Isn't this a Skill Stop?

[Meathead]

Figure this out...

In California, where pachislos are banned, I walked into a local arcade/waterslide park with my boys and find this.

The machine is operated by a token. You drop one in and the three reels start spinning. You stop each reel via the button below, and the machine dispenses tickets below depending on the symbols you have lined up. You exchange your tickets for prizes at a nearby counter. The prizes range from rubber erasers, to remote control cars, to gameboys. The last time I checked, this exactly fits the definition of a slot machine in CA.

CA Penal Code Section 330b(2): Any machine, apparatus or device is a slot machine or device within the provisions of this section if it is one that is adapted, or may readily be converted into one that is adapted, for use in such a way that, as a result of the insertion of any piece of money or coin or other object, or by any other means, such machine or device is caused to operate or may be operated, and by reason of any element of hazard or chance or of other outcome of such operation unpredictable by him, the user may receive or become entitled to receive any piece of money, credit, allowance or thing of value or additional chance or right to use such slot machine or device, or any check, slug, token or memorandum, whether of value or otherwise, which may be exchanged for any money, credit, allowance or thing of value, or which may be given in trade, irrespective of whether it may, apart from any element of hazard or chance or unpredictable outcome of such operation, also sell, deliver or present some merchandise, indication of weight, entertainment or other thing of value.

[slotter]

Your best bet is to move out of that state rather than thinking about the crazy laws.

[luckydog]

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and smells like a duck, it is a duck

[Sid]

LD keep the Ducks out of this...

[daverob]

They'll get away with it as it'll either be classified as a vending machine (as it always spits out tickets no matter what you hit), or it will be designed to be 100% skill with no element of chance whatsoever (ie the reels will not slip).

Besides redemption machines are usually exempt from any machine gambling laws as the exchange value of the prize tickets dispensed by the machine is always less than the value of the token used to play the machine.

[Youngjedi]

They'll get away with it as it'll either be classified as a vending machine (as it always spits out tickets no matter what you hit), or it will be designed to be 100% skill with no element of chance whatsoever (ie the reels will not slip).

I've used vending machines and when the spring turns and the candy bar gets stuck...that's chance. or the machine takes your dollar and doesn't deliver a soda, that's chance. The only thing that is 100 percent in those machines is that it will take your money. :chips:

[imsimba]

I don't get it either but knowing CA they would just ban Chuck E Cheese and close the Shakey's game room or maybe it is the California mouse mob again (they have a big lobby). They would have to make tokens a counterfeit currency knowing how they can't do anything right here.

I've known other business owners that tried to put in the same kind of machines and they were asked to remove them within a week. A resturaunt had to change a baseball gum ball machine that gave a extra play for a home run. The last time I was at CEC they didn't even print the tickets. When you finished playing it would dispense a receipt with a barcode of the ticket value. The cash register would scan these tickets and were trading them for the usual toys. But what was new, sodas and the pizzas had a value (not on the wall though).
It was like a kiddie speakeasy, some games would pay 20 and some would pay 100. Most would use a spinning light with a skill stop button but I still don't get the difference.

They managed to do the same thing in South Carolina and Georgia about 15 years ago. Every where you went there were these games of chance and you could trade them for prizes. They had skill stops at all the quik-e-marts. First they made them keep the kids out during the day, then all the time, then they only let them be in bars and casnios (that popped up over night), then they made them close at night and on sundays, then only in certain counties. Then they said it was corrupt and shut them all down all within about 2 years. The Chuck e cheese is still going strong there too.