Slot Machines ‘Soochow Online’ Save Students Money with Meal Coupons

From April 17^th to May 31^st, every Soochower, including faculty, staff and students, can get one coupon each day worth NT$10 to 50 for their purchases at the school’s food courts.

Launched jointly by Live Young Life Mall Co., SU Personnel Office, and the Student Council, the slot-machine-like large touch screens nicknamed “Soochow Online” were set up outside the McDonald’s at Waishuanghsi campus and in the hallway of the Second Building at Downtown campus.

Lots of people, mostly students, would appear in front of the machines during mealtime, keying in their student or campus ID numbers and birthdays (as passwords) and pulling down the virtual lever to try their luck at food coupons, which can be saved to their Soochow App. 

With promoting the sale of campus foods as a starting point, Yu-Kuo Chin, the designer of Soochow Online and the head of the Computing Center, drew on the concept of the slot machine to make it appealing. What’s more, if the device is not used for 2 minutes, it will activate its soliciting mode, starting to play classic lines from Stephen Chow’s movies and some trendy catch lines to attract users. 

As “Soochow Online” has added a sense of ritual for students, teachers and staff members before their meals, many said that they would like the slot machine to become a tradition, hoping that the “ding” sound can keep ringing on campus.