I did a little casino hopping in Southern California this week, along
what I like to call the "San Diego Strip" (excluding Barona, which is
quite a bit further south from the others I visited). The first 5
casinos are within about a 20-30 minute drive, spaced about 5-15
minutes apart, which is nice. I'm supposed to be the casino monitor
for Pala and Harrahs, and I'm happy to volunteer for the others, but
I don't have a web page editor on this computer. For now, here's what
I found. Pardon me for the inexact comments; I did not bring a
notebook this time (bad casino monitoring on my part) and am typing
entirely from memory:
Pechanga - the index mentions several 9/6 JoB machines near the
Rewards Club, but I didn't see them. Besides, due to an apparent
expansion, there are now at least 2 Rewards Club booths, so the
descriptions would need to differentiate them or use some other point
of reference. The expansion made the place confusing the first I was
there; it's as if a mirrored copy of the casino was placed on the
opposite side of high-limit, complete with it's own Rewards Club and
cashier, so I got lost trying to find my way to the parking garage.
Anyway, I did find a bank of (8) (might be 10) 9/6/239 MG/MD $5 JoB
uprights between high-limit and the Italian restaurant, which btw has
pretty good lasagna but I had to wait over an hour for it; they
must've had to make it from scratch. Anyway, I have been able to find
only (1) $25 JoB bar-top in high-limit. Those are the only 9/6 JoB
machines I've personally seen, and I've been there 3 times in the
last few months. Also I was sent 4x$100 weekly free play for only
$5.4k coin-in in March, which was enough to entice me back a couple
times this month already.
Pauma - I didn't go there this trip, but I went once before and could
find nothing playable at $1 or above. I didn't even bother signing up
for a slot card, because the line was exceedingly long due to a
drawing.
Pala - Most of the playable games are in or near high-limit. The
index is correct but doesn't list the (2) $5 (3/5-play) NSU games.
I'm pretty sure the single-line $5/$25 machines offer NSU and 9/6 JoB
but I'll have to verify that next time. As far as $5 JW2, there are
(4) uprights and (3) slant-tops. There are only (2) $25 JW2 slan-
tops. The $1 progressive just outside high-limit is still there and
has NSU and 9/6 JoB. For $0.25 Wheel-of-Fortune fans, there are only
2 machines, located along the back wall of the non-smoking room. Like
Pechanga, points accrue at the rate of $2 coin-in per point, but are
redeemed at 500 points=$1, or 0.1%. Some machines show points (e.g.
25,000) while others show a dollar balance (e.g. $50.00). Their
brochure shows redemption as comps only, not cash, but I didn't
actually try to redeem my points for cash yet so I'm not 100% sure if
you can or not. When I asked once before I was told no cash back. I
received a mailer for 5x$100 for $90k coin-in in March. Only one
coupon may be reedemed in a 24-hr period. So you need to make at
least a 24-hour trip to the "San Diego Strip" to redeem 2 of them.
Harrah's Rincon - only playable games are in high-limit. As someone
mentioned, (1) $10 JoB slant-top was added in the last few months.
There are only (2) $5 slant-tops that I know of, and (2) $25 slant-
tops, one of which also offers the $100 denomination. For $0.25 WOF
fans, there is a bank of 4 near the front entrance. Rincon offers one
or two 5x and 7x points days per month to diamond and 7* members. I
received a nice mailer too, 4x$300 weekly slot vouchers for $10k coin-
in in March. You have to put the vouchers into a machine, but to my
surprise you can cash them without playing it all the way through.
Valley View - verified $8/point and 50 points=$1, 0.25% cashback as
freeplay only. There are (2) $1/$2/$5 3/5 play SAB slant-tops in high-
limit; these are the machines I played. I was going to play the (2)
$0.05/$0.10/$0.25 (100-play) SAB slant-tops, which are no longer
located in a tent but in an extra addition, but when I walked back
over there they were being shut down and reserved for someone else.
Not sure if 9/5 SDB is still available on the 100-plays. Also in high-
limit there are (9) $0.25/$0.50/$1/$2/$5 NSU/Bdlx/JoB slant-tops
along with (7) $1/$2/$5/$10/$25 NSU/Bdlx/Job slant-tops. This was my
first visit to the casino so we'll see what kind of mail I get.
Barona - this was a long trek south from Valley View, so I'm not sure
if I'll play there much. While Barona has a plentiful supply of NSU
and 9/6 JoB, the cashback is only 0.1%, so the only playable games
are the (4) $0.01-$0.25 JW2 (100-play) slant-tops located near the
stage. The 50-play was short-pay. They are doing the Mon-Thur
Mercedes giveaway this month, which supposedly requires no activation
of entries. I played past the 8pm drawing time, so I went to check at
the booth how many entries I had for the next days' drawing. I was
told that all of my entries were for the next day, so somehow my play
before 8pm did not get activated for that drawing. I think you might
in fact have to go to a kiosk and swipe your card to activate them.
Anway, I'll see if they entice me back with a good mailer.
Hope this is all useful.
JD