Wizard of Oz WMS Gaming Slot Machine Review

Played this game on Friday May 9th, 2008 at Mardi Gras Casino, Black Hawk Colorado

Follow the yellow brick road to lots of high paying combinations.... this game has a high hit frequency and lines up for lots of big pays.

30 line based game with spot markers of Dorthy, Toto, and a three pack square with lion, scarecrow, and tin man sharing. Also featured are Ruby Slippers, Houses, Tornado's, Hot Air Balloons, and of course the Wicked Witch.

3 bonus rounds are available. 1st is a wild bonus. At a random point after a reel spin the game appears to pause. Then a glowing orb will appear from the right side of the screen. this is the sign that has indicated the start of the "Glinda the Good Witch" bonus. Glinda will turn anywhere from one to all 5 reels wild with all resulting pays being awarded. Now the most I witnessed turn wild was 3 reels. Reel 2, 3, and 5.

One the the interesting things I noticed was when you win a large credit amount, a bubble appears over the reels that says "Big Win" and displays the credit amount won. Its seems to me as just a cheap plow to attract other players from near by machines.

The next bonus is a pick a square bonus. When 3 Emerald City Bonus squares appear on line 1, 3, and 5, your are prompted to pick one of the squares. Your choices are either a random credit amount, "Flying Monkey Bonus", or the Road To The Emerald City Bonus.

The "Flying Monkey Bonus" is where a random amount of the Wicked Witches henchman the flying monkeys will land on the play screen and change icons to wild symbols and those spaces will remain as wild for the duration of your 8 awarded free spins. This bonus can also be accessed if the Flying Monkey Wild symbol appears at anytime in the third reel of regular game play. For the few times I was in the FMB it didn't pay very well. The wild symbols lined up to very little but I did see others hit big with wilds matching up 5 Dorthy's.

The final bonus is the "Road To The Emerald City" Bonus. A screen of green emeralds appear and you are prompted to select an emerald. You will receive either a bonus amount, a card representing one of the Characters, or Go to the Emerald City card.

Your goal is to collect as many of the Character Cards as possible. When a Character card is selected, you are taken to the characters homeland where you are prompted to chose one of two new emeralds, one will reveal a credit amount and one will have the character. After which you are returned to your original emerald field to continue selecting emeralds.

Once you find the Go to the Emerald City icon, your are taken down the Yellow Brick Road with any characters you may have found. You are met at the the gates and instructed to select other icon. It could be another character or you might be instructed to enter to meet the Wizard .

The wonderful thing about collecting your friends, is at the end of the bonus you are instructed to look at the top box of the machine where the friends you have collected are now highlight icons with spinning reels. Dorthy award the highest possible credit amount at a possible 1500 credits, while the lion and the tin man offer the lowest possible amounts of 100 credits.

This game is much more than just slot machine as with many of the new machines, the chairs are more intense then the game. With vibrating seats and a stereo system that is bound to make you deaf. I did find a sound button in the bottom left corner of the screen that when place all the way down or on 1 bar its much less intense and doesn't ruin the effect of the new chair system.

I really enjoyed this game. I was able to play for quite a while on my initial buy in. Another person in my gaming party that day, played for quite a while and went to the bonus rounds quite frequently and reported that they were having a great time playing it also.

Pluses +++

High hit frequency
Glinda wild bonus can cause high pays

Negatives ---


Pick an emerald bonus. Is it just me or just like Jackpot Party, I always pick the pooper way to early in the game.
Sound is great but can be very loud and annoying after a while

Happy Gaming,
J

WMS Starts a new game room……..

No trips recently but I did get a great email the other day.

WMS Gaming has started a new website called “The Game Room,” Inside this virtual casino are box tops of WMS latest game release either about to hit casino floor or just released.

Currently featured as of April 23, 2008 are Lucky Meerkats, a second edition to the popular Lucky Lemmings game, Wizard of Oz, Press Your Luck, and few others.

How it Works….

When you enter the “Game Room” you can use you mouse/curser to scan over one of the box top games to select a game.

Once you have selected a game you are taken to a new window which features a short video presentation about the selected game, the video explains features of the game and shows pay lines and bonus features.

Also each game features an interactive game with characters from the game. This is my only complaint, if they took the time to create these interactive games; I wish they would have just posted an online version of the game or at lease a version of the bonus rounds.

All and all this is a great site and I hope they update it with new games in the future.

Check it out Here

Happy Gaming
J

Trying to Stay Online. A Few updates

I have decided that if every blog you write is apologizing for how long its been since you blogged, you might have a problem.

My gaming has been very limited for about the last 8 months. My wife and I are expecting our first child in April. :)

I have had a few trips under my belt but nothing huge to report. I went to Spirit Mountain Casino in Oregon in November. Not much new but the place just keeps getting bigger and bigger every time I visit.

Went to Blackhawk in January and had a great time. I played a lot of new games and came home a winner. Found the new Monopoly Money Grab and did really well.

I played the new community Press Your Luck game, not so happy. I’m not a fan of these community games using older games as the base system and only bonus events are themed to the namesake...........

I Did find the new The Game of Life machine that is actually themed to the board game. Didn’t get into the bonus round but at least there trying.

And last but not least, the new Deal or No Deal game. I have figured out I could never actually go on the show. You sit at home and yell at people for taking small offers or not taking huge offers thinking you would do so much better than them. I got into the bonus round on one of my first spins and my first offer was something like 1400 credits. It’s hard as heck when the money is real. The lady beside me was betting full credits and her first offer was 20,000 credits. That’s $200.00 on a penny machine, she took the offer and I didn’t blame her.

Well that’s it for now. I not sure with the little one coming how much I might be able to blog but I'll do what I can.

Thanks for visiting and Happy gaming,
JB

Are IPOD's Allowed While Playing a Slot Machine?

I like to take notes while at the casino's so I can refer back to them when I writing a new blog or a slot machine review. Seems I always forget little details about the machines if I winning or mostly losing, other than how the game payed. So Ive been wondering about using my IPOD as a voice recording device while sitting at a slot machine to take notes.

I decided to call a couple casino's and see what kind of response I would get. Now I may not have provided enough information to the casino employees but I didn't want to scare them off.

My question was "Are you allowed to use an IPOD's while playing a Slot Machine?" I choose to not say anything about a recording device or recorder connected to an ipod because of the scare factor. You say recording device and I'm sure what answer I might get. Also most of the voice recorders for an IPOD are so small with no external wires that most people wouldn't notice, except it would just look like I was talking to myself. I asked direct for the security desk as this is where I felt was best to handle the question.

My first call was to the Isle of Capri Casino in Blackhawk Colorado. The agent said that IPOD were defiantly allowed while at a machine.

So my first call seemed to have been a success, a basic answer with no real question. Now some might think this is just silly because if you watch poker on TV, they all have IPOD's but my concern was the question of technology. It hasn't been that long since you would be yelled at by drink attendants for using you cell phones at the machines. (I know some still do but not as much as they used too)

My second call was to Spirit Mountain Casino in Grande Ronde Oregon, Ill be visiting in a few weeks.

The security agent was a little questioning, more of himself then me, but said that they were allowed. He also said that the only thing not allowed was photography on the gaming floor.

Second call a success. More so in the fact that it also clears up the question of cell phones and cameras.

I end with that call. Not the full investigative report with multiple sources some may like but I was 2 for 2, why mess with the odds.

My best guess is that IPOD's are allowed in most US situation, internationally is a whole other ball game.

Good Luck and Happy Gaming,
J