Pokies Machines

Is it possible to design a circuit that would transmit a signal to make pokies machine payout?

I'd have to know what a "pokies machine" was first, but it is doubtful that someone would design a machine that would be able to be hacked wirelessly and I guessing that it might result in a jail sentence as well.

I think the only person who could design a circuit to do this would be the person who originaly designed the Pokie and I am pretty sure ( like chuck said ) he doesn't want to end up in the hokey or even at the bottom of some river with cement booties.

Pokies are what Aussies call "fruit machines" or "slot machines"

Actually I don't like to see questions of this type asked here.
The questioner shows little respect for those who might wish to assist with some general comment & the ethics of such a question are highly suspect.
It should be self evident that specialist knowledge would be required to describe how such machines work & there vulnerabilities. I'd suggest the questioner writes to one of the machine's manufacturers.

Thank you for your feedback and I’m sorry that YOU don’t like to see questions of this type asked here, have you any suggestions as to where this type of question could be asked?

As to my “highly suspicious” ethics I was simply asking if it could be done.

I gather from your response that this is not your particular field of expertise but thank you for taking the time to respond

Vince, you ask an interesting question and some more background on why you'd like to design a circuit for this purpose is probably good for those helping you. I can see this being a good question for a university research project or for a security consulting company.

I recently got into a "debate" about how, clever electronics engineers are.
I was claiming that they could design anything and that any electronics can be overridden I started off arguing that they could probably design something that would make ATMs (cashpoint machines) just spit out money. I decided that this was probably illegal so settled on the next most secure thing I could come up with. Consider it a security challenge.

This seems to have put some people on edge so if it is considered unacceptable I have an alternative suggestion.

Is it possible the design a circuit that would transmit a signal that would completely cut the power to a target car, perhaps a good use would be by the police during a car chase.

Hi Vince,

first a note to you and Peter:

This site is far too full of throwaway comments like "Can you answer my exam question", or "I'd like to make a time machine can you help" or "I like info on makin cool machine dat does cool stuf". Whilst the use of poor English is fully excusable (as this is an International site) there is all too often very little to go on. Many engineers like me, I'm sure, look at some of these short questions, and see them as open ended, and requiring a long answer. Often I measure how much effort someone has put into the question as a gauge as to whether to take 30 mins out to write a response. Whilst I was not as suspicious as Peter, I did feel you were expecting a lot without giving much away. Your follow on shows you have good grounds and the context helps us phrase a response. If you'd done this first - I'm sure you'd have had more direct replies.

As for an answer to your question, it of course depends on the design of the machine to say if it can be influenced in any way. It is certain that the correct type of electromagnetic signal, at a required stregnth, in the right place will affect the machine. Perhaps causing complete failure or permanent damage ias opposed to a desired outcome. But this needs prior knowledge of how it was designed.

I'm not sure if this helps your philosophical discussion - but in many ways asking if a 'clever' bit of electronincs can solve a seemingly impossible task is a bit like saying "Can I win the lottery next week if I know the numbers". The answer might be yes - but it may not be mathematically possible to answer exactly how.


I hope this helps.

Jeff

There was,and maybe still ongoing, research into a device that could be deployed from a police cruiser that would run under a car being chased and emit an EMP that would disable the electronics. The device actually used a small explosive that drove the EMP generator. They had many problems trying to get the device where it needed to be, as it needed to be close the the car's computer in order to function. The EMP range was limited to about 4-6 feet. If this was a practical solution then you would see these devices in common use and the car chases we see on TV would be a thing of the past. Using a device like this basically fries the components and can be compared to a sledge hammer. What was originally proposed is a could be compared to a surgical operation that would not just require electronic expertise but also unrestricted access to the the inner workings of a slot machine. Unrestricted means the ability to change design or add and remove hardware or software. So with that provision, sure it could be done, "Piece of Cake".

I highly doubt that that is possible, because why would the company that makes the pokies machines want to have that kind of a vulnerabilitie to deal with. Also, why would the company need to have that kind of a system running in their machine, or machines all day. If they just wanted to remove the cash I would think that there would be a compartment in the back that they could just remove with all the cash and coins in it. But that would be pretty cool to be able to make a pokie machine payout just at the push of a button, or two.

my ex hubby used to do this in his youth, apparently he used a piezo ignitor from a gas stove, and a long piece of wire which was poked into the coin slot, it didnt pay out, but racked up hundreds of free credits .
we are talking late seventies, no doubt things have changed.

bq). Cement Booties...

I think I'll stay away from any project that might result in a pair of those

@chuck,

Yeah an EMP is the way to go for disabling electronics on a chase vehicle. I'm suprised we don't see this happening in practice, but like you note it's a difficult problem to make one that's effective.

If they did start using them, I'm sure thugs would start driving around in old-school carbureted cars with no electronics.

"He's getting away in the Model-T... There's nothing we can do!!!"

Lol. That's one way I guess

Looks like I lose my argument and it can't be done, or at least it's too hard.
Never mind!
Thanks to all those that came back with constructive feedback.
"Kirk out!"