Maturi Gachinko 7 questions

[Greg Lockhart]

I've been playing my first modern (Maturi Gachinko 7) for about a month now and (with help from this forum) I've figured out most of it.
But there are a few things I haven't figured out yet.
I know when a ball goes in a pocket during "normal" play, 4 balls are payed out... and when when a ball goes in during a fever round, 15 balls are payed out. But on the label on the lower left corner of the cell it says "4 & 7 & 15". Is there a time when 7 balls are payed out?
Also, there are two digital displays on the cell that don't make any sense to me so far. On the left side of the cell there is a "side" pocket that has a display on it. Most of the time there is nothing there but sometimes a number, like 4 or 7, shows in the display. What does that mean? I've noticed that the start pocket "tulip" sometimes stays open longer than usual... is there any connection between that and the display?
There is another small round display at the top of the cell between the "GACHINKO" and "7" that usually just has a dash lit up in it... but I think I saw a number there one time. Any ideas what that is for?
Thanks for any help.
Greg

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[MrGneiss]

Usually the other payout number is for the other non start/bonus pockets.. And looking at your pics it looks like those pockets even have 7s on them!!

Open the glass and drop a ball in those pockets to see if you get a 7 ball payout.. A lot of times machines come out of the parlors with the nails around the side pockets bent so that balls can't even get in those pockets so you might have to do some nail bending..

[p.opus]

That side pocket usually controls the "mini-roulette". This controls the actions of the start tulip. In older machines, the mini roulette consisted of two numbers that would spin and a match would open the start tulip momentarily during normal play to increase the chance of hitting the start pocket. As machines developed, this display went down to one digit and if it hit an internally determined number a match would be registered. Mini roulette spins are gathered every time you go through the pass through gate and most machines can bank up to 4 spins.

Most moderns now have completely done away with the display for the mini roulette and simply do an internal spin. My star wars machine display for the mini roulette simply has 4 dashes with an X and O that flash. If the spin ends with an O then the pocket opens momentarily. My Yamato has no main indication on the playfiled at all. I have to look at some LED's in the corner and If certain segments of the LED display are lit or flashing, it indicates how many mini-roulette spins I have. A win is simply indicated when the tulip opens momentarily. The percentage for "winning" the mini-roulette is very low, and since directing a ball in the gate usually eliminates that ball from contention for hitting the start pocket, I usually ignore the gate during normal play.

After you hit a fever, however, the gate becomes infinitely more important. Directly following a fever, the machine goes into a mode which each gate spin causes the tulip to open and close continuously.

The length of the this mode depends on the type of fever you hit. Since tulip mode essentially changes the playfield dynamic so that you win as many as you shoot, if you are in tulip mode after a bonus, these spins are usually considered "free spins".

If you hit a "big bonus" or Kukuhen bonus, then this tulip mode will stay in place until you hit the next bonus. A Kukuhen bonus usually consists of matching the "odd" numbers (1,3,5,7,9) and the post Kukuhen mode has tulip mode as well as 10x bonus probability. So on a 1/300 machine, a Kukuhen bonus will cause the odds of the next bonus to being 1/30. So essentially a Kukuhen bonus guarantees that you will hit another bonus without losing a significant number of balls.

If you hit a "normal bonus" or Jitan bonus, (matching 2,4,6,8) then you enter 100 spin chance mode. This gives you 100 spins of tulip support, but the odds remain at their normal odds. 100 Spin mode basically gives you 100 free spins until the machine reverts back to normal play mode.

[Greg Lockhart]

MrGniess, I had dropped some balls in the pockets and thought they all paid out 4 balls... but I did that again and found that one of them does pay out 7 balls. Thanks
p.opus, I appreciate your explanation of the mini-roulette and bonus rounds... but I have to admit that it's confusing to me. After playing this machine for several hours I don't think I'll ever be able to know what mode it's in at any given time. I know that it changes modes because the music and/or lights change... but the numbers on the LED display spin so fast (constantly) that I can't tell what they're doing... until they stop on the big red 7's and enter a fever round. I've noticed that the tulips act differently at different times and I assumed there was some connection with the modes and possibly the numbers on the small displays. I don't think I'll ever be able to understand what this machine is doing at any given time... and be able to manipulate the play... but that's OK, I enjoy just shooting balls until it yells "WEGEE" (or whatever it's saying) and enters a fever round.
I don't know if all moderns work the way you've described... but I'm hoping to buy a Sankyo machine this weekend that has actual reels and an LCD video screen... so maybe it will be easier for me to understand.
Thanks for the help