As more hospitality venues start to open back up, there are
some simple steps you can take to prepare fruit machines for pubs, clubs and hotels for the long-term future of social distancing.
Nobody knows exactly how long we will need to live in a
‘COVID-secure’ way, but some of the more routine measures could remain in
effect until a vaccine or cure is discovered.
The steps outlined below can help you to minimise the
disruption for your guests, especially when it comes to having fruit machines
for pubs, clubs and hotels available for them to play in a safe and
COVID-secure fashion.
1. Location
The location of your fruit machine can have a natural effect
on how easy it is for players to maintain social distancing.
It has always been common to place fruit machines against a
far wall or in an otherwise awkward corner, to make more efficient use of space
where you can’t fit a table.
Now, doing this brings the added advantage of keeping your
fruit machine away from other customers, to put some distance – ideally more
than two metres – between the machine and the nearest table or chairs.
2. Cleaning
Regular cleaning of surfaces is important to prevent the
spread of COVID-19. On a fruit machine, that means particular focus on the
parts of the machine that players touch, such as the buttons and the win tray.
You should also think about sanitising the vertical glass
parts of the machine more often, especially any touchscreen elements or any
area that is normally in front of the player’s face.
Here at Manco, we offer to fit sanitisation stations to the
machines that we supply to our customers with the message, “Please
sanitise before and after use” for added safety measures.
3. Distance
It’s not just the location of your machines that matters. If
you have several pub fruit machines, make sure they are positioned with some
distance between them.
Again, this is simply a way to keep players naturally spaced
further apart – the more you can do without your customers having to think
about it, the better your chances of keeping a COVID-secure venue.
4. Maintenance
Keeping your pub fruit machines well maintained can avoid
unnecessary face-to-face discussions with customers, so please let us know if
you have a machine in need of a service and we can arrange an engineer visit at
an appropriate time.
5. Other Venues
Finally, keep in mind that these tips can apply differently
in different venues. For example, a hotel fruit machine might be in a location
with very little footfall, in which case it could be easier to maintain social
distancing between the player and other guests.
Always take each scenario on its own merits and look for the
advantages of each machine’s location, as by playing to those natural strengths
you can make things a lot easier for yourself and for your players too.
If you require maintenance checks for your fruit machines as you get ready to reopen, Manco Automatics have
decades of experience in ensuring that your machines work at the peak of their
ability. Call us on 0161 870 7777, or email info@mancoautomatics.com and we’ll
be available to help.