When the Airbus A380 was first announced, there was no shortage of ideas for what to do with all that real estate. In the early days, talk Designs include shopping malls, gyms, bars, beauty salons and more, with some proposals more reminiscent of cruise ships than airplanes.

But one proposal in particular stood out. flying casino. Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson claimed He equipped six A380s with roulette, blackjack and slot machines, combined with double bed suites, to provide passenger comfort. “You have two chances to get lucky. ”

The double bed eventually found its way into commercial aviation, but like Virgin Atlantic, the casino turned out to be nothing more than a pipe dream. never received delivery One super jumbo.

But if Sir Richard had simply gone to the trouble of consulting Singapore Airlines, his 49% shareholder, he might have taken a slightly different view. As it turns out, Singapore Airlines was already working on in-flight gaming decades ago, but it didn’t work out the way they had hoped…

In-flight entertainment gambling

In the 1980s, Singapore Airlines was looking for new ways to entertain its customers. they had already tried live entertainment Years ago, an opera troupe would serenade passengers from the aisles. Next was the in-flight fashion show to commemorate the launch of the Paris flight. But the people at Airline House wanted to know: What is the next big trend in in-flight entertainment?

The (probably false) story goes that Las Vegas was founded on the unwavering belief that men could always be expected to have two things: lust and greed. And since SIA couldn’t really address the former (at least without jeopardizing the airline’s eligibility), it might be better to try the latter.

So in February 1981, the company announced that it would install the world’s first jackpot machine on a Boeing 747 bound for the United States. A two-month trial will be carried out, after which a decision will be made on whether to install jackpot machines on the other 15 jumbo jets in the fleet.

This was deemed newsworthy enough to be featured on the front page of The Straits Times, but it was probably a bad omen that it had to share column space with “Shops on fire”.

SIA officials were at pains to stress that this was not the case. support It’s not gambling, it’s just providing customers with another form of in-flight entertainment. “This machine is being introduced solely because of its recreational value to passengers,” the airline said in a statement. Indeed, the sole purpose of an integrated resort is to let you sample a variety of celebrity chef restaurants.

The company that developed the jackpot machine was Cimae Investments, run by David Flexer. Although he is far from a household name, those in the aviation community will recognize him as: Singlehandedly popularized the concept of in-flight movies (In a striking example of human duality, Flexer, who had no qualms about running an airborne gambling den, also hired undercover police to curb immoral behavior at drive-in movie theaters.)

In a sense, Flexer was a visionary. Films were shown on planes as early as 1921, but they were essentially one-off promotional stunts, and airlines were largely uninterested in the idea, believing that the space and personnel required to run the projectors were not worth the benefit.

But Flexer, himself a movie buff who runs a small movie theater chain, felt otherwise. After a particularly difficult transcontinental flight in 1956, he concluded that “Air travel is the most advanced form of transportation, but also the most boring.”, And I set out to change that.

It was Flexor who solved the problem of creating lightweight, fully automated movie equipment, resulting in a 75-pound cabin-certified projector that plays 16mm film (a gauge that allows for the projection of full movies). TWA debuted the “Strat Cinema” for first class passengers in 1961, and we’ve been glued to our screens ever since.

But in another sense, Mr. Flexer was hopelessly off the mark when it came to the popularity of in-flight slot machines. He fully expected flying casinos to be the wave of the future and invested a significant amount of his own money into the concept. It took three years and millions of dollars of R&D to research and get FAA approval for the first generation of slot machines, and he was eager to sell the idea to other carriers. However, he had to wait because SIA had secured exclusive rights to the machine for four months, after which other airlines could buy and install it.

There were a total of six slot machines per aircraft, four in the aisle and two more on each side of the cabin (eight economy seats were removed to make room).

Extensive modifications have been made to suit the condition of the rooms. Each weighed just 16kg, compared to 68kg for a standard machine. These were powered by rechargeable batteries and were virtually silent to minimize noise pollution. Gone are the annoying audio cues that filled Las Vegas gambling halls, and padded trays have been added to muffle the sound of coin payouts. After all, a casino’s noisy slot machines can attract punters. Noise from slot machines in rooms can cause riots.

The six jackpot machines were named: “Orchard Rows” It’s a clever homonym set in a famous shopping district (rejected names: Jackpot in the Sky, Hi-Flier, and my personal favorite: Jetpot). They boasted a payout rate of at least 90% (meaning players would get back 90% of the money put into the machine). This was much higher than the 50-70% seen in land-based casinos at the time.

The slot requires a minimum bet of US$0.50, and passengers over 18 years old can exchange cash for tokens with the crew. Prizes were exchanged for cash on board, and those who hit the jackpot took home $200. A special one-time jackpot of USD 25,000 was announced, but it never materialized.

Of course, the concept is Denier. “It is most worrying that jackpot machines are being installed in our airlines,” a concerned citizen gushed in August parliament, known as the Straits Times’ forum section. “Is SIA promoting tourism and gambling?”

SIA’s competitors were similarly perplexed, if not impressed. A Japan Airlines official scoffed to Newsweek: “That’s a ridiculous idea. If we were to go to such an extreme — which we don’t — we would install traditional hot bath facilities.”

But I don’t know. A hot bath on an airplane with several jackpot machines and 270 miles of electrical wiring…

Orchard Laws takes off

On August 25, 1981, Singapore Airlines’ first Jackpot-equipped Boeing 747-200B took flight. SQ2 departed from Changi Airport for San Francisco, stopping in Hong Kong and Honolulu along the way. The total flight time was thwarted at 23 hours, but the first eight hours were uneventful.

Out of 330 passengers, 148 were able to secure a 15-minute playing slot. The champagne was flowing, the slots were being paid out, and there was a convivial atmosphere in the cabin. A passenger on the first flight said, “Small old ladies had to fight their way through the crowds around the casino to go to the bathroom.” David Flexer’s Flying Casino really came true.

Then the machine broke down. All of them.

Do you remember the changes mentioned earlier? After all, many metal parts were replaced by plastic in order to significantly reduce the weight of the machine. Now, a slot machine is a maze of moving parts, from the reels to the arms to the coin sorter. The interior is made of metal, so it can withstand a lot of abuse. But would we replace them with plastic and put tipsy passengers on planes? Not a chance.

The coin slot kept getting jammed, and the plastic chassis didn’t take kindly to attacks from disgruntled patrons trying to withdraw refunds. Two arms were broken by an overenthusiastic passenger, forcing the crew to shut down Orchard Row with just a third of the flight completed.

Repairs were not carried out until several weeks later, as it was difficult to obtain sufficient ground time for repairs. The jackpot remained unavailable for eight months, and it was not until May 1982 that SIA brought up the topic again and announced its intention to take another shot at the cherry.

Key changes include replacing batteries with aircraft power sources and removing tokens in favor of a computerized credit system. Instead of exchanging cash for physical tokens, passengers purchase credits from a jackpot attendant, who then enters the credits into the slot machine via computer. This not only reduces the effort involved in exchanging fiat currency and cashing out winnings, but also eliminates the possibility of lost tokens gumming up your work.

The payout percentage has been reduced slightly to 80-85%, while the minimum stake has been halved to USD 0.25 and the jackpot paylines have increased to 3 or 5 ways (previously it was 1 way).

The Straits Times confidently predicted that “new machinery will solve all these problems”, thereby jinxing the whole business.

The machine actually came back the next month and all was well for a while. The LA Times has an article about Paul Yong, who was instantly forgiven $200 for 20 minutes on a flight from Singapore to Los Angeles (he accused his children of seducing him). In fact, later that year, in November, Singapore Airlines even announced that it was moving forward with plans to introduce jackpot aircraft. all 16 Boeing 747 aircraft.

One columnist wrote: “I’m dizzy as to what SIA will do next. How about some mahjong and sea sex tables along the Far East route? Or maybe a few professional hostesses doubling as masseuses and heading to Bangkok?”

Bets are void

But after that…nothing happened. Media coverage was silent, and the next mention of SIA’s jackpot machine was made almost by accident. Articles from November 1984 We’re discussing the impending introduction of Donkey Kong and other video games on board.

“However, after a terrible experience with a jackpot machine, SIA became cautious about introducing video games. A month after installing a jackpot machine three years ago, the airline had to take it off the plane because the tokens it used caused the machine to jam. The use of computer-recorded credits also later proved unsatisfactory.”

-Strait Times

And just like that, Orchard Row disappeared. SIA refused to renew the contract with Cemae Investment, and Flexer was never really able to find another home for his invention.

Just to be clear, this was not SIA’s last gambit against in-flight gambling. In 1998, the company introduced virtual jackpots (along with blackjack and poker) on its newly launched KrisWorld system, allowing passengers to place bets starting at US$0.25 by swiping their credit cards. However, this was the last time they tried it on a physical game console. Space, maintenance, staffing, and operating costs all did not make economic sense.

But in the end, the purpose may have never been about money. When the one-armed bandit first took to the skies, the news made headlines from London’s Daily Telegraph to the Jerusalem Post. Suburbanites living in Minnesota who couldn’t even find Singapore on a map now know about the national airline. This is an advertising effect that money cannot buy.

Today, Orchard Row is a distant memory, relegated to two short lines on display at the Singapore Airlines Training Center. It is possible, but play blackjack At KrisWorld, all bets are off as it is virtual stakes only.

But it’s funny to think that for a short time, a lone Boeing 747 was sailing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, its aisles filled with passengers hoping their next spin would bring them luck.