Merkur
History
Established in 1957, Gauselmann Group was a family-owned, internationally operating business group in the entertainment and leisure industry. Their customer facing brand was called Merkur. This brand got so ubiquitous, they eventually renamed their company to Merkur Group in 2022. In current times they remain active as a gambling machine brand for the most part, but they used to make arcade machines too, and in the early 2000s, had their stab at the touch machine craze with their Merkur Trendy.
Trendy Machines
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Trendy (original) |
| 2002 | Trendy Compact |
| 2003 | Trendy Arcade |
| 2002 | Trendy TT |
| 2005+ | Trendy T2 |
Trendy Software Releases
| Announced | Name | Dongle FSS |
|---|---|---|
| 04.02.2002 | Update E3 | |
| 26.06.2002 | Update E3.1 | |
| 25.11.2002 | Update E4 | |
| 23.12.2002 | Update E5 | |
| 28.04.2003 | Update E5.1 | |
| 25.09.2003 | Update E6 | |
| 03.01.2005 | 2005 No Limit System (OS) | N/A |
| 03.01.2005 | No Limit 2005 | FSS 147 |
| 29.06.2005 | No Limit 2005 plus | FSS 147 |
| 27.01.2006 | No Limit 2006 | FSS 154 |
| 29.05.2006 | 2006 WM-Update | FSS 154 |
| 26.09.2006 | No Limit 2006 plus | FSS 154 |
| 05.01.2007 | No Limit 2007 | FSS 161 |
| XX.XX.2007 | No Limit 2007 Plus | FSS 161 |
| XX.XX.2008 | No Limit 2008 | FSS 168 |
| 27.08.2008 | No Limit 2008 plus | FSS 168 |
| 05.01.2009 | No Limit 2009 | FSS 175 |
| 28.10.2009 | No Limit 2009 plus | FSS 175 |
| 03.03.2010 | No Limit 2010 | FSS 182 |
Announcement dates are from the automatenmarkt.de archive.
The initial Windows 98 software is referred to as update E3 to E6. With the release of the Trendy T2, the new "No Limit" software ran Windows XP Embedded. This system had to be installed with an initial No Limit System CD, after which every yearly update needed to be installed manually. This means a No Limit 2010 system could need up to 20 CD's to be installed.