Ask Frank ‘the Crank’ Seninsky
Here’s the Ticket!
How to Modify a Regular Crane to become a Ticket Crane
(Jon Wilkerson, Alpha Technician)
With the tremendous success of the Ticket Candy Crane, the AEM/Alpha Techs began the process of converting one of the bays of a Mega Triple Crane to a Ticket Crane and one bay of a Big Choice Double Crane to a Ticket Crane. The revenue increase results have been very positive, especially in those locations that did not have a ticket candy crane to compete with.
The concept is to duplicate the design of a candy crane claw. We cut out three triangles from a rigid piece of plastic (you choose the best color) with each triangle having a base measurement of 3 inches and two equal sides of 2-1/2 inches. A file was used to cut slits into the two equal sides to create saw teeth that can easily grip the ticket bundles. Each triangle is then glued to the curved inside claw finger so when the claw mechanism closes, the plastic teeth edges will come together but not get caught on each other.
The ticket bundles are made up of mostly 100 and 150 ticket bundles with a few higher ticket bundles mixed in with different shapes. The Win % goal is 25% and is dependent on how many ticket bundles are used.
We are using equal amounts of 100, and 150 ticket bundles with a total of 20,000 tickets in the crane bay at one time and a small mix of 25 cent per piece well known candy items to add additional flash (optional). To build up the height of the tickets, fish tank gravel (plastic pebbles) was added to the base. The bundles are held together with the stretchable strings that come with the 2000 ticket bricks. Heavy duty colored construction paper bands with the number of tickets printed is used to add further colors. A sign behind the glass instructs the players to bring the ticket bundles won to the Redemption Prize Center. At the end of each shift the ticket bundles won are returned to the Ticket Crane and the staff is instructed to fluff up the ticket bundles so the display looks ‘mountainous.’ If the ticket pile is not fluffed up it gets flat and the win % goes down and the players will stop playing as much and the revenues will decrease. (See TRR #22 Archives for additional information and pictures.)
