Gamefication of Vending Machines
A collegue and I were going to the vending machines across the hall to get some water. It wasn't as easy as we thought it would be... The vending machines put up a memorable fight! (warning: fluff story)
The setting
The vending machine area has 5 machines:
- 1x Bottled Water machines
- 2x Soda Can machines
- 1x Candy machine
- 1x Coffee machine
Prices are:
- 0,5l water: 90c
- Soda can: 60c
- Candy: 50c
Coins in my wallet:
- 1x 2€ coin
- 1x 1€ coin
- 2x 10c coins
The problem
We went to the bottled water machine and inserted 1 euro with an expected return of 10c. The money fell trough and returned as 2 coins of 50c. This was a sign that the machine didn't have the money to return 10c. So no bottle of water appeared.
Result: coins in my wallet:
- 1x 2€ coin
- 2x 50c coin
- 2x 10c coins
Problem: I didn't have the exact amount (90c) to put in the machine
The solution
We quickly remembered that a soda can costs 60c. So if we got one, we would have 40c in change that we could use to pay for the bottle of water. There was no use in using the 50c coins, since we needed one, so we dropped the 2€ coin in the soda can machine.
2€ coins have the tendency of not being accepted in vending machines. One of the reasons is that they are often substituted by Turkish coins of a much lower value, but same size and appearance. So, first soda can machine, the coin fell trough. The second code can machine, the coin fell trough. Problem!
It started to feel like an adventure game where we needed to solve the puzzle!
Then I suddenly remembered the bottled water machine return coins of 50c to allow us to provide exact change. So I tried to pop the 2€ coin in the bottled water vending machine. And yes, it spat out 4 50c coins. Let look at the wallet now:
- 6x 50c coin
- 2x 10c coins
Back to the soda can machine, dropped in 2 coins of 50c and yes! we got our can of soda, plus 40c in exchange.
- 4x 50c coin
- 2x 20c coins
- 2x 10c coins
- 1x soda can
Victory!
Then it was a matter of taking a 50c coin and two 20c coins to get the bottle of water. Final result:
- 3x 50c coin
- 2x 10c coins
- 1x soda can
- 1x bottle of water
Victory!
It might seem like a trivial story, but my colleague and I felt satisfied that we beat the machines! Or how buying a bottle of water can result in a game of wits with the vending machine enemy!
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