Gaming machines have to put up with a lot, as inebriated customers poke and prod their screens and buttons, before fumbling around the payout tray to retrieve any winnings.
So it’s little surprise that they’re finally fighting back, as part of a newly commissioned comedy series for E4.
Bad Robots is a six-part series by Objective Productions, drawing on the heritage of hidden camera shows ranging from Trigger Happy TV to Balls of Steel.
It sees electronic equipment – from gaming machines to self-scan checkouts – “giving their human users a really hard time”.
Channel 4 head of comedy Phil Clarke explains: “What happens when the machines go bad?
“This new prank shows reveals that there is nothing more hilarious, and nothing more enduring, than the human spirit when confronted by a bad robot.”
We’re yet to be convinced, as the idea of a “patently biased pub quiz machine” on primetime TV hardly sounds like a fair representation of the industry.
But with a healthy sense of humour, we’re hoping the gaming machines are the stars of the show, and are ready to help out with machine hire services for anyone inspired to add a good robot to their premises.