Casino Royale - January
12
This past weekend, myself, Jason Block, Aaron Huertas
and Ben Ziek went to Atlantic City. I did decent in
winning $120, but part of the fun was to see the sights,
as I haven't been there in a while. One of the said
sights is this picture below:
If you take a look at this picture, you'll notice a HUGE
picture of a slot machine. This isn't just any old slot
machine - this is a Slot Machine of
Wheel...of...Fortune! The whole idea is to get 5 Wheel
of Fortune Logos, and if you do that, with a maximum
bet, you win the jackpot. On a nickel slot machine, a
max bet would be around $4.35, however, when we were
down there, the Jackpot was over two million dollars, so
it's a nice bet to have.
What was amazing to me was not just the huge Wheel of
Fortune spectacle. What was amazing was all of the slot
machines that had game show representation. You would
expect that the current games are in there, like Wheel
(yep), Jeopardy! (yep), Deal Or No Deal (new and yep),
and The Price is Right (yep, and more than one version),
but there are other games as well.
Let's start with this decade. There's no less than 4
versions of Hollywood Squares out there. Regis's Cash
Club (aka Millionaire) is there as well. Waiting to hear
the beep? Then come play Supermarket Sweep, and hope
that what you hear are coins coming out of the machine.
Now if you're like me and grew up in the 80's, then the
casinos have some machines for you. Like Whammies? Then
go find a Press Your Luck machine, which is not only
available in casinos, but is also available in your PC,
as they have made the uber-popular slot machine one of
the choices in certain PC slot machine games. If word
games are more your thing, then come play Pyramid...the
$25,000 version of it, not the Donny Osmond version.
The casinos, however, aren't stupid. They know that the
older demographic loves the slot machines. Hence, they
have rolled out slot machines for people watching 70's
television and earlier. There were three games that our
group noticed when we were down there that caters to
that set. The first game - Match Game, whose caricatures
include Gene Rayburn, Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett
Somers. Right next to Match Game was You Bet Your Life,
while across from it was Password -the Allen Ludden
version.
Is there any real strategy to a slot machine?
Surprisingly, the answer is yes. For starters, bring
enough for 30-40 plays at MAXIMUM level. Why Maximum?
Because that's the only way that you can win the big
Jackpot, and you don't want to spend all of the time to
play, only to hit the Jackpot and only get a fraction of
the winnings. One more hint - the slot machines don't
pay out all the time. You should stop when you are ahead
and know your limits when you play.
You should also think about playing on a machine when
you see someone stop because they are out of money (vs.
someone who leaves when they cash out).
We all know that gambling is a game (and should only be
treated like that for most of the general populace), but
if you are a game show fan, there's plenty of gaming to
choose from. Of course, it's not a good way to make
money, but if you want to have a good time, then go to a
nickel slot machine, bring $80 - $100 and come sit down
and spend some time with Pat and Vanna or any of the
other hosts from now or yesteryear.
But maybe you can cash in
with these tips on how to play the pricing games...
Grand Game - Keep one product that you KNOW is
under the target price and don't select it until the
very end. Why? Because if you are wrong any time before
the last time, you'll walk away with some money. If you
screw up on the $1,000 level, you win nothing. It's
better to screw up at the $100 level and at least win
something - plus if you keep one item you know until the
end, then it's a cinch to win $10,000.
Grocery Game - There is a pretty easy way to win
this game. Find the least expensive item, but do NOT use
it yet. Go for a few more expensive items, and when
you're 2 or 3 dollars away, then use the cheap item and
inch your way there.
Half Off - If you don't know, select the lower
priced item. Usually, the spacing of the items are far
enough that you could figure it out.
Gordon Pepper wants to
remind you that problem gambling is still an issue, and
one that needs to be addressed... even though he has no
problem with HIS gambling. E-mail him at
gordon@gameshownewsnet.com. |
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Previously...
2005
2006
January 5
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