PG's tour diary/blog - beware boring stuff

I'm sitting taking five minutes between two oversized slot machines, and it's fascinating to see the draw they have on people. They're just dollar slots, but the amount of trade they see is amazing. Admittedly nobody pulls up a chair and sits at them for an hour as with regular sized machines...though I was tempted to do so for a laugh, I'm not convinced that they have the same payout profile - I'd expect them to be colder machines generally, but bigger payers when they do.

Sort of like strippers - much harder to get into bed, but much more fun once you do.

I imagine

Play the nickel slots.  You still get complimentary cocktails.

Getting pissed for .65 cents is what Vegas is all about, isn't it?  (hiccup)

Anyway, back to the slots.

No....the large entertaining devices.

Sitting here watching them makes me wonder if there isn't a trick being missed here. In the old days, Vegas was awash with hundreds of tonnes of coins, all being carried around in large plastic cups and calling attention to big wins with a pounding "chunka" noise that seems to continue far longer than the number of coins actually being dispensed. However this was obviously a very expensive and labour intensive way of doing things, so coins got replaced by printed bar coded tickets and redemption machines. All very reliable, convenient and customers don't get their hands filthy. But, there's clearly an acknowlegement that part of the casino experience is the noise - a cheer from the craps table, a collective groan from blackjack, and the sounds of winning slots sending the subliminal message that there's money to be made here if you're sitting in the right seat. That acknowledgement comes in the form of a recorded coin sound as your ticket is printed with your winnings, or your cut loss.

So I'm thinking - given how little winnings these two pay, couldn't they pay out in silver dollars (which all casinos have commemoratively minted since the US government still can't see that needing a banknote to buy a newspaper is utterly ridiculous)? The machines are huge, let the payout format be huge too.

There are currently people queueing to play both machines, and I haven't seen anyone get a bigger win than 10 credits in 15 minutes. What is slightly surprising is I'd expect to see more "how close was that" moments, where the first three reels show jackpot and the fourth snatches it away.

[QUOTE]

[b]Penetration_Guru wrote: [/b]

What do Celts know of sport?

 



Back to your drinking, heathen...

[/QUOTE]
Celt? I'm a Huguenot. We're an oppressed people. Try finding a box to tick on the census form if you're one of my people.

I'm Irish when I'm in the US though: begorrah, bejabbers, and all that aul crap. Easier to pick up drunk chicks in bars that way ;)

The alternative drinking method is the frozen cocktail in odd shaped containers - I've just finished a delicious (and surprisingly alcoholic) slush puppie type beverage that was served in a plastic cowboy boot. You can't beat that for tackiness - there are also "yard of ale" shaped containers that come with neckstraps to assist those who have drunk so much that they have forgotten how to operate an opposable thumb.

Is there a contract out on Erik from Safelite yet?

The irritating bastard - it's a good thing we don't have anything like that in the UK, otherwise there'd be some twat of a Brummie called Gavin or something...

One of the highlights of the week, and a key factor in being here this particular week, was that for the first time a band would be playing that I actually wanted to see - Motorhead.

So, one of the first things I did when I got here was get a ticket - which just got refunded as Lemmy is apparently sick.

The option of seeing just the three support bands was open, but I'm not paying full price for half a show...and Nashville Pussy just aren't THAT good.

So, what can I get for 40 dollars in Vegas? Obviously I know the answer to this...

[QUOTE]

[b]Penetration_Guru wrote: [/b]

One of the highlights of the week, and a key factor in being here this particular week, was that for the first time a band would be playing that I actually wanted to see - Motorhead.





So, one of the first things I did when I got here was get a ticket - which just got refunded as Lemmy is apparently sick.



The option of seeing just the three support bands was open, but I'm not paying full price for half a show...and Nashville Pussy just aren't THAT good.



[b]So, what can I get for 40 dollars in Vegas? Obviously I know the answer to this...[/b]

[/QUOTE]

A steak at Harrah's?




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I had no room for steak, having spent an hour or so that afternoon with my snout buried deep in Mandalay Bay's buffet trough.

It was all I could do to roll my corpulent overfed belly back to a suitable bar for the rest of the evening. No idea what time I crawled into bed, but did manage to make it up in time to pack, chek out, and find the cheapest gas with which to fill up before returning the car.

So, now I sit here at the airport with a couple of hours to kill - have just finished my lunch which to my shame was something called a "Triple Whopper" - now my excuse is that I haven't eaten in 20 hours and given how bad Delta's food was on the way out it'll be another 16 before I get the chance (quick change at Minneapolis, so no opportunity there), but that can't be a sufficiently popular situation to justify an entire menu item??? Which means that the US food industry is continuing its policy of encouraging obesity - as also evidenced by the takeaway pizza menu that was pushed under my (ninth floor) door last night, offerring me 2 16" pizzas for 20 dollars.

What a country, you have to love it. Even if the wifi coverage is atrocious, people still wear mobile phones in a holster on their hip, and Ed Hardy designs are sold in Walmart.

[b]Penetration_Guru wrote: [/b]

I had no room for steak, having spent an hour or so that afternoon with my snout buried deep in Mandalay Bay's buffet trough.

 



It was all I could do to roll my corpulent overfed belly back to a suitable bar for the rest of the evening. No idea what time I crawled into bed, but did manage to make it up in time to pack, chek out, and find the cheapest gas with which to fill up before returning the car.



So, now I sit here at the airport with a couple of hours to kill - have just finished my lunch which to my shame was something called a "Triple Whopper" - now my excuse is that I haven't eaten in 20 hours and given how bad Delta's food was on the way out it'll be another 16 before I get the chance (quick change at Minneapolis, so no opportunity there), but that can't be a sufficiently popular situation to justify an entire menu item??? Which means that the US food industry is continuing its policy of encouraging obesity - as also evidenced by the takeaway pizza menu that was pushed under my (ninth floor) door last night, offerring me 2 16" pizzas for 20 dollars.



[b]What a country, you have to love it.[/b] Even if the wifi coverage is atrocious, people still wear mobile phones in a holster on their hip, and Ed Hardy designs are sold in Walmart.

[/QUOTE]

Indeed, for all its faults, it's an amazing place and amazing people.

Absolutely - I know I've been ceritical of specifics, but in general it's great