I wanted to take a moment to elaborate on this because there is nothing wrong with getting paid for doing work - this is still America; but since there is significant talk of the M progressives brought up by a source who could have a financial stake in doing so that should be disclosed or this board is then being used as a secretive advertising base to promote the M progressives.
I am relatively new to Video Poker and I can tell you what I think is missing/attractive to me - multi-line progressives and prizes.
1) multi-line progressives give a sense of winning a jackpot on a more regular basis which adds excitement and attrats one to play the game or keep playing the game when you experience it. I love to play a 3 way progressive JOB machine because I can get a bit of a "bonus" for hitting a 4 of a kind. The machine doesn't lock when this happens but it does pause and it feels like you realy won something, eventhough it is usually up to an extra $5.
2) prizes are overlooked instead of or in addition to cash. Marketing studies have shown that more people (perhaps mainly the plopper category?) would play for a trip to Hawaii than for the equivalent cash prize. This is because people are visual and can see themselves going to hawaii snorkelling with turtles and all of the half dressed models around them on the beach, etc. vs. cash which eventhough it can be anything including a trip it will likely just disappear into a bank account for not very exciting things like rent, utilities, insurance. Prizes sell a dream, money sells reality. I think this is a not very attractive example, but the "bonus" for a natural 4 of a kind at a local place is a free 6-pack of pepsi or budweiser. I think a choice of multiple types of bonus prizes could add interest ($5 or other denomination of match play/ace at blackjack, free play bonus at the machine, 241 food deals or free sandwich (how many people will get fries and drink also which adds to the casino's margins?, there are a lot of low cost prizes that would have real value to players as a bonus for a 4 of a kind level hit and higher. The value of the prizes would have to be calculated into the return, but the casino purchasing in bulk would (should) have a cost basis far lower than what people would value the prize at giving a differential return for casino/player.
Finally, I heard that there are/were games like dueces wild except where you pick the card you want to be wild. This also sounds like a good tweek to exploit because I recall some people picking 3s on a JOB type paytable. However, mixed with the prize formula getting 4 of a kind wilds could yield different prizes depending on the wild chosen giving incentives to pick 3s?
This is all general suggestions as I have read many specific examples regarding games I have never seen - hope these ideas help as I would like to see games put on the casino floors that have an attractive component instead of the trend to simply replace older machines with high-tech machines that have all of the same games with typically tighter paytables (probably to off-set the higher acquisition costs of the new machines).
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--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Bartop" <bobbartop@...> wrote:
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "pumsparky" <dianalnagy@> wrote:
>
> Just out of curiosity, are you now a consultant for M? Is this a paying gig? It just seems to me that you are devoting your life to this cause.
>
And would that be a bad thing?
They ought to plaster his name and face on the machines, and build a statue of him in front of the place. They should rename it the Frank Resort. Honest to goodness, this is a really positive thing he is doing for the video poker world. It doesn't matter if this is a paying gig for him, it SHOULD be a paying gig for him. If these machines are successful, he's going to need to do more than hang out at the south end of town playing video poker and eating gourmet food all day long. He's going to need to do some traveling, some selling. He's going to need a new suit. If not him, then SOMEBODY has to do it.
In my opinion he is the perfect spokesman, and SALESMAN, for progressive video poker. He's even got a book for cryin outloud. And progressive video poker is what we need to guarantee a position in the future. He's got the right personality for the job. You wouldn't want ME to do it, because I'm an a-hole and I couldn't sell $10 bills for $9.