Helf-serious complaint about The D
So, half-seriously, whom do I complain to?
Look at these images:
Four near royals in a short time on a DW machine at the D (the full pay DW nickel machine, but still....)
And there's this one from the California:
That one's worse, as it was a $0.50 machine that pays a 1,000 coin bonus on hearts.
So what do we call this? Bad variance? <sigh>
Yeah. Not that I'm not sympathetic, but four-to-the-royal is a normal occurrence. Professional/Habitual players don't even mention them. That hearts royal would have been sweet, though.Quote: IbeatyouracesI'd call it normal expectation. When it happens 200 times in a row, then I'd call it variance.
Good choice to play the Loose Deuces machine at the Ditz.
Quote: teddysGood choice to play the Loose Deuces machine at the Ditz.
I had to. It is a really odd machine. For one thing it's really old. How old is it? It's so old it has no touch screen; you have to hold the cards using buttons. And while there' s a bill acceptor attached to it, you can also drop in nickels in the slot (so technically this is the first slot machine I've played in; I did even drop 25 cents in nickels). The card reader is also grafted on to the side. I should have taken a photo of the whole machine.
Quote: Nareed... For one thing it's really old. How old is it? It's so old it has no touch screen; you have to hold the cards using buttons.
You call that "old"? How about this "video" poker machine I encountered in Metropolis, IL last summer? And it gives two plays for a nickel! (No, they wouldn't let me really play it.)
Quote: DocYou call that "old"? How about this "video" poker machine I encountered in Metropolis, IL last summer? And it gives two plays for a nickel! (No, they wouldn't let me really play it.)
At the back of the Golden Gate Downtown they have a small display of old slot machines. I should have taken a picture. I think some even can be played, but there was no one around to ask.
Quote: DocYou call that "old"? How about this "video" poker machine I encountered in Metropolis, IL last summer? And it gives two plays for a nickel! (No, they wouldn't let me really play it.)
What a fascinating find!
It looks like the instructions read as follows:
Quote: Cool Old Video Poker Slot Machine1. Drop Nickel and Pull Lever Down.
2. Hold any Cards you wish by Pressing Down Corresponding Buttons on Top.
3. Prizes paid only on SECOND PLAY WHEN NICKEL SHOWS.
I'm confused by instruction #3 because it somewhat makes it sound like the Deal is the first play and the Draw is the second play; and I'm not sure what the condition "When Nickel Shows" means.
But anyway, if it plays like a regular video poker game, I come up with a return of 52.2354% for one play and therefore 104.4708% for two plays.
It might recycle discards, which would have been easier to program back then. If that is the case, then the return for one play is 50.7190% and two plays 101.4380%.
On that hall/bridge they have a very nice display of old slot machines built from 1900 to 1940. I have photos of 18 of them, so I expect that is the total count. Each machine is accompanied by a plaque describing it. The machine in the photo I posted is described this way:
Quote:WATLING DRAW POKER
• Built in 1900
• By 1896 card machines were in virtually all of San Francisco's cigar stores and saloons.
There is even a dice machine on display that had a window where you could look down to see the dice come shooting out. Here is the description for that one:
Quote:MILLS DICE MACHINE
• Built 1936
• This game paid on eleven, field, or come bets.
• Used a clicker to imitate the sound of dice shaking. Thirty individual dice were concealed under the edge of the machine, and were randomly selected to shoot out during the game play. An invisible sheet of glass insured that the dice could not flip over. Customers were in awe at how the machine could read the 'bones'
Quote: JBIt looks like the instructions read as follows:
...
But anyway, if it plays like a regular video poker game, I come up with a return of 52.2354% for one play and therefore 104.4708% for two plays..
You read the instructions correctly, and they are a bit confusing to me, too. Yes, I think the draw is the second play for the nickel. It could be that the "nickel shows" means that the coin that was inserted appears in the window below the slot after the second draw. That would be one way to confirm that the player wasn't using slugs.
I don't think the game plays anything like modern video poker. To use an expression that usually refers to a mental state, I don't think it's playing with a full deck. I think each reel has a subset of a full deck, but with fewer than 52 total cards, so that you never have the same card appearing on two reels. I suspect the stopping position of the spinning reels is controlled rather than being random. I, of course, don't know how the machine really operates.
Quote: NareedI did say "half-seriously" ;)
I had to. It is a really odd machine. For one thing it's really old. How old is it? It's so old it has no touch screen; you have to hold the cards using buttons. And while there' s a bill acceptor attached to it, you can also drop in nickels in the slot (so technically this is the first slot machine I've played in; I did even drop 25 cents in nickels). The card reader is also grafted on to the side. I should have taken a photo of the whole machine.
The entire upstairs will soon be those type of machines. You can also find those type of machines at Las Vegas Club, Fremont, and El Cortez.
Edit: They are at Main Street Station and California too.
It is so old it doesn't give you any tickets if you want to cash out; you have to flag an attendant, who pays you.
Lion's Share
Quote: PokeraddictThe entire upstairs will soon be those type of machines. You can also find those type of machines at Las Vegas Club, Fremont, and El Cortez.
The idea was to play a good pay table. For all that, I didn't hit anything higher than 5 of a kind, and that only once... Still, that was the only playable room in the casino. The rest is drowned in noise.
Quote: FinsRuleCan anyone confirm that there is a working Sigma Derby machine upstairs at the D?
There isn't.
I posted a link to a blog announcing one for April, but there wasn't one there. As per Nareed's First Law of Vegas "Whatever happens, nothing happens."
ON the other hand, the MGM still has a working one. I didn't play it when I saw it because it was packed.
