mantor.

aka

The Rain-or-Shine Jackpot Eliminator


kinda fits with the windshield wiper theme, too

[garym]

Great stuff Chris. I think you've got the forum captivated with this one. I don't know how you manage to make so much progress with two small children around, but keep it up.

Ella-va Jack-pot

Gary

[raynerd]

Haha cheers chaps.  I'm loving the names, keep them coming!! 

[RussellT]

Raynerd's Jackpot Elavator

[NickG]

Brilliant that!

[raynerd]

Hello again guys, been working on the pusher some more and will have pics shortly.

I was hoping to get some opinions please. I want to put an alarm on the machine so no one is tempted to tilt it and if they do, the coins will be collected in the cash box and not in the winning tray.
I can handle the sensing with an arduino and my idea is to use a solonoid to immediately lock out the winning tray but I then need to divert the coins to the cash box.

Drawing is really not a strong point, I'm terrible! However, my sketch below shows my idea.

The coins falling off the front edge are winnings and the cash box coins which the machine eats up are through the two holes at the sides but back from the front edge.

My idea is to have a sheet of mdf or Perspex (something low friction) at a very large angle. This has a divider in the middle. Coins falling off the front fall into the front tray and slide down through the trap door to the outlet wining tray. Coins falling through either of the secret holes fall into the back tray, slide down and around the corner through a hole to the cash box.

The idea is that the front winnings tray hole has a hinged flap. If the machine is shook and the alarm signals, a solonoid immediately pulls down the flap and any falling coins go over the flap and down into the cash box hole.

Too complicated? Will it work? Possible problems? Simpler ideas? ....your thoughts are welcome as always!!



Chris

[garym]

I'm beginning to think you don't trust the kids, Chris. 

Why not just bolt it to the wall.

Gary

[raynerd]

Funnily enough, it isn't the kids I'm worried about. I'm pretty sure it will be the first thing my brother in law does when he sees it!! I'd get a right roasting if I bolted to the wall!!

[dsquire]

Funnily enough, it isn't the kids I'm worried about. I'm pretty sure it will be the first thing my brother in law does when he sees it!! I'd get a right roasting if I bolted to the wall!!

Chris

If I couldn't trust my brother in law any further than that I would ban him from my property.

Cheers 

Don

[vtsteam]

Too complicated? Will it work? Possible problems? Simpler ideas? ....your thoughts are welcome as always!!
 
.......I'm pretty sure it will be the first thing my brother in law does when he sees it!!

Have you considered voice recognition for guffaws AND-ing that to a tilt sensor and then if positive initiating an electric shock?

[raynerd]

I think you are getting the wrong idea here... he won`t be interested in stealing the coins - he`ll want to do it to prove a point that playing isn`t necessary and you can just rock it to win!!

And lets face it.... when did it become mandatory to have a reason for additional madmodding!! 

I want to do it for the challenge of integrating this feature - I`d just buy myself a penny pusher if I wanted one!!!! 


EDIT - my understanding is that this is a feature of commercial pushers!

[vtsteam]

Just kidding, of course -- sometimes forget to put the laugh guy in: 

Great admiration for your penny pusher, and the fun of including all the details, not to mention the priceless learning that goes along with it. One thing leads to another in projects, and one project leads to another. Ideas spring out for yourself and others. The creativity is why we're in it! 

[tom osselton]

Why not have enough spring tension to keep the shelf in place secured by a solinoid to lock it,  when it gets tilted the solinoid releases and the weight of the pennies cause them to drop the spring resets the tray locked by the solinoid.

[raynerd]

Hi Tom, thanks for reading. Could you possibly describe that again or in a different way. I don`t quite see what you mean .

[tom osselton]

I would think that a spring like one of the type the shaft fits through with the two protruding ends to keep the base presure on the drop plate in the up position and return it after a drop the solenoid  just keeps it in place till the tilt is trigered  a simple incline ramp either spring load or just a gravity latch to catch it as it resets in the up position. The weight of the coins supply the drop energy.

[vtsteam]

Tom, what about a pendulum weight instead of a spring? If the hinge line goes right through the center of the panel and the pendulum is directly below the hinge line, any coins off center either side will cause it to spill when the solenoid is released. Then the pendulum re-exerts a righting force and brings the panel back to level. Solenoid latches back when panel is upright -- maybe a microswitch activation.

Once the panel dumps though, the game is over until somebody replaces lots of coins. Maybe there should be a message under the coins on the panel when it returns to level. Something suitable......

[srm_92000]

Hi,
I thought something like a flap hinged on the front edge pulled back to say 45 degrees to divert the coins into the cash box. Perhaps put it on a timer say for 10 seconds before it flips back. The cash could also go straight into your coin counter hopper ready for change to be paid out. I've seen some simple vibration sensors that would detect the movement easily.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vibration-Movement-Sensor-Non-Mercury-Switch-5-pieces-/141022050779?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Components_Supplies_ET&hash=item20d591b9db
Not to be confused with tilt switches which would require the whole thing to be tipped over before switching