A guest taps or scans, the charge goes through, and the machine sits there. No credits. No plays. That is one of the most stressful moments on the floor, and it is usually fixable in a few minutes if you know where to look.
Here is what happened, how to confirm it, and how to make the guest whole without guessing.
What Usually Causes It
When a cashless payment clears, the ArcadePay Controller sends a pulse to the machine so it credits. In rare cases, a brief cellular hiccup right at that moment means the payment lands but the pulse does not. The money is recorded. The machine never gets the go signal.
Cash and coin are wired differently, so this pattern is about electronic payments, not a stuck coin mech. If the guest paid with cash and got nothing, check the coin mechanism first.
Pulse machines also do not send a confirmation back to the controller. That is a hardware limit of pulse credit systems in general. Your best record is the pulse log in the ArcadePay dashboard, not a receipt from the game board.
Confirm It in the Dashboard
Before you refund or argue with the guest, verify the transaction.
- Open the ArcadePay dashboard
- Go to Reports, then Transactions
- Open the Cashless tab
- Find the payment by machine, time, or amount
- Check the Pulse detail. If the pulse did not fire, you will see No Pulse or an empty pulse count
On the mobile app, open More, then Pulse Table. That view shows what was sent, when, and whether it fired.
Refund the Guest from the Same Screen
Once you confirm the pulse did not fire:
- Stay on the cashless transaction
- Open the actions menu next to that row
- Choose Refund Payment
The refund applies to the cashless charge. Cash stuffed in the machine cannot be refunded through the dashboard. Card refunds usually show back on the guest's statement within a few business days.
Match the machine name, time, amount, and any receipt details before you hit refund. If you cannot find the transaction, email ops@arcadepay.app with those details and we will help dig it up.
Stop Repeat Misses with Signal, Not Guesswork
An occasional miss can be a momentary dropout. Repeated misses usually mean the controller is sitting on a weak signal.
- In Machines, check the signal reading for that controller. Aim for 15 or above. Readings around 8–10 or lower are a red flag.
- Move the antenna. The magnetic base should sit on the outside of the cabinet when you can, not tucked behind metal panels that eat cellular signal.
- If the controller goes fully offline, it stops taking electronic payments until signal recovers. That protects guests from paying when credits cannot be delivered. The paid-but-no-credit case is the brief middle ground: a short dropout at the exact second of payment.
If the same machine keeps doing this after antenna placement looks right, contact support with the machine name and device ID from Machines. We can pull the pulse and connectivity history.
The Takeaway
Do not guess from the floor. Check the pulse log, refund when the pulse never fired, and fix weak signal before the next busy night.
If you are staring at a live dispute and cannot find the row, email ops@arcadepay.app with the machine name, approximate time, and amount.
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