Slot Psychology and Dumb Luck

I just got back from what will probably be the last AC trip of 2005. If you are a follower of this blog then you already know what sort of crazy things happen down in AC. I thought after our last trip (see the AC Hookers post), subsequent trips could never compare or at least be remotely blog worthy.

Saturday pretty much ended up that way. I spent much of the night getting gang raped by the Bally's corporation and their shiny flashy slot machines. While sitting there literally feeding my diminishing pile of twenty dollar bills with little or no returns, I found myself acutely aware of the whole "slot machine psychology". At one point I even mentioned to Jay that I was enjoying playing "King Tut's Treasure" mostly for the "thunk" sound that came out of the machine when one of the "King Tut" symbols hit a payline. Sure, it was eating my bills faster than a fat person at the Virginia City Buffet, but I just couldn't get over that "thunk" sound. It made me think about what exactly attracts me to whatever slot machine I choose to sit down and play. I don't just sit at any machine. I stalk the aisles, looking for the perfect machine. Obviously, games like "Slingo" or "The Price Is Right" are a no-brainer. Casinos don't even need to "sell" those games to people like me. The slick design, interactive gameplay and promise of winning a Showcase Showdown are enough. Other machines, such as the old-school 3 line slots have to work a little harder to attract my attention. But, much like an infant is attracted to shiny colorful toys that light up and make noise, I find myself drawn to splashy bright promises of "PROGRESSIVE PAYOUT" or "10 TIMES PAY" or "BLAZIN' BONUS REEL". The more noise a machine makes, the more likely I am to play it. I love every noise from the sound it makes when it accepts your credits to the payout sound when you hit. I love the little arpeggio melody that plays while the reels spin. I'm still trying to figure out the bizarre echoing "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" that sounds like a ghost on one of those "Spooky Halloween Sound Effects" CDs when you play 5 credits on a nickel slot.

I could go on about this, but it would only further validate the fact that I am out of my mind and think way too much about these things. Point of story- slots=bad on Saturday night. I didn't even touch the table games because I had dug myself into a pretty deep hole by 2 am and didn't want to carry that miserable luck over to Let It Ride or Roulette- especially with a 15$ minimum. I went into the casino Sunday thoroughly defeated, figuring I'm not gonna be back for a few months, so might as well just finish off whatever $180 or so I had left. But, as luck would have it, I found myself at the Roulette wheel after a botched attempt at Let It Ride. I walked away from Roulette with $200, up from the $60 I had started with. Feeling pretty good that at least I hadn't failed miserably at every game in the casino, I sat down to play some 5 cent Double Joker Video Poker- something I wouldn't normally play- but figured why the hell not. After putting a 20$ in the machine and playing about 8 games in a row at 50 cents a shot (max bet) I wasn't getting anything- so I cashed out and moved to the opposite row of machines and put the ticket in that machine, hoping a different machine might pay out a little better. When the game credited up after accepting my ticket of $16 or so, I felt like something was wrong. I played twice in a row and hit the 2 pair minimum to win. But I only had 25 or so credits. What the fuck was wrong here?! I hit "max bet" in a bid to just finish off whatever was going with this screwed up machine and move on. I hit four of a kind (thank you joker). Three aces dealt and a joker on the draw. It all happened in seconds. I hit the "cash out" button and a ticket prints out for $240.00. I was completely confused and sure that somehow this machine was screwed up and printing wrong tickets. Then it hit me as I realized that I had moved across the aisle from the five CENT video poker to the five DOLLAR video poker- meaning that the four of a kind hit I made was on five DOLLAR machines' max bet- $25! I had been playing $25 hands of poker thinking it was 25 cents.



So I guess the moral of this story is that sometimes luck works in strange ways. Here I was all Saturday night, sitting at a machine that I was SURE was going to pay out a jackpot. Every spin of wheel I concentrated and willed the machine to do what I wanted. "Come ON...that's right...TRIPLE DIAMOND". And in the end it turns out the machine that actually pays me is a machine that I would never in my right mind put money into, let alone play with "max bet". I also learned that Roulette is actually a lot more fun than I ever thought it was. And while I don't think I'll be playing five dollar joker poker again anytime soon, it's nice to be able to come home with enough cash to say "well...I didn't win but I won enough back that I'm happy". And now at least I came home with enough to pay the rent that I don't have to take any money out of my next paycheck, and maybe I can actually bank a little bit of that.

Until next time...