A few notes from my Christmas trip to Vegas. Everything I play is
quarters.
ORLEANS: The FPDW near the ice cream shop are fine; I'm pretty sure
they're as fast as they've ever been. The slant tops near the Club
booth are slow enough to be a bit annoying, but still playable for an
occasional player like myself. Room was great as always. Had a bit of
trouble getting the in-room movies -- remote didn't work quite right,
then the replacement remote they sent up didn't work at all, but
eventually it worked out. They supposedly had internet connection
(WebTV) for $5, but I couldn't get that to work at all, & the front
desk wasn't any help.
CAESARS: All the machines that were supposed to be 3- or 5-play FPJB,
around Cleopatra's Barge & the main entrance, were blue screens
with "Out of Order" or something on them when we visited on Dec 26.
We did find a couple of 50-plays with FPJB that we could use for 3-
play or whatever.
MAIN STREET STATION: Couldn't find any slant-top FPDW, but did find
the row of multi-denom uprights against the wall near valet parking.
On *both* ends of this row were FPDW machines, two or three next to
each other (though the one closest to the door had a broken bill
acceptor).
PLAZA: Found a couple FPDW side-by-side at the Keno bar, one with
4700 royal. 2 or 3 more nearby, and a couple near the snack bar.
LAS VEGAS CLUB: Many gamemakers with FPJW in hallway connecting old
casino to new.
EL CORTEZ: Never did find any 7/10/80 DB near Roberta's Cafe as
mentioned in Top40. There are many FPJW, but some don't work with
credits at all, some are slow, some give only 1/3 the usual cash
back. The gamemakers near the ice cream place were the best I found,
& those were still pretty slow. Ended up playing an hour or two of
NSUD 3-play near Roberta's.
Stayed at El Cortez since they offered free room, which was hard to
get otherwise on weekend after xmas, & I was curious, having never
stayed there. Room was passable I guess, but I'll avoid in the
future. It had look & feel of cheap motel, with few TV channels, many
in Spanish. It was one of the rooms on top of the parking garage.
Maybe the real rooms are better?
Results: playing mostly quarter FPDW, with a little FPJB 3-play,
didn't hit anything, got down $1100 in two days, bottomed at >$1200
during 3rd & 4th days. Stopped by Palms on the way to airport with an
hour to go & played 3-play NSUD in attempt to increase chances of a
big hit to make my results less embarrasing. Within about 30 minutes
I guess, hit Royal, my first in years, so left with $200 loss, having
stayed 4 free nights (2 Orleans & 2 El Cortez) & much free food. A
Christmas miracle! Have faith, everyone.
Stuart (RandomStu)
sresnick2@attbi.com
http://home.attbi.com/~sresnick2/mypage.htm