This game emulates PachiSlot machines; the Japanese equivalent of the one-armed bandit (also called fruit machines in the UK). With a pachislot machine you enter 1 to 3 coins, pull on a small lever and 3 reels start spinning. There are 3 stop buttons that when pressed stop the associated reel from spinning. The window in which the reels appear shows 3 symbols on each reel at a time. How you win depends on the number of coins you have deposited.

Reel 1 2 3
--------------------
Row1 A B C
Row2 D E F
Row3 G H I
--------------------
1 coin - win on D-E-F only
2 coins - win on A-B-C, D-E-F, G-H-I
3 coins - as 2 coins plus A-E-I and G-E-C

There is no single jackpot payout on Pachislot machines. Instead you get what is called a 'BIG WIN'. When this is activated, the machine goes into what I call 'automatic win' mode where every spin is guaranteed a win. This will carry on for a few minutes.The machine goes mad at this point with flashing lights and making a fair amount of noise! Universal Museum emulates 12 different machines. From what I can see it only really amounts to slightly different graphics but from looking at the manual (in Japanese)there is some text associated with each machine name so they must have differences. There are 3 save slots for saving your progress. When starting a new game you select a difficulty level 1 - 6 (default 3) with 1 being the most difficult.

In the option mode you can :-

Set Music on/off

Set Auto play on/off (!)

Set reel spin speed (8 levels!)

Toggle ''Show all reel'' - when on; you see the whole reel contents beside its matching window with a pointer showing where the window is.

Toggle display of last big win (I think!)

Show stats : displays REAMS of stats screens. Have worked out what some of them mean (basic coins in - out and percantages etc.) But there are other screens I haven't a clue about.

You can also 'save' the current contents of the reel window for some reason (??!!)) and there's a facility to mark the current symbols in the window so you can see them as they go by in subsequent spins.

There is also an option that when activated sometimes shows winning combinations at the top right corner of the screen while the reels are spinning. Haven't a clue what its all about ! Must get the manual converted.

Option mode can be accessed during play.

Graphics: Fairly straightforward. Nice and clear and get the job done. Screenshots are hard to come by for this game! Basically you see the area around the 3 reels - everything you need to see.
Sound : Japanese muzak which can be switched off and the usual sound effects you would expect.
Gameplay: If you like this sort of thing then its great as you can twiddle with the machine setup in the options section and there are reams of statistics produced as well. If you REALLY like this type of thing then you'll enjoy it as its quite comprehensive. Otherwise its hard to get excited when its not real money!
Overall: Again, it depends if you like this type of thing. Fan (8/10); Otherwise (4/10) Presentation is excellent overall and seems to be for the hardcore slots fan.