Chapter 40

"Mr. Li Xuan, the scene you've created is really too big!"

At this moment, Manager Li of Lisheng Cinema was walking towards Li Xuan with a worried look on his face. Normally, the morning sessions at the cinema were the least crowded, but today the hall was packed with people, a lively scene that had never been seen since the cinema opened.

What made him even more frustrated was that the people who came were not buying tickets to watch movies in the screening rooms, but were instead drawn to the two new arcade machines in the hall, which left him feeling quite helpless.

"Haha, Manager Li, good morning! This shows that our electronic games are really very entertaining and can attract a lot of people to your cinema!" Li Xuan said with a smile.

The two stood in front of the ticket window, which had become the emptiest spot in the hall, even the window selling drinks and fruits next to it had no queue of customers.

Suddenly, a player's angry shouts came from the front of the Tank Battle arcade machine.

"Waiter, where's the waiter? This damn machine is broken!"

"Can't be this unlucky, I've been queuing for over an hour, and it's almost my turn. Hurry up and get someone to fix it!" The people at the back of the queue also started to get restless, and the crowd around began to stir.

Seeing the situation was getting out of hand, Li Xuan quickly stepped forward: "Everyone, please move aside, I'm the technician!"

Hearing that the repair person had arrived, the crowd quickly made space for him. Li Xuan walked to the arcade machine and heard the beeping alarm. He couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. The machine wasn't broken; the coin storage box was simply full of coins inserted by players, preventing further coins from being inserted, hence the alarm.

"Manager Li, quickly get your cashier to bring a large basin over. The coin storage box in the game machine is full, and the coins need to be taken out!" Li Xuan shouted to Manager Li, who was outside the crowd.

The key to open the game machine's inner box had long been given to the cinema's manager. Manager Li called the staff to open the machine, and sure enough, the coin storage box was full of brownish-yellow five-cent coins. A cashier from the cinema poured all the coins into a prepared box, and the clinking sound drew envious looks from the surrounding crowd.

"Click!" Someone nearby used a camera hanging from their neck to capture this wonderful moment. Li Xuan didn't pay attention to the woman pouring the coins but instead focused his eyes on the person taking the photo. An ordinary player definitely wouldn't have this hobby.

Noticing someone was looking at him, the person turned and gave Li Xuan a friendly smile. Li Xuan had a strong feeling that this person was a news reporter, and not someone he had paid to come, but someone truly attracted by the grand scene at Lisheng Cinema.

At this moment, the frown on Manager Li's face had been completely replaced by a smile. The arcade machines from Oriental Electronics used a high-capacity coin storage box that could hold a thousand coins. This meant that the game machine in the cinema had already generated a profit of 500 yuan in less than a day.

At this rate, placing four or five arcade machines in the hall would generate an additional income of over 100,000 yuan a month, even after a discount, it would still be around 30,000 to 40,000 yuan.

Manager Li began to recall the initial negotiations with Li Xuan. At the time, what was the price he quoted for these game machines? 10,000 yuan each, yes, that price was very cheap. He could recoup the cost in a month, and after that, it would all be pure profit. He must place an order immediately!

The way Manager Li looked at Li Xuan was like looking at his own son, and his tone became even more gentle: "Mr. Li Xuan, about the purchase of the game machines, when can I pay you the money and have you deliver more machines? There's still a large crowd waiting outside."

"Didn't you say that you needed to get approval from the cinema chain before signing the contract?" Li Xuan asked with a deep meaning.

"No problem, I have the authority to make this decision!" In the face of the golden Hong Kong dollars, Manager Li didn't mind slapping his own face and gave a completely different answer from last time.

"I've already asked my colleague to bring two more game machines to help. To be honest, the new games won't be available until next week. These few machines are prototypes we made earlier. So your cinema is the only one in Hong Kong with these machines; even if others have the money, they can't buy them!" Li Xuan no longer kept the other party in suspense and explained directly, after all, the customer is God, and he needed to be polite and give them face.

At this moment, cheers came from the cinema entrance. Du Wenqiang had arrived with three more arcade machines. The players were very enthusiastic, and they all helped to carry the three tall game machines off the truck and into the cinema hall.

The addition of three new machines quickly split the original long queue into five lines. However, Lisheng Cinema was located in the bustling area of Kowloon, and the lively scene had already attracted many passersby. Some of them, especially the young people, were drawn to join the queue.

Li Xuan even saw several people using the public phones in the cinema to call their friends, inviting them to join the fun.

Li Xuan knew that his first step had been successful, and even more successful than he had expected. This was the charm of the classic games Hong Kong Blocks and Tank Battle, truly games that had captivated countless people!

"Hey, you've already inserted three coins, are you still trying to fool around? Didn't your school teach you to count? Can't you tell the difference between a one-cent and a five-cent coin?"

Li Xuan recognized the person scolding the other as Ah Wen, one of his brother's henchmen. The young man being scolded wanted to retort, but seeing Ah Wen's unfriendly gaze, he became a bit timid. Plus, the people behind him started to jeer and shout, telling him to leave if he had no money, so he reluctantly took out a five-cent coin from his pocket and put away the one-cent coin he had tried to pass off.

This was just a small episode during the game, but Oriental Electronics had already considered the possibility of players using such tricks. When the Hong Kong government issued new five-cent coins in 1977, it caused great dissatisfaction among Hong Kong citizens.

This was because the new five-cent coins and the widely circulated one-cent coins were both made of brass-nickel alloy, and although the metal composition ratios were different, they looked and weighed very similar. If the "one cent" and "five cent" inscriptions on the front were not carefully distinguished, it was easy to mix them up.

When designing the arcade machines, Oriental Electronics decided to prevent players from using one-cent coins instead of five-cent coins by using a more advanced comparative coin acceptor, despite the increased cost.

Compared to the mechanical coin acceptors that only identified coins by size, weight, and thickness, the comparative coin acceptor had a much higher detection level. When a coin was inserted into the comparative coin acceptor, it first passed through a magnetic field generated by a high-frequency oscillation circuit composed of an inductor and a capacitor.

Different metal compositions of the coins passing through the magnetic field would cause different changes in the oscillation frequency of the circuit. If the data differed significantly from the preset values, the coin would not be accepted.

During previous tests, the accuracy rate of the comparative coin acceptor was over 99%, so although using this Japanese-made comparative coin acceptor increased the manufacturing cost of the arcade machines by nearly 100 Hong Kong dollars, Li Xuan still decided to use this higher-tech component.

PS: I read a book this morning and took the time to vote for it. Thanks a lot, hehe!

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