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slot machines

cooby Mar 25 2012 03:45 PM

What's your favorite? Mine is Miss Kitty. I love the sounds it makes when I get three moons. Plus she pays well :)

Edgy MD Mar 25 2012 05:34 PM Re: slot machines

Edgy MD Mar 25 2012 05:35 PM Re: slot machines

I imagine that if I messed with slot machines that I'd blow every dime we have.

metirish Mar 25 2012 06:09 PM Re: slot machines

Cooby and the slots, shocker! Haven't played in ......years I think,

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Mar 25 2012 08:02 PM Re: slot machines

I'll be the punch bowl turd. Slot machines always seemed to me to be a particularly mean, distinctly unfun brand of the gambling thing; this was confirmed and hardened when I first read about how they're made/programmed. The drug equivalent would be if someone decided to synthesize cocaine or heroin, but tweak it chemically so that it was the most addictive-- and destructive to human lives-- that it could be. Plus, excepting the push/pull and the eyeballing, there's absolutely no skill/player interaction involved. Evil AND boring. Gimme poker, or blackjack, or craps, or behavioral bets on sports.

The Second Spitter Mar 25 2012 08:15 PM Re: slot machines Edited 4 time(s), most recently on Mar 25 2012 08:27 PM

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I'll be the punch bowl turd. Slot machines always seemed to me to be a particularly mean, distinctly unfun brand of the gambling thing; this was confirmed and hardened when I first read about how they're made/programmed. The drug equivalent would be if someone decided to synthesize cocaine or heroin, but tweak it chemically so that it was the most addictive-- and destructive to human lives-- that it could be. Plus, excepting the push/pull and the eyeballing, there's absolutely no skill/player interaction involved. Evil AND boring. Gimme poker, or blackjack, or craps, or behavioral bets on sports. This sums up how I feel perfectly. Had a friend who designed them for years, explained to me in detail how they work. Really put me off trying them. Btw, this country has the highest amount of "pokies" per capita in the world. There's a real subculture behind them. There are a few NRL teams that survive financially from slot machine revenue of their Leagues Clubs, which are conveniently located next to the stadium. It's pretty sad when you think about it.

Fman99 Mar 25 2012 08:23 PM Re: slot machines

Sorry, I'm a blackjack player. The wife does enjoy the occasional slot.

Ceetar Mar 25 2012 08:44 PM Re: slot machines

I prefer table games mostly, specifically the game of skill where I only have to beat idiots to get money. Poker. After that I play Roulette (mostly because I like numbers) maybe a little blackjack. Occasionally something weird like Let it Ride. If i do play slots my first choice is video poker, usually the 5 hand at once games. But I do go for the penny slots occasionally. I always look for one that has a fun mini-game. Usually find a cheesy one that's a movie or theme I like. I played a cool Simpsons one sometime last year that I enjoyed.

metsmarathon Mar 25 2012 09:04 PM Re: slot machines

Fman99 wrote: The wife does enjoy the occasional slot. does she at least let you watch?

The Second Spitter Mar 25 2012 10:00 PM Re: slot machines

metsmarathon wrote: Fman99 wrote: The wife does enjoy the occasional slot. does she at least let you watch?

sharpie Mar 26 2012 07:21 AM Re: slot machines

I miss actual coins plonking down into the trough giving you that satisfying sound. I never play them anymore. Blackjack for me at a casino but I kind of hate casinos too.

themetfairy Mar 26 2012 07:52 AM Re: slot machines

I don't love gambling. D-Dad is into poker, blackjack and craps, so occasionally I find myself in casinos with him, and to pass the time I'll try to find some nickel slot machines. And then I'll lose my roll of nickels, all $2 of them, and be crabby about it. So I'm better off not playing.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Mar 26 2012 08:03 AM Re: slot machines

Bally/Midway/Williams used to make the best pinball machines in the world but when the company realized slot machines were more profitable by orders of magnitude they got out of pinball completely. But they held patents on a lot of the technologies that made their machines great and nobody's (that is to say Stern) has been able to replicate the quality of play since. In case you needed another reason to hate slots. Casino gambling is not for me. I used to know a style of roulette betting that would bleed your money slowly enough to actually spend some time there, but what's the point? Got lucky once at a slot machine in a hallway of the Flamingo in Vegas: Something like $150 came crashing down on a 50-cent play but that's the only time.

Ceetar Mar 26 2012 08:28 AM Re: slot machines

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Casino gambling is not for me. I used to know a style of roulette betting that would bleed your money slowly enough to actually spend some time there, but what's the point? . That's usually what I do. I spread $10 around the table on 4-number/6-number combos with a couple of single numbers selected. If I start winning, I get a little more aggressive with the single-number bets that actually pay. Usually gives you odds to sit there a little while. Was really unlucky last time. 'biggest' win was when I was down to my last $10 (from 60) and it was time to go to the bar and I just put $2 on 5 different numbers, hit the 10, and walked away with 70. I just enjoy the casino atmosphere. the jingle of the machines and clinking of chips. The camaraderie of watching a silly little little ball spin around a wheel. I like tracking the numbers and 'rooting' for 10, reading irrelevant probabilities and debating it with fellow gamblers. One of the best times I had at a roulette table was a Tuesday afternoon at the Mirage. It was like 4 oclock and a bunch of guys (bachelor party?) where there drinking and I think they were going to a show and just killing time. They were getting into it, and 24 was their number. They're rooting for it and all betting it and cheering and getting the dealer and even the pitboss into it. groaning when it bounces out or hits the number next to it. I played along as well, because how do you resist really? It hits and we're the loudest (well, they are) table in the casino. We joke about not touching it, numbers are doubling up a lot today and we end up hitting again, and it's even louder and even the pitboss is there smiling about it.

Benjamin Grimm Mar 26 2012 08:41 AM Re: slot machines

You're not likely to ever find me in a casino. Last time was about ten years ago at a company function where we were all given a cup of quarters to have fun with. I used up my quarters and then went back to where the food was. There seems to be an air of desperation in the casinos that makes me uneasy. It's kind of like being in a Wal-Mart.

Edgy MD Mar 26 2012 08:59 AM Re: slot machines

I had a friend who took a job rehabilitating homeless youth in Atlantic City. A few years back, we went to visit her staying at the then new Borgada --- a hotel with a sleek new look aimed at drawing a younger generation into gambling. We thought we'd go downstairs and try to stretch an hour's worth of wagering out of forty or fifty bucks, just to say we've been there. But even crossing the floor creeped my wife out too much. "Don't worry, Baby," I told her, "these joints hook you up with primo grub at rock bottom prices just to keep the suckers in the house. Nobody wants us leaving the building with our gambling $$." So we head for the dinging room. And all the food is beautiful, engaging, and otherwise tasteless. Again, this wasn't some tired burned out location aimed at retirees, but a slick understated black marble palace with a waterfall in the lobby and the staff all in black. But --- and I'm sure I've mentioned this in some other iteration of the CPF --- what really fungoed me over the wall was the adventures-in-dining playlists. As we ate, we heard a soundtrack of eighties faves aimed right between our eyes. But they weren't eighties faves at all, but subtly different versions with Mr. Mister, Jodey Watley, and Lionel Richie replaced by muscular-voiced sound-alike pros, and something... just something in the mix, subliminally whispering to me. "Get back OUT there! You're a WINner! The girls will LOVE you! Don't give UP now!" Fucking creepy as all shit. I looked up at my wife, and asked, "What is this music saying to you?" Without missing a beat, she answered, "Get back OUT there! You're a WINner!" We got the fuck out. On the way out, we saw that Sting would be playing there the next weekend, a revelation that we considered to be the Least Surprising Thing in the World. The saddest part is that the end result of my friend's work is to get these rehabbing youth into sustainable employment, but the employment market is dominated by the casino hotels that are the center of the degraded culture that so contributed to the destruction of their lives in the first place.

Nymr83 Mar 26 2012 09:52 AM Re: slot machines

I hate slots, except the Star Trek machine which I've become addicted too and hate even more. The poker room should really have direct access to the parking garage.

Vic Sage Mar 26 2012 09:59 AM Re: slot machines

look there's no doubt that gambling provides an endorphin rush. I've played in casinos from Vegas to Foxwoods, usually blackjack. I've also thrown some sheckels down on Craps, from time to time, even the occasional slot. And if i'm disciplined about it, with strict threshholds for what i'm willing to lose AND what i'm willing to win before walking away, and if i'm skilled enough to maximize the time i can play within those threshholds, then i increase the chance for a positive random occurrence (i.e., "GOOD LUCK") that can make me some serious cash. Unfortunately, i'm often not skilled enough to play long enough to still be playing when the lightning strikes. And once your done, and the endorphins fade, you walk away from the table and see the other folks -- even in the fanciest joints -- and it is a totally creepy scene, with glassy-eyed losers and their cups half-full of chips wandering zombie-like through a scene of post-apocalyptic decadence that could make Fellini wince. So i've sort of unofficially sworn off.

attgig Mar 26 2012 10:31 AM Re: slot machines

I haven't stepped food in a casino in years. I used to go with a friend, and would play craps mostly. I played poker a bit if i had a low bankroll, because i could play there for hours without issue. But honestly, I don't love going to a casino only to take money away from other gamblers. craps, it's us against the house. as for slots, there was one time i went and lost my bankroll at the craps table in < 30 min. went moping around as my buddy continued playing, and came to a wheel of fortune machine. threw in 20 bucks, and a few spins in, I won my bankroll back. took out the money and spent the rest of the night playing some poker.