Royally Flushed

A gorgeous view of the mountains and a moonlit Colorado River as seen from Harrah's in Laughlin.

I think one of the best ways to recall a year is to sort through the photos I’ve taken over the past twelve months.  They bring back lots of great memories either through the specific image or by tweaking my brain into remembering what all happened on that occasion.  To break down a whole year into a few paragraphs isn’t easy, especially when I’m fortunate enough to say lots of great stuff happened in the past twelve months.  So rather than doing a monthly blow-by-blow, I chose to pick out some highlights from our year in gaming.

Best Casino “Hits”:  P.B. - Dealt four 4’s then hit for two out of three kickers on the draw playing Triple Double Bonus Spin Poker Deluxe™ with a payout of $1190.  C.C. - Dealt four 3’s and a kicker playing TDB Spin Poker Deluxe™ with a $1600 payout.

Best Discovery:  The Diamond Lounge patio over-looking the Colorado River at Harrah’s Laughlin, Nevada casino.  A great spot for relaxing with a drink, especially on a warm full-moon night. (more…)

Say good-bye to one of the worst years for the casino industry.

Onward with more resolutions we think casinos should make for 2009.  Getting butts into the chairs - gambling, restaurants, and show seats — is the Number One priority for stayin’ alive in ‘09 so here are some ideas to help you do just that.

– Stop screwing around with your Player’s Club rules and regs - particularly as they affect your faithful players.  I have heard more complaints from players about this one issue than any other this year.  You have less money but so do we.  (more…)

Gifts are great...just not mittens and backpacks.

Lists, lists and more lists!  Best of, worst of, most notable, most notorious.  So as not to be left off the year-end bandwagon, this week we are going to list some New Year’s resolutions we’d like to see the casinos make for 2009.   (Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments section.)

To all casinos both large and small; please resolve to stop giving away dumb stuff.  I love “gifts” - quote marks used because we both know I have more than paid for them with my play — but puh-leeze make it something I would even remotely consider using.

For instance, I am the proud owner of Casino Arizona’s latest marketing giveaway — mittens and a scarf.  Uh, did someone miss the Arizona in that name?  If you’re trying to make an impact, wouldn’t you want to give a gift that has some sort of relationship to your business?  Yeah, black mittens and a fuzzy scarf immediately say “Let’s go to the casino…in sunny Arizona” to me.  The month before, a thin “stadium blanket” was the featured free gift.  (This fascination with cold weather is really starting to make me wonder if they know something we don’t and the newest Ice Age is upon us starting in the Arizona desert.) (more…)

Has your mailbox been as stuffed with casino offers as ours has lately?   Thanks to the downturn in the economy, P.B. and I are hearing from every casino we ever stepped foot into over the years.  Stacks of promotional flyers for free room stays - now for three or four or more nights at a time! - and invitations to tons of slot, video poker, live poker and black jack tourneys inundate us.  (My mail carrier, Veronica, must think Doyle Brunson’s living in my guest room!)

We’re also being showered with bigger and better coupons for “free slot play.”  Even our local Indian casinos here in Arizona are not only joining in the marketing fray but upping the ante with $100 for Diamond members at Harrah’s Ak-Chin in Maricopa and $25 from Fort McDowell in Fountain Hills, just to name a couple.  Those same offers usually come with food coupons as well.  Free buffets, free dinners, free food vouchers - if you’re hungry they’ve got you covered.

Email offers?  Check.  Offers by phone?  Check again.  Leather jackets, Dooney & Bourke handbags, gift cards?  Check, check, check.

So what really gets us into the casino and sitting at a machine or table?  Locally, coupons for free slot play or cash are number one for us with merchandise giveaways a close second.  But only if the item is something we want like the Sony PSP® we got last year at Harrah’s Ak-Chin.

When we travel several times each year to Las Vegas, we do look at the offers we’ve gotten when planning the actual dates.  We especially enjoy slot and video poker tournaments and try to play in a couple of those each year.  Oh, and cash and free slot play and gift cards are good, too.  Merchandise doesn’t really get us to go to Las Vegas - too far for a leather jacket with “Caesars Palace” emblazoned on the back.

We’re curious.  What are your favorite offers?  What gets you to make the date?

Yesterday I told you all about P.B.’s memorable $1,000 Royal Flush at The Rio and today I want to tell you about my first big hit in a casino.

Mine is a classic story of beginner’s luck.  This happened more years ago than I’d like to count while I was on my honeymoon with P.B.  We were in the Bahamas staying at what was, at the time, the Paradise Island Princess Resort & Casino.  After a full day of sight-seeing and snorkeling, we had dinner at one of the hotel’s restaurants and headed for the casino.  We walked around the crowded gaming floor for quite a while before deciding on which machines to play.  Because it was so packed, we weren’t able to find games next to each other but we were at least in the same general area.  I sat down at a multiple-line fruit and 7’s slot machine and started feeding quarters in and pulling down the lever.  (Told you it was a while ago!)  I went through one roll of quarters and had just cracked open the second roll when I hit a bunch of red sevens.  I didn’t even know it was a big hit until the lights started blinking and the bells started ringing!  In my excitement, I left — yes, left — the machine to find my new husband who immediately told me to go back to my machine and wait for the attendant.  NOW!  I still laugh when I think about it.  (Smart man.  No wonder I’m still married to him.)

My total win was 2500 quarters — $625 — which went toward our hotel bill for the week and toward my enduring fascination with casinos and casino gaming.

Now, I open the cyber “floor” for the story of your first big win.  Check out our “Post Contest” for your chance to win a copy of the new 2009 American Casino Guide. 

Everyone who enjoys casino gambling can remember — always in great detail — the first time it happened.  Where you were, what you were playing, who you were with.  I’m talking about your first time.  The very first time you hit big in the casino.

For video poker players, it was no doubt their very first Royal Flush.  For slot players, maybe it was three Triple Diamond symbols or three Blazing 7’s appearing like magic across the screen.  I will always remember my friend, Mark, calling me on his cell phone from the California casino in downtown Las Vegas to tell me he had just hit for $10,000 on the Triple Double Diamond dollar slots.  Cha-ching!  For blackjack and poker players, craps and roulette fans, it was that first “streak” that just went on and on until your bankroll looked like nothing you’d ever seen. 

Here’s a “first story” for P.B. and me.  While it wasn’t his first $1,000 Royal, it was the first one he got while he and I were playing together.  We were sitting side-by-side at the bar at The Rio in Las Vegas sipping wine and playing Double Double Bonus video poker, quarters, when P.B. nudged me and said “Look.”  That’s it, just one word - “look.”  When I glanced over, all I saw was the “Call Attendant” notice on the screen so I thought his machine was broken.  I was saying something dumb  like “Oh, I’m sure someone will come and FIX it” and he said … “No, LOOK!”  That’s when I saw the Royal Flush and the big fat $1,000 JACKPOT sign!  It was a very fun hit with everyone at the bar coming to look and even the bartender calling people over to see it.  (By the way, he hit it in diamonds and he held the Ten, King and Jack and drew the Ace and Queen.  See what I mean about remembering in great detail!)

Tomorrow — My first big hit in slots PLUS the announcement of a fun new contest for our readers.

Lucky cherries...why not lucky lawyers or smoke monsters? (Photo courtesy of Lisa Brewster, http://sophistechate.com

I think being a slot machine inventor, game developer, whatever you want to call it, would be one of the coolest jobs on the planet.  I want to be the person who decides that the cherry gets to be the lucky fruit.  Sorry apples, pears and pomegranates…move back to the bowl because you just don’t cut it.  Triple diamonds, blazing 7’s, weird Slingo™ dude and even you, Monty Hall -  yep, you’re all in.  But “Chainsaws & Toasters®?”  What kind of weird nightmare did the person have before coming up with that game?

So, if that game made it through the vetting process, why not some of these?

Magic Ex-Wife -- Get five lawyers in a row to go to the bonus round where the machine takes all your credits and your dog.  Sorry, there’s no winning this one. (more…)

Could something like this bring you casino luck?

When it comes to good luck charms, I’ve seen a lot of strange things in casinos in Las Vegas, here in Arizona and, really, all across the country.  I remember one “regular” at a casino here in town who, back in the days when actual coins still poured out of the machines, would accumulate buckets of quarters and carry them from machine to machine.  If he was having a good day, you’d see him perched on his seat in front of a slot machine with three, four or even five completely full buckets of change under his chair.  Watching him move from machine to machine with a stack of change cups sort of piled atop each other “Leaning-Tower-of- Pisa-style” was a pretty interesting sight.  When asked why he carried around all those quarters rather than cashing in for some lightweight bills, he said his method of only going to the cashier at the end of his gambling day brought him luck.  (I’m sure he’s not having near as much fun with the paper tickets spit out by the machines today.) (more…)