Big (Not-so) Sweet Land - Field Trip

2 days ago, Dear and I decided to make a trip down to PS (Plaza Singapura). Our motive was simply to check out the arcade there and walk around. A secondary objective of mine was to take pictures of the machine. There was someone playing Big Sweet Land and we got the chance to observe him play. He just got to Bonus A when we began watching and much to Dear's delight, he gave up playing after a while.

As he stooped down to collect his winnings, we loitered nearby, eyeing his seat like vultures circling over a wildebeest carcass. The moment he left, Dear immediately pounced on the seat.

To my surprise, we can actually continue his game! I mentioned in my earlier post that it's better to continue someone's game but I said that without knowing that whatever score the previous player has accumulated goes to the one continuing the game. That is to say, when we continued the game, we started off at Bonus A , instead of starting from the bottom. Now, isn't that neat? We saved at least $10 simply because the previous player has already provided us with the foundation.

We spent only $30 to get to the top and win the jackpot prize. Dear was elated. Of course, she was. Compared to the usual $40 to $50 we spend to get the jackpot prize, $30 was really a steal. We left the arcade in high spirits.

Here's what we won:















And here's Dear looking oh-so happy with the prize:

Big (Not-so) Sweet Land - Strategies

Like any other games, playing Big Sweet Land requires a certain degree of skill and the apt application of tactics. And to be proficient, it cannot get any better than the old adage of "practice makes perfect". However, this form of practice can be costly, both in terms of time and money. Thus, you can save yourself costly mistakes and practice time by just reading off here for some tips.

Before going further, these are the assumptions I make for the rest of the post:
1. You have money, i.e. willing to blow at least $50 on the game
2. You have time
3. You have patience
4. You have a goal, i.e. aiming to win the JP prize at minimum cost

The first two tips below seem like they are not so "minimizing costs". Heck, they look as if they want you to splurge everything. Well, those are just some cash management strategies that I have tried and found them to be useful. Pass them by if you aren't too keen.

Tip 1: I need cash... Lots of cash
In the first of the Matrix trilogy, Neo says this one liner, "I need guns. Lots of guns." A few seconds later, countless rows of weaponry come rushing into the picture. Now, that would be real neat if the guns are replaced with wads of notes. Oh, I'm digressing here. Ahem...

Point here is that you need to have ample amount of cash. Unlike other arcade games, Big Sweet Land can and will take a big chunk of your wallet, so you want to be prepared for it. This point cannot be overemphasised. It's never fun to be one bar away from the JP and finding out that the last dollar has been used.

Tip 2: The more, the merrier
Big Sweet Land does offer some sort of a bonus to you for being an enthusiastic player. Every coin deposited yields one credit but feed it 5 coins continously and hey, presto! The machine gives you an extra credit for being a sporting player. I am not sure about Big Sweet Land in other parts of the world but in Singapore, they give you 1 free credit for every 5 coins.

There are occasions when you may feel like there's no need to spend 5 coins at one go. One such occasion is when you are a few bars away from the JP and you say to yourself, "I don't need 6 tries. Maybe one or two is all I need." I used to think this way too but I have been proven otherwise.

There's no real reason why anyone should pass up on the free credit. Frankly speaking, if you have spent some $40, what's another $5? I was enlightened by my Dear regarding this point; kudos to her.

Tip 3: You can only climb up by stepping on something
In a particular epsiode of Brainiacs, the show did a scientific experiment on coin pushing machines and the ways to maximise winnings. Since Big Sweet Land is simply a variation of coin pushing machines, the methods proposed by Brainiacs work too. One of the salient points I would like to highlight is to play someone's game, when that someone either quits halfway or completes the game.

Playing someone's game lessen the need to amass the sweets on the platform. At the same time, the sweets on the platform are also likely to be pushed nearer to the edge. Thus , by exploiting an abandoned/completed game, you save yourself a few coins. Effectively, the players before you become your stepping stones to the goal of winning the JP prize.

Tip 4: Look before you leap
Would you buy a bag without first checking it for defects? How about a couch? In fact, most of the times, we would make sure our purchases are free from defects before parting with our hard-earned money. The same goes for Big Sweet Land. Just because it is an arcade machine doesn't excuse you from the need to make sure that you are not getting the short end of the stick. So, what exactly do you need to lookout for?

In order of priority:
1) Checker - To check the checker (pun intended), you have to either spend time to observe a game or to spend money and find out for yourself. Personally, I prefer the former. Why spend money, when someone else can do it for you? Remember, you are going to play someone's game, so it's better to observe. Then again, if there's no one playing the game, then I guess you will have find out the hard way.

Ideally, the checker should be triggered, i.e. depressed, whenever a sweet lands on it. If a small piece of sweet is able to land on the checker without depressing it at all, do not play that game. I repeat, DO NOT PLAY THE GAME.

A non-sensitive checker can severely hamper gameplay and exponetially increase the amount of money you need to spend. You can be a goody-two-shoes and inform the aracade operator but I doubt they would do anything. Think about it: they are out to fleece you, would they be so kind to fix it?

2) Vertical cylinder - To the left (southwest direction) of the platform, there will be a vertical cylinder filled with sweets. The sweets contained within will be dispensed upon attaining the bonus levels (refer to previous post). The functionality of this cylinder is instrumental to your progress. If the cylinder is faulty, you are going to miss out on a lot of sweets on the bonus levels, effectively reducing your winnings and prolonging the journey to the top.

A quick glance on all the cylinders is all you need. If a particular cylinder is filled while the rest are half full, it is either not working or no one has played it. So, do you want to take the risk and play it or play those with half-filled cylinders? Hint: the answer is in Tip 3.

3) Conveyor belt - The conveyor belt should be lavishly sprinkled with sweets, leaving few or no bald spots that expose the bottom of the belt. Mild depressions are fine and they indicate the areas that are scooped by previous players.

There should be a fair mix of bigger items, like packets of biscuits or boxes of confectionery. They should be spread out and not clustered together. Another point to note is that, there should not be too many of the bigger items.

On the first look, it seems extremely enticing to play a machine with many big packs, instead of small sweets. After all, for the small amount of money, you get bigger stuff, so why not? Try playing a game and you will see that the truth is far from it. The bigger they are, they harder to scoop. To make matters worse, if they are clustered together, it is almost impossible to scoop anything at all.

If faced with such a predicament, the only recourse is to ask the arcade operator to smooth out the items on the conveyor belt. If they refuse, walk. Why, they refuse your right to a fair game, then I suppose they forfeit their right to earn your money too.

Tip 5: Bide your time
This is where your patience comes into play. I did say I assumed that you are patient, didn't I? Anyway, while playing the game, it is important to aim and scoop at the right spot. Doing so can mean a whole world of difference and it is the single most influential factor to tilt the game in your favour during gameplay.

I cannot really give instructions on how to scoop; this skill has to be acquired through experience. All I can do is to give some general advice. Firstly, try to find your sweet spots (pun intended again), i.e. spots where you can scoop up many items. If it takes a while for the spots to come around, wait then. But do not dawdle too long. The arm will lower itself automatically after a certain of time; I think it's about a minute or so. Similarly, the scoop will undo itself after a Button 1 press has elapsed for a period of time without a Button 2 press.

Secondly, try to go for the smaller sweets as they will be easier to scoop. The bigger items may take a few tries or if you are lucky, a single try. Of course, the bigger items are preferred, as they occupy more space and push more sweets off the platform, which in turn, trigger the checker. Don't go random and press Button 1 haphazardly; make every scoop count.

To release the scoop requires good timing as well. The scoop should be released when the mobile platform has retracted to its maximum. This will allow the the items to fall onto the platform below and the mobile platform will then push it out further.

However, there is a chance that the items will land on the mobile platform instead and left stranded there. This can be extremely frustrating, espcially if the said item is a big box. Fret not. Over the next few scoops, drop items when the mobile platform has extended to its maximum. The accumlated sweets should be able to push the items off the mobile platform and onto the platform beneath.

Big (Not-so) Sweet Land - Introduction

Recently, Dear and I has been frequenting the arcade, specifically, those with a prize machine known as Big Sweet Land. This machine is a brainchild of Namco and bears testimony to the ingenuity of the Japanese.

Here's how it looks like:

How it works
Basically, Big Sweet Land is just like those traditional coin pushing machines. The difference is that, instead of putting in coins or tokens to push other coins out, you scoop - by means of a mechanical arm - sweets/boxes of confectionery from a rotating conveyor belt to push other sweets/boxes of confectionery out.

This allows players to choose their prizes. If you are into the boxes of biscuits, you will want to go for them and attempt to scoop them. On the other hand, if you prefer some other item on the conveyor belt, you have the freedom to scoop those too. This result in a variety of strategies that players employ, as in waiting for the right moment to scoop and scooping the right item. Compared to just dropping a coin and hoping that it will push other coins out, Big Sweet Land offers more of a challenge for the non-casual players.

Simplicity is also another aspect of the machine. For a credit, all you need to do is to push two buttons, labeled prominently as 1 and 2. Button 1 lowers the mechanical arm and allowing the scoop at its end to dredge along the conveyor belt. Players have no control over how long the arm will be left in the lowered position and the arm will return to its initial position after 2 seconds, bringing with it any items that the scoop caught. They, however, do have control over when to release the contents of the scoop with a single push of Button 2. Again, when to push the button presents another set of difficult choices to make and sound strategies to use.

The added fun factor
"OK, so you win sweets. What's so great about it?", I hear people retorting. No, wrong. If you are playing for the sake of sweets, then I would suggest that you make your way to the nearest convenient store and grab a pack of Mentos or whatever - your money is better spent there.

Unlike coin pushing machines, players not only stand a chance to win the items they scoop, there is also a jackpot prize, typically a soft toy or some other item that is substantially bigger than a puny candy. The game operators claim that the soft toys are limited editions and can only be obtained via the machines. So, want to know how you can win that oh-so-cute Winnie the Pooh bear? Read on then.

If you bothered to observe the mechanical arm, you will notice a series of horizontal bars, positioned into a vertical column. These bars will light up as you play and when you reach the top of the vertical bar, which is a bar labeled "JP", you win the jackpot prize!

OK, perhaps I oversimplified earlier on. The bars will but does not always light up. There are 21 bars (I think) and to get to the top is no easy feat.

At the end of the platform where the items drop off, there is weight-sensitive lever. It is round in shape and has a sticker on it which says "Checker". Whenever an item falls off the ledge and lands on the Checker, it will activate a mini-roulette that is displayed on the mechanical arm.

The roulette have seven options and range from 1, 2, 3 to JP. The numbers represent the number of bars that will be lit. Apparently, everyone will hope for 3, thus making the way to the top a lot faster and less painful. The truth is, more often than not, you will tend to land on ones. The reason is simple - there are four ones, meaning more than 50% of the spins will be one. There is only one of each for 2, 3 and JP.

Oh yes, the JP. It means you win the prize outright. But don't bank on that though, you have to be real lucky. Then again, I have witnessed people winning the jackpot prize outright and beaming from ear to ear. It depends a lot on your luck, I guess.

IMPORTANT!! A point to note here is that the roulette will not spin unless preceded by a scoop and release. That is to say, if the mechanical arm is in its initial position and somehow, the Checker is trigger, either by chance or other means, the roulette will not be activated. In other words, for the roulette to spin, you will need to first spend a credit, i.e. to scoop and release.

Scaling the sweetened ladder
Scaling the corporate ladder can get real boring and pointless if there are no intermediate rewards. Come on, who would be motivated to work harder if it means working for 20 years without no pay increment, no addition fringe benefits and no window office? This applies to Big Sweet Land as well. To win the jackpot prize the normal way, i.e. no JP spin on the roulette, can take a long time and a wad of cash. So, to keep players interested and motivated, the game uses a simple yet effective way.

Starting from the bottom bar, at every interval of 5 bars, there will be a bonus. There are 3 types of bonuses, namely A, B and C.

After lighting up 5 bars, you will reach level A. It will rain sweets - literally. A vertical cylinder mounted at the side will be activated and the sweets contained within it will be dispensed out. Most of the sweets will (and should) land on the platform, effectively saving you a couple of credits to scoop stuff.

After another 5 bars, you will reach level B. The plastic wings that are hinged to the platform will spring up, packing whatever is on the platform closer. This allows items to be pushed with greater ease, hence allowing more items to drop out. The wings will revert to their horizontal position after a while - I hazard it to be a minute or so.

Level C can be attained after lighting up 5 more bars. This bonus is a combination of A, B and another action. First the plastic wings will pop up. Then from below the mobile platform, another plaform will be extended out, proudly displaying the words "Bonus push" or something along those lines. The extended platform pushes the bulk of the items out and the action of bonus B comes into play, raining sweets on the decimated platform.

Alright! I shall conclude here. In the next post of this series, I will discuss some of the strategies to maximise winnings.