"This is the Best Game Ever!"

     One disadvantage we Southern California gamblers have is we don’t get to see the new games as soon as our friends in Vegas. Unless somebody puts a game clip up on YouTube, that is. I had just read a press release from Scientific Games earlier today that promised the five reel, 40 line, Friends Slot from Bally was coming soon. But guess what— It’s already here! Or at least it’s already in Las Vegas at the Aria and the Venetian Casinos.

     I took a quick look on YouTube before writing this entry, thinking if I should embed the Friend’s demo from Bally in my write-up and found there was no need. One of YouTube’s frequent posters, dvandentop, has already posted two (maybe more) videos shot at Aria on May 18. One of his films shows the Thanksgiving Bonus (10 spins, everything tripled). The other features the Wedding Bonus (10 spins with locked wild symbols). A second film by dianaevoni of the Wedding Bonus was also posted on YouTube May 20. There’s a third bonus the Party Bonus (11 games with walking wilds) that Slot Titan has posted. SDGuy1234 also has a film up already.

     The game has a Bamboozled Bonus, a pick feature with three near-area progressive jackpots. You might remember the episode from the Friends TV show (12th episode season 8) where Joey auditions to be the host of a game show by that name. It sounds just like a slot game. To play Joey’s game you spin the “Wheel of Mayham “to go up the “Ladder of Chance.” Here’s a link to a five minute clip you can watch of “the best game ever!”

     Three full stacks of Wheel Bonus symbols on reels two, three, and four trigger the Friends Wheel Bonus. Your “friends” Ross, Joey, Rachel, and Phoebe — peaking from behind the apartment door — watch while you spin the interactive U-Spin Wheel to cheer you on.

     The two game configuration of the cabinet on the casino floor allows players to enjoy the experience solo or to play with a BBF. Almost everything is more fun if you do it with a friend! You can even sing along to the theme song “I’ll Be There For You” while you watch clips from the show if you want. The game looks like it could be fun - and the early films I’ve watched make it look like it could pay fairly well — but then Slot Titan quickly blew through a Benjamin betting max on his try so maybe not. 

     You can’t always tell about a slot when they’re first played. I think the RNGs are not as random as we’re led to believe and may give us more wins in the first few weeks to get us hooked on a game.  They all look good when they’re new.  But it doesn’t last.  I can’t  tell after watching just five films. Ask me again about a game after its  been on the floor for a month. Willie Wonka is a good example of a game that couldn’t lose when it was new - and now seems it can’t win.

     Take a look at one of the Friends games posted on YouTube and see what you think. Hopefully there will be more films In the future to choose from soon.

Feline Tomfoolery or Casino Cat Burglary?

       When an 87-year old grandmother of thirteen from Antioch, IL, bet a quarter on a “Miss Kitty” slot machine at the Isle   of Capri Hotel Casino in Waterloo, Iowa, in 2011, she thought she’d hit the jackpot. Without warning, her screen  suddenly displayed the message: “The reels have rolled your way! Bonus Award -- $41,797,550.16.” 

       Pauline McKee and her daughter excitedly summoned casino employees to collect what they thought was a $41.8 million jackpot - only to be told their prize was $1.85. Game rules said the maximum award was $10,000 and a sign on the machine warned “Malfunction voids all pays.”

       The casino gave grandma McKee a $10 card to play while she waited for her millions, and they eventually comped rooms at the hotel for her relatives who were celebrating a family reunion with her at the casino. They requested a review by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, which sent the machine’s hardware and software to a laboratory for analysis. Testing concluded the machine had given an erroneous bonus message. "Too bad," the casino declared. "Malfunction voids all pays".

       Was this fair?  What do you think?  The machine clearly malfunctioned, but the casino was not without blame. The Isle of Capri Casino in Waterloo had been warned by Aristocrat Technologies the prior year that machines using that hardware were susceptible to displaying mistaken “legacy bonus” awards on the screen. A bulletin from Aristocrat had recommended, but not required, that casinos disable the feature to prevent an error — something the casino in Waterloo, Iowa, didn’t do.

       Mrs. McKee sued the Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. in 2012, but a district court judge dismissed the case the following October without it going to trial. This April on appeal the Supreme Court of Iowa upheld the earlier ruling, so a jury will not be able to decide if she was entitled to anything for her disappointing play.  You'd  think the casino would have at least given her the $10,000 maximum jackpot “Miss Kitty” pays, wouldn’t you? I don't think her family will be playing there again soon!

       If you are not familiar with the "Miss Kitty" slot, You can watch the You Tube film of Dianaevoni playing the game at the Venetian in Las Vegas last June here. Spoiler alert: Dianaevoni doesn’t even come close to  a $42 million pay!

Preview Before You Play

  Early each winter, after the manufacturers unveil their new machines for the coming year at the Las Vegas gaming convention, these innovative slots start finding their way into our favorite casinos. They all beckon to us with lights, and music, and promises of fun and fortune to be won. Don’t you wish you had enough entertainment money in your budget to play them all? 

  Better still, don’t you wish there was a way to view them all in action, to learn how they work and what they pay, to find your favorites - all without having to spend ANY money to do so? Well, there is.

  Most of the casinos I visit have around 2000 machines for me to choose from. Maybe two hundred or so of them each season are new games I have never played before. In the past I have spent far too much money trying out these unfamiliar games just to see how they work.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stayed too long with a tight, uncooperative, losing game just because I wanted to see what happens in the bonus feature.  With minor variations, the base games on a machine are all somewhat the same. We really play the base games so we can win a chance to play the bonus ones. (That’s not entirely true. We also play to win some money!) The bonus games are where you find the fun features, however - the clever gimmicks and surprises, the opportunities to win the big jackpots. It’s where you get your entertainment. 

  “How can you learn how a particular game works without spending money to play it?” you ask.  There are two ways you can do this. One way is to play vicariously by watching other people at the casino spinning the reels hoping to win. They probably won’t appreciate your watching over their shoulders, however, and will likely move to another game before very long.

     If voyeurism makes you uncomfortable, a better way to learn what these games have in store is by watching the films posted on YouTube by other players.  I have frequently seen the new releases on these blogs before I have seen the actual games in my Southern California tribal casinos. You can learn a lot from these films. Players like Casinomannj or DProxima have posted hundreds of winning games on their web sites. Sometimes they film their entire game to show how long it took to get the bonus. Sometimes they only film the bonus itself. Sometimes they edit their films to show only the winning bonus spins. You can sometimes tell they are hiding from casino security guards so they won’t be caught filming the games. Usually they are playing max bets so their jackpots will be as large as possible and exciting enough to attract many viewers. Besides seeing how large the wins can be, you can also see on their sites how many spins it takes to bring up the bonus, and how often or how infrequently those bonus spins hit. These players do a good job narrating and editing their films, and I would recommend their sites to anyone wanting to view what the casinos have to offer. You can search YouTube by the player’s name or by the name of the game you want to see. If you subscribe to your favorite player’s site, you can post a comment or ask a question as well.

     Here's a sample of Casinomannj:

  You might not want to spend a lot of time doing this. You’ll be anxious to play and try to duplicate their success yourself. After all, there’s no money to be won watching a game on YouTube.  Viewing these videos can be informative, however,  and you can get some idea of what to expect if you decide to play the game yourself. What you see watching someone else’s game will be more realistic than what you see playing free casino-type games on the internet sites or on computer casino software. Those games are set to pay off large amounts of pretend credits to encourage you to try them for real money. 

  The slot manufacturer WMS has a section on its web site with statistics on Today’s Active Gambler.  Watching it I learned that there are over 5,000 channels of slot films on YouTube that together total nearly 300,000 film clips. Some have a few thousand hits: some have over a hundred thousand. You won’t be alone in learning to play your favorite game by watching it on YouTube. Hopefully the experience will help you choose wisely and pick a game that is fun, and it may let you take home a little more money when you play for real.