some of us could play for hours without any money because we knew how to get free credits.
I take it a step further. While growing up, I already had the mind of an engineer. I would go to the local bowling alley and they would have their arcade room. Most bowling alley also has a cafe diner. You get there early and you hit the cafe and borrow or steal their metal knife silverware. You go look into the trash can and you will find a used pack of smoke. you strip it into the size of a juicy fruit gum. Now you place that strip onto the coin slot horizontally and with your knife, you push it deep enough where it is hidden but not too far that it would fall down with the coins. Then you go home and come back a few hours. People would put their quarter into the slot and it would get stuck. Pushing the return button doesn't work either because the paper has lodge the hole of the coin slot. They don't just put one coin, they would put another, in thinking that the second coin would somehow make the first one drop in.
You go back with the same butter knife and while pushing the return coin slot button, you insert your butter knife and you shake it violently. Some coins will go into the game and gives you free game but do it right and all them coins will fall out like a jackpot machine.
There you have it. If you ever become homeless and need a way to eat, try this and don't get caught. Love it when that coin slot is so full with coins that it is super full. Probably about $5 worth.
That string on the coin trick, I used that method at all stops when I took the greyhound bus from cali to mn that one year. Gotta play free games on down time while waiting for our next connection. An added bonus is a story to be told as an arcade gamer be pulling crimes in every states from cali to mn cuz them buses I tell ya, it stopped so many and throughout. When younger, we did it for the experiences. Now that I'm older and wiser, my time is too important to be wasted on them buses.