Smoking Bans at Casinos Across the Country

I have made quite a few comments on this site about Colorado non smoking laws and how it effects the casinos. Ive been interested to see how other states have been doing on this issue

I have found a new blog which covers most of the topics I like but from Atlantic City Casinos perspective. I emailed him to ask how the partial smoking ban was working in AC. This is the link to his site with a response.


http://www.thebadgambler.com/2008/08/bad-gambler-reader-mail-smoking-in-ac.html

Have a great day and Happy Gaming,
J

Trip Report July 29th 2008 Blackhawk, Colorado

Trip Report July 29th 2008 Blackhawk, Colorado

On Sunday I was finally able to go up the mountain for a nice evening of slot machines. This trip was sparked by 2 mail flyers, one from Mardi Gras Casino and one from Fitzgeralds Casino BH. Mardi Gras was a 2 day only $5 coupon which I thought was weird, until I received my mailer from Fitzgeralds announcing the grand opening of the new gaming area on July 28th and 29th, coincidently the same days my coupon was good for at MG. Either way I still took advantage of both.

I started my day at the Silver Hawk Saloon & Casino. This is a small casino in comparison to others in BH and Central City and for what its worth, the only reason I went was because the parking was so full for Bullwhackers Black Hawk, I was parked almost right outside of SH. At SH, they had only one floor of slot machines open. They used to have gaming on the second floor but that area has now closed. I found mainly older games including Risqué Business, The Munster’s, and Beverly Hillbillies.

I did sit and play the Beverly Hillbillies for a little bit. This was the version with Granny shooting the kangaroo thing bonus and Granny filling oil bucks and you get the highest amount in the bucket. Still an entertaining game but the bonuses seemed a little light on the payouts.
I left up from when I walked in the door but mostly would go back unless I was parked right outside the door again.

Next up was Bullwhackers Black Hawk. I walked in the main door from the parking lot and could barely get in the door. The line for the players club was blocking the doors. As far as machines go I saw Wizard of Oz, Monopoly, and some new 3 cent machines that I hadn’t see before on the main level. On the bottom floor there was Village People Party, Deal or No Deal Play It, the new Beverly Hillbillies game Cash or Crude version, and Gilligan’s Isle.

I played on each and won on VPP and GI. With VPP, I got into the twice. 1st time I got the pooper on the 1st pick but got the party saver, but again choice a pooper on my next pick. The second time I had a good run, finishing with 3 macho men and a party saver. On GI, I got into the bonus and selected all characters with the coconut spin getting the all character bonus award.

I continued my journey down the hill now stopping at the Fitzgeralds Black Hawk. The big draw was the grand opening of the new gaming area. It was very busy and with the new area they have also created a new player club, so the line for the PC was long and may people were confused on what line to be in.

The new area was very nice. Two floors of gaming with a nice rustic cabin decor (my opinion) Large TV's were in the corners mounted to the ceiling. It did feel a little cramped but that was do to all the traffic from the PC. The only new(er) game that I found was the Dean Martin Wild Party game. I’m not a fan of the reels on this game. If you haven’t seen it, it has 2 reels of 2 by 2 leading in to 3 reels of 4 symbols (totaling 60 pay lines) The pays can be huge but it was had to understand why some symbols match up and others didn’t. As far as the rest of Fitzgeralds went nothing that I had seen was changed. I wonder if they wont start shutting the other areas down for updates soon.

The Gilpin and the Canyon Casino's were uneventful. I did get to play the new Ebay community game at the Gilpin. Like many of the others you get a timer based on your game play that will allow you into a community bonus at random times. This one was different as that it is a free spin bonus on the large display board in front of the machines. All players are given the total result of the 10 free spins. It was more exciting than the Monopoly Big Event or Press Your Luck games as it was a more prolonged bonus but the base game just didn’t hook me enough to keep me sitting down.

On to The Lodge Casino. The newest machine I found here was the very large Wheel of Fortune community game. This thing was huge. I have no clue how the research and development team thought this one would be profitable. I’ve been to a lot of casinos that I feel this thing wouldn’t fit into. As for game play, for all lines and bonus option it was 60 credits a spin. Not bad for your average gambler but for the penny pincher, a little rich for my blood.

Last up, Mardi Gras Casino BH. There was a few new games but nothing that really stood out against the rest, I wont blame them though as I had already been to 6 casinos prior.

I did play Wild for Dolphins for the first time. This im assuming is a sister product to the Risqué Business slot machine as the bonus rounds are the same idea. With W4D you get into the bonus and select one of 4 dolphin performers. The your are taken to the performance take where 6 trainers are sitting at the tank. You select 3 trainers and they give your dolphin fish to perform a trick. You must reach a set amount to continue in the round.

I was very amused by the animation, I choose Juggling Joey. It was just funny how the game went from a stripping male or female dancer to a dolphin doing tricks. More family orientated theme for a slot machine? I will have to blog about an experience I had with the Risqué Business at another time......

Another trip in the books. Now for the likes, dislikes, and what’s new what’s missing.

Likes
1. New gaming area at Fitzgeralds Black Hawk. really nice design
2. No smoking. Still amazing to walk in and out of a casino not smelling of smoke. I love it
3. Just getting to go up to Blackhawk. Trips are getting less and less with the economy and gas prices.

Dislikes
1. Blackhawk on a Sunday afternoon. Im a morning gamer. Colorado currently is a 8am-2am gaming state. Getting here at 8 when the place first opens seems to be more fun for me. I can sit and play any machine without a wait for the first couple of hours.
2. Old Fitzgeralds Black Hawk. It was just such a contrast from the new gaming area to the old gaming area. I really hope they renovate the old side too.

New
1. Wheel of Fortune community game (The Lodge Casino)
2. EBAY (The Gilpin Casino)
3. 3 cent machines (Bullwhackers)

Missing
1. Top Gun. on my last trip every casino had atleast 2 machines but I didnt see one in any of the 7 I went to this time.
2. Wild Wilderness. One of my wifes favorites and it was no where to be found

That’s it for now. Next up will be a trip to Oregon in September. At least one stop into a casino is a must for any trip to OR.

Till next time, Happy Gaming
J

WMS Gaming Does It Again

Hey guys,

Just a quick update. I love that people are actually coming to this site so Im still trying to make it relevant and up-to-date. Keep coming back. I will hopefully have some more slot reviews in the next couple of weeks.

As for now. I just went to WMS Gamings website and found the have done it again. The have a really cool interactive view of 3 of there new games. Bruce Lee, Happy Days, and Bigger Bang Big Event.

On the main page for WMS Gaming select WMS Secret Head Quarters, (If your have your speakers on you may want to turn them down if you are in a quite location, like work) You are then guide through a 3 level world with each level representing one of the new games.

1st floor is Bigger Bang Big Event, 2nd floor is Bruce LEE, and 3rd floor is Happy Days.

On each floor has interactive views of the games and videos of slot play. Make sure to use you mouse to move around the room as there are Easter Eggs (hidden extras) in each room.

Im really excited to try the Bruce Lee game. It looks really fun.

The Happy Days game is one Im going to have to get my hands on before I make a snap judgement of it.

Well thats it for now. Please keep coming back to my site for update and drop me a line if you have any questions or comments.

Click Here for WMS Gaming's Site

Happy Gaming,
J

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