In a message dated 11/13/08 3:22:16 PM US Mountain Standard Time,
vpdeuces@yahoo.com writes:
···
Pioneer Double Time jackpots are also suspended. I never really
understood how they worked, but there are signs all over the place.
I did use up my old comps by getting a comp slip. Didn't play
there. Now I'll have a reason for not getting my Round-Up.
*****
Double-time, double-time, double-time...let's all sing the double time song.
Let's get into the wayback machine with Sherman and Mr. Peabody...
In the 1990's when I was a Cowpoke (tiered card level) there were those
dedicated slot machine carousels in the Pioneer. They were islands of one-armed
bandits. I still can envision the one between the Watering Hole bar and the
main restrooms. A slot person was elevated on a platform and gave instant
service to anyone from their perch inside the carousel of dollar machines. Everyone
still had to buy-in with rolled coins or racks of dollar tokens in the
Pioneer.
When the double-time music started players could play with zeal. If I
remember correctly any paying hand would be doubled if hit in the short time frame.
I think the candles lit up on top of the machine, but a player could play-on
to try to get a better pay-off. When the music stopped, the attendant would
circle around inside the platform and pay the double times. VP was not on
these banks.
Then around the turn-of-the-century (or a year or two later) the Pioneer
upgraded their slot card system to an Acres branded one. The Pioneer has some
history with being the first Nevada casino that had a card reader style slot
club. The punch card style cards were notorius for mis-reading. I never met
Sharon, but she sure must have earned alot of my points, since I was greeted by
that name as much as mine.
The Acres style system allowed for some unique features. It was the first
one with the colored lights surrounding the card bezel. Yellow means no card,
red a improperly inserted card and green meant A-OK.
But the Pioneer expanded the Double-time promo to all machines including VP.
They could link various machines to go into double-time mode. I do think
they had 16 various groupings with unique subset names...like Stagecoach or
Gunfighter. These machines did not have to be near each other.
A certain amount of coin-in or a random time triggered a double-time period
for a certain grouping. The back and belly glass flashed signifying that you
were indeed in Double-time mode. You wanted to play quickly. One or two lines
in the paytable were eligible for a double pay-off.
But the catch was you had to keep your bezel solid green to be eligible for
this unique promotion. If you didn't start a new hand every 12 seconds or so,
your bezel would flash green, alas not eligible at that moment in time. Sure,
that is only 300 hands an hour but it still was a headache to play that
consistantly.
I guess the hustlers had a field day with the first few incarnations of this
promo. The average player had to keep remember to keep the machine loaded
with enough credits to get through the 12-15 hands they will get in double-time
mode. So a quarter player wanted at least $20 on the credit counter.
The Pioneer adjusted the promo to just slots after a couple of years. They
were down to just a few groupings when they gave up completely last month.
So much for singing the Double-Time song.
Bluestreak
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