Well, compared to a lot of folks on this BB I am not much of a gambler. I always say I'm too Scottish - like to get something concrete for my money!

However, I did have a lucky visit, in a ultra low roller kind of way. I'm strictly a cheap slots or VP kinda woman. I saved my pocket change at home for "play" money. Course I converted it to bills for travel - who wants to take a ton of change on a plane these days!

My first full day at our convention at Circus Circus, I strolled around the main casino. Wow, they sure have increased the number of nickel slots in LV! I joined the slot club, then tried a few machines, for variety's sake. Hey. won $7 on a $3 investment in a Double Diamonds machine. Decided to be patriotic, and sat down at a Red White and Blue machine, in a corner near the side door (leading to slots of fun) Put in about $4, played a while, then the whole machine stops. The combination came up with 2 wild card symbols and a red 7. Don't see that on thepayout list. Nothing works on the machine, and my readout shows a credit of 17 nickels.

I push the service light. I'm waiting. waiting. Finally change girl comes and says 'gotta get someone else" as she walks away. There is no one else around, I'm getting tired, the smoke is getting to me, and I;m thinking of abandoning those 17 nickles.

Then Mr. Wonderful (okay, casino employee) comes up, looks at the machine, says "$72 I'll be right back." as he walks away.

What did he say?

That's not exactly 17 nickels!

Guess I'm a dangerous gambler - I know you shouldn't play a machine if you don't understand the payouts!

So he comes back with the change girl and a bag of bills. They count out my $72 and hang an "out of service" sign on the machine.

So I took my little jackpot and ran. Followed my Scottish instincts and put it aside to subsidize that Magical Empire night!

The rest of our stay was Gambling Light.
David really enjoyed the Sheep video screen slots. We also played the Austin Powers game, since we are fans of the movie - but that quickly got annoying with the Nazi lady screaming the numbers every time you change paylines.

I don't know - how do the rest of you feel about the video screen games with the multiple payoff lines? Somehow I feel more comfortable with the physical reels. Not that I feel the video ones have a worse payoff - it just doesn't feel real.

Our last evening I still had "play" money left, so I said "Come on,honey - let me show you the Wheel of Fortune machine." We were at the IP, at a quarter machine. I said "now, honey, we're going to put in a whole $10 - we're going to say "bye -bye" and just have some fun as long as we can, betting maximum coins." Wouldn't you know it, we hit the wheel 3 times, and cashed out up $40!

I did have a lucky visit - I even won a stuffed dog at the Adventure Dome on a dollar investment!

And I'm saving my pocket change again!

Cindy B.

Cindy,
Thanks for the trip report. However, you failed to answer the question I always ask.....When are you going back? LOL

As for the reel slots vs the video slots. I have mixed feelings. The reels get boring after awhile, and really have very limited options. I also gettired if I play them while tired. The Video, do seem almost like fake machines sometimed, but offer bonus screens and up to date gimmicks. For the record, I like the reel machines, I feel they pay better. M2C

Thanks agian for a GREAT trip report. I needed a good report to get me througha week without Las vegas! <VBG>

Cindy: Great entertainment and lucky at slots - now you just can't beat that - careful now, you just might get hooked on Vegas like Lee and I. Wendell

Cindy,i know what you mean about the machines being confusing sometimes.

I know regular poker pretty well, but playing VP last December for the first time, i was surprised to find out after hitting four of a kind three times during a session and cashing out the the coinless slot ticket, that i had won fifty cents!
huh! i thought four of a kind was a good hand in poker! :-)

Glad to hear in your case it was the other way around and you won $72 instead of the .85 you thought was there.

Cindy:
I read all your reports and they were excellent. Thanks for taking the time to write them.

Susan