"From descriptions of 'spider' I am pretty sure I know him from the early 90's as I play the motorway services. IE: Tattoos, inc 'spider' Forever on the scrounge, and usually sticks it in a machine. Offering tips, tricks and cheats that are either blindingly obvious, or do not work/exist. In one case even shouldering me aside to play my game on the grounds of 'I can empty this'. On this occasion he (although I shouldered him back and played his 'cheat' myself) cost me in excess of £40 to get about £15 or so, and then had the blind cheek to ask for a cut for getting the aformentioned £15!!! As a refusal often offends, he walked off miffed; I proceeded to streak the machine using my own methods. He was not neccessarily on the M1, he could appear almost anywhere, without warning, on the scrounge for a handout or lift. Such appearences led to feelings of dismay - even to the extent of 'escaping' to the next services." Brian 03.06.03
The above was a recent message board posting from "Brian". it is a very clear description and indication of the actions of the spider. I think we have all at some time made a hasty exit to the next services to avoid that chance meeting, or made a quick excuse to use the toilet to escape from the Spiders Lair.
As much as we all dispise having the spider lurking when playing machines, there is a personal fascination and sometimes spooky mystery about him. The idea of the Fruitspider fan web site is to bring together stories, answer questions and bring those together who have had at some point had the spider experience.
Where did it begin? a long long time ago in a service station far away...
back in the days when fruit machines were a realistic way to make an extra bit of cash, one of the greatest places to play was in service stations. Totally the opposite of today! But service stations offered a place to go late at night after you had "done" the pubs, somewhere you could go and not be worried about the landlord looking over your shoulder, somewhere that at 2am all the machines were "yours" all full from greedy sales reps, wallace arnold coaches and general idiots who stopped for a shit and ended up putting £20 through a £4.80 jackpot Red Hot Poker. Living in he South east I would often frequent south mims, Newport pagnell and if i was on a roll even a little further up to Toddington. It was allways either Newport Pagnell or Toddington where i happend to have the pleasure of the spider, however if my memory serves me right I did once see him at Scratchwoods, which i think is now known as London Gateway. This went on for about a couple of years, when the tricks were ripe and the money was good. Spider was really nothing more than a piece of furniture, somthing you regarded as allways being there.. I think to the point where we noticed him not being there more than what we did when he was there...
My personal circumstances changed over the years, and while i still have an leisurely interest and business concerns in coin operated machines I hardly ever frequent motorway services. About 6 months ago I did see the spider, who talked about the good old days, about me being a "pro", asking for "a spare fag bruv"... wanting to know if i had made any money and if I wanted to go over the other side. Of course I made my excuses and left. It then was only untill recently from a chance posting on the UKFMP message board did I realise the national potential for a fruitspider fan site. For I was not alone... 100's of players, slotters from north, sharks from the south, had all experienced the legendary, the one and only, your very own.. FRUIT SPIDER!!!!
As you can tell from the website im not the greatest at HTML, so we welcome anyone that wants to give me a hand in getting it looking good, Ive posted a reward for pictures of the spider, and have done random drives up the M1 in search of him but have yet found nothing...Im sure many of the site visitors will have no idea of what its about, however a photo of the man himself will jog peoples minds and they will rejoice in knowing that they are not alone. Some have said the idea is a cruel pisstake, howver it is not the intention at all. When i catch up with the Spider I will give him the credit he deserves, a packet of fags and a few quid. in return for some photo shoots, Q+A, interview ect... If anyone has any ideas for the site then please let me know. fruitspider@hotmail.com Requests for T-shirts will be somthing im going to look into along with other merchandise. Dont forget to sign the guestbook and check out the sightings map where you can pin point where you spotted the spider. This being the first offical spider news letter is a little short while we get things off the ground. But the next one promises to be crammed to the brim of spider stories, media and general nonsense. thanks for supporting Spiderfan. Stay Lucky Bruv !
