Vegas. WMS Iron Man. Slot Machine.

[Falconeer]

What is the game like? What do you do?

[01101010]

What is the game like? What do you do?

Put money in. Press button. Watch pretty lights. Get some dingratz. Repeat.


I assume

[Teleku]

Yay, rigged money games. Let's celebrate.

This machine looks like fun.  If it pays out ~90% like many machines in LV, then it's not so terrible for entertainment.  

Slot machines in Las Vegas are required by law to payout 75% of the money that goes into them, actual payout in Las Vegas is approximately 95%.

I am the 5 percent apparently.  

And yes, can you please describe what you do with the game schild?  With your excitement, I'm assuming it's more than hitting a button and then seeing if you managed to get some sort of crazy diagonal match up where you have no idea why you won, like most of the video slot machines I've seen in the past.

[Falconeer]

What is the game like? What do you do?

Put money in. Press button. Watch pretty lights. Get some dingratz. Repeat.


I assume

Well I am trying to figure out what "good design" means in this context, but I am having no luck.

[Merusk]

It's a slot machine, all it can really mean is it triggers the right buttons in people predisposed to liking gambling of this sort.

[schild]

The difference between Iron Man and other slot machines, as best I can describe, is the difference between Diablo 3 and Fate.

The people who made Iron Man knew how to make it FEEL right.

It isn't more than pressing a button, but really, what is in most games? This is the best implementation of "pressing a button." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Velorath]

Insert five dollars and press a button isn't the best implementation of anything. I realize there aren't a lot of games coming out at the moment but I can't believe we're on page 2 of a thread about a fucking slot machine.

[Lucas]

Yep, we should move the discussion to Blackjack: I love Blackjack 

[Rendakor]

Blackjack is too hardcore. Iron Man Slots are going to do really well, focusing on the casual market.

[Strazos]

I'll be keeping my craps, but wouldn't be opposed to dropping a few bucks in this to check it out.

[Viin]

Craps is my favorite game, but it can be really hard to find a table that isn't in the dumps.

[schild]

Insert five dollars and press a button isn't the best implementation of anything. I realize there aren't a lot of games coming out at the moment but I can't believe we're on page 2 of a thread about a fucking slot machine.

 

[Strazos]

Craps is my favorite game, but it can be really hard to find a table that isn't in the dumps.

wat? Can't you just go to a respectable casino?

[Paelos]

The problem with craps at a respectable Casino is they seem to love putting $25 minimums on the table. That pretty much puts me out. I'm not going to be laying a $25 pass with 3x odds and have $100 out on a roll. No thanks.

[Merusk]

When you think about it, though, it makes sense for them to do that. Vegas has to become a high-roller destination due to competition from states that have legalized casino gambling and indian casinos. If I get the same action in a 10 minute to one hour drive, why go to Vegas?

[Phildo]

Because it's Vegas and not Arundel Mills, MD?

[Paelos]

When you think about it, though, it makes sense for them to do that. Vegas has to become a high-roller destination due to competition from states that have legalized casino gambling and indian casinos. If I get the same action in a 10 minute to one hour drive, why go to Vegas?

But here's the problem, those $25 tables are empty at 2PM on a Saturday. They would have full tables with people like me if they'd lower the limit to $10. But they won't because they are trying to dissuade my type of player.

Also, don't assume that casinos are making the right choices. Caesar's Entertainment filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of the year.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102535714

From a business perspective, casinos have been very stupid lately. They got caught in a bad Chinese crackdown, and they've run off a lot of smaller time players that make up a large percentage of the their book. The tables limits are part of that. I haven't been in years because I know I can't get a limit I can play, and I know there's closer options with very low limits nearer to me.

[WayAbvPar]

That is why I stay at the nice hotels with good poker rooms, but do my dis-advantage gambling at shitholes.

[Viin]

Craps is my favorite game, but it can be really hard to find a table that isn't in the dumps.

wat? Can't you just go to a respectable casino?

Sorry, by dumps I meant no one is winning (except the house). Plenty of tables around, but either no one is at them (empty) which makes for boring craps, or there's a few people who've never played before losing money on each roll. Sometimes you find a packed table that is having fun, but it can be hard to squeeze in there.

[Merusk]

When you think about it, though, it makes sense for them to do that. Vegas has to become a high-roller destination due to competition from states that have legalized casino gambling and indian casinos. If I get the same action in a 10 minute to one hour drive, why go to Vegas?

But here's the problem, those $25 tables are empty at 2PM on a Saturday. They would have full tables with people like me if they'd lower the limit to $10. But they won't because they are trying to dissuade my type of player.

Also, don't assume that casinos are making the right choices. Caesar's Entertainment filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of the year.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102535714

From a business perspective, casinos have been very stupid lately. They got caught in a bad Chinese crackdown, and they've run off a lot of smaller time players that make up a large percentage of the their book. The tables limits are part of that. I haven't been in years because I know I can't get a limit I can play, and I know there's closer options with very low limits nearer to me.

It looks like Caesar's filed to bluff some bad positions and create a winning and a losing Caesar's.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/caesars-unit-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy-1421306807
http://www.wsj.com/articles/caesars-wins-fight-over-venue-for-casino-unit-in-bankruptcy-1422463133

You're right, though, the choices they're making aren't good ones but they're about the only ones left.  Flight + hotel + gambling money vs. gas/ bus faire to the local casino is an easy choice for frequent gamblers.  Yeah, you'll make a Vegas trip once in a while but not as often. I work with 4 guys who used to be once-a-year Vegas goers for Poker/ Blackjack. They don't make those trips anymore, they just go to Indiana or the casino downtown. They are the ones who cited the above costs.

Because it's Vegas and not Arundel Mills, MD?

If you live in Baltimore that trip to Arundel is a lot more manageable than buying a trip to Vegas. 

[Strazos]

The problem with craps at a respectable Casino is they seem to love putting $25 minimums on the table. That pretty much puts me out. I'm not going to be laying a $25 pass with 3x odds and have $100 out on a roll. No thanks.

This is true, but I've seen early evening tables for $10 or $15 at Caeser's in Vegas. Then again, I play with the mentality that it's an extremely expensive night out and intend to lose significant money, so it's a bonus when I don't - for instance, my last trip to Vegas I pretty much broke even between the lodging, the craps table, the spa, and everything else we did. I may have even been able to pay for my car rental, which was not cheap since it was a one-way rental that began two weeks prior in Portland, OR.

At least for me, I've found that I tend to actually do better on those $25 tables when I can stomach it - that's $25 on the pass line, buying the 10 for $26, and usually playing 5 through 9. If the point is not a 4, I'm probably playing odds as well (though generally not max on 6/8, and practically never on 4) - I tend to be able to take better advantage of upswings this way.

What I find to be particularly obnoxious is when there's folks on a somewhat-cold table, it's not full...and they raise the minimums. In those cases I will normally walk.

[kaid]

They give you a ticket that you can feed into a casino ATM for cash.

This.

Most of the ones that dispense coins tend to be the really low money slots like the nickel or dime slots.

[schild]

15 years ago, when I was in Vegas, I won $60 on nickel slots.

It was a nightmare.

Funny for literally the first 3 seconds.

[WayAbvPar]

About 10 years ago I won so many quarters from a Jackpot Party machine at the Venetian that I had to sit there like a dumbass for 20 minutes while an attendant came and re-filled the hopper (it was like $300 in quarters). Thankfully it was a slow time so the cocktail waitress kept me company every 5 minutes or so 

Now I wouldn't piss on the Venetian if it was on fire because of their owner/CEO and his bullshit crusade against online poker. What a fucking hypocritical shitstain.

[Samwise]

15 years ago, when I was in Vegas, I won $60 on nickel slots.

It was a nightmare.

Funny for literally the first 3 seconds.

I don't think $60 is enough to entice me to carry away and change 1200 nickels.  I'd have just fled the scene of the crime.

[Paelos]

I'd take the nickels. It's $60 in 15 minutes. Plus free drinks. Good hourly rate there.

[Fordel]

That's like the only appeal of a slot machine in my mind. The machine vomiting coins all over you so you can swim around in them like Scrooge McDuck.

[Kitsune]

None of the machines in the strip casinos deal in coins anymore.  Some of the off-strip places still do; the D over in the Fremont area has a section of coin machines on the second floor.

When it comes to table games, I prefer three-card poker.  It has a decently low house advantage, and while you can squeeze more advantage out of playing perfect blackjack hands, having to remember the spreadsheets for what the optimum play is for any given setup of blackjack is entirely too much like work for me when I'm trying to relax.  In three-card poker you need to remember just two things: 1. Never take the side bet.  2. Raise on a hand of Q/6/4 or better, otherwise fold.  I have yet to have had enough free casino liquor to lose my grip on those two rules.

[schild]

In three-card poker you need to remember just two things: 1. Never take the side bet.  2. Raise on a hand of Q/6/4 or better, otherwise fold.  I have yet to have had enough free casino liquor to lose my grip on those two rules.

This is a game I don't fully understand - in theory or practice. Its strikes me as flipping a coin, and eventually raising when the odds have to swing from head to tails and what have you. I mean, I guess I can understand a casino offering it because the average person is genuinely stupid, but as someone who is pretty logic-based - if I had a casino, it would seem like a waste.

[KallDrexx]

2nd to last time I was at a casino I won $200 playing Casino War.  Now that's coin flipping

[Kitsune]

In three-card poker you need to remember just two things: 1. Never take the side bet.  2. Raise on a hand of Q/6/4 or better, otherwise fold.  I have yet to have had enough free casino liquor to lose my grip on those two rules.

This is a game I don't fully understand - in theory or practice. Its strikes me as flipping a coin, and eventually raising when the odds have to swing from head to tails and what have you. I mean, I guess I can understand a casino offering it because the average person is genuinely stupid, but as someone who is pretty logic-based - if I had a casino, it would seem like a waste.

If you want a card game that's essentially just flipping a coin, baccarat is a better example.  A better analogy for three card poker is both you and the dealer rolling a die, with you raising if your die comes up 6 or if you think the dealer will roll a lower number.  The win conditions for three card poker are either getting a strong hand or beating the dealer's hand.  If you wind up with something like three of a kind or a flush there's a bonus payout regardless of the dealer's hand, sort of like the blackjack bonus for getting dealt a blackjack.  If you don't get that good of a hand you're betting on whether it's good enough to beat the dealer, which is where the 'raise on Q/6/4' part comes from.

[Nonentity]

My go to is Kitty Glitter, because it always seems to be in the cheap casinos I stay at.



Also, Kitty Glitter. C'mon.

[Sophismata]

In three-card poker you need to remember just two things: 1. Never take the side bet.  2. Raise on a hand of Q/6/4 or better, otherwise fold.  I have yet to have had enough free casino liquor to lose my grip on those two rules.

This is a game I don't fully understand - in theory or practice. Its strikes me as flipping a coin, and eventually raising when the odds have to swing from head to tails and what have you. I mean, I guess I can understand a casino offering it because the average person is genuinely stupid, but as someone who is pretty logic-based - if I had a casino, it would seem like a waste.

If you want a card game that's essentially just flipping a coin, baccarat is a better example.  A better analogy for three card poker is both you and the dealer rolling a die, with you raising if your die comes up 6 or if you think the dealer will roll a lower number.  The win conditions for three card poker are either getting a strong hand or beating the dealer's hand.  If you wind up with something like three of a kind or a flush there's a bonus payout regardless of the dealer's hand, sort of like the blackjack bonus for getting dealt a blackjack.  If you don't get that good of a hand you're betting on whether it's good enough to beat the dealer, which is where the 'raise on Q/6/4' part comes from.

3 card was one of the most boring games to deal. I'd put it below Casino War because the people playing War were usually chatty socialites and fun to interact with. Not a bad game for the player, though, I suppose.

Just... wanted to get that off my chest.

(Most fun games as dealer: craps -> roulette -> four card poker -> variety of shit -> baccarat -> stud poker -> 3 card poker -> the fucking wheel)

[Kitsune]

In three-card poker you need to remember just two things: 1. Never take the side bet.  2. Raise on a hand of Q/6/4 or better, otherwise fold.  I have yet to have had enough free casino liquor to lose my grip on those two rules.

This is a game I don't fully understand - in theory or practice. Its strikes me as flipping a coin, and eventually raising when the odds have to swing from head to tails and what have you. I mean, I guess I can understand a casino offering it because the average person is genuinely stupid, but as someone who is pretty logic-based - if I had a casino, it would seem like a waste.

If you want a card game that's essentially just flipping a coin, baccarat is a better example.  A better analogy for three card poker is both you and the dealer rolling a die, with you raising if your die comes up 6 or if you think the dealer will roll a lower number.  The win conditions for three card poker are either getting a strong hand or beating the dealer's hand.  If you wind up with something like three of a kind or a flush there's a bonus payout regardless of the dealer's hand, sort of like the blackjack bonus for getting dealt a blackjack.  If you don't get that good of a hand you're betting on whether it's good enough to beat the dealer, which is where the 'raise on Q/6/4' part comes from.

3 card was one of the most boring games to deal. I'd put it below Casino War because the people playing War were usually chatty socialites and fun to interact with. Not a bad game for the player, though, I suppose.

Just... wanted to get that off my chest.

(Most fun games as dealer: craps -> roulette -> four card poker -> variety of shit -> baccarat -> stud poker -> 3 card poker -> the fucking wheel)

Oh god, that fucking wheel.  Other than keno that's the most retarded game ever.  Treasure Island had one of those wheel games set up at an automated table.  I've never understood why people play the digital versions of table games when they could play the real thing like five feet away, but whatever.  Anyways, two guys were at the table, and one of them was flipping out while it took his money.  Cursing, hitting the table, clearly having a bad time of it.  The guy next to him was probably at least buzzed, because he was just chilling there with a drink betting seemingly at random as far as I could tell and just didn't seem to give a fuck whether he was winning or losing.  In neither case did either of them look to be having any sort of good time.

[Morat20]

Last time I was in Vegas I got to watch my father win about 400 bucks at video poker while making absolutely every wrong move. (He'd toss away a winning hand, but get dealt cards that gave him a BETTER winning hand. He basically flipped statistics the bird for about 45 minutes).

Admittedly my dad was a wee bit drunk at the time. One of the few times I've seen him that way. The waitress apparently thought it was the funniest damn thing she'd seen that day, a cheerfully drunk man somehow winning as his kids tried desperately to keep him from tossing away winning hands.