Went to Reno over the 4th of July weekend & continued my Nightmare on
Virginia Street. Went to Silver Legacy on a Tue about 11 PM without a
reservation & was told they were sold out and so were Eldorado & Circus Circus. This
was a complete surprise since I can normally get a host who will still
have some rooms but those were all gone too. I assumed that Atlantis &
Peppermill would have the same problem but I called them & they were sold out too
but Atlantis was able to get me a Concierge Tower room at midnight. I guess
I should have made a reservation but I never thought I would have this
problem mid-week. In a way, I'm happy for Reno because they need the business.
There was a 5-day national volleyball tournament of club teams & they took
up the majority of the rooms but I think there was also bridge & scrabble
going on too during this weekend. The peculiar thing was that I had no
problems making late reservations at Grand Sierra for 7/2 starting date & at
Peppermill for 7/3 starting date. Normally you won't catch at the 4th of
July celebrations but I was letting some former co-workers since I had a spa
package from Peppermill which included the a nice room in the Tuscany tower.
I didn't do well on VP anywhere that I can remember. I did get a few
royals on nickel 50-plays but nothing on any higher denominations so it was a
looong weekend which I made longer on purpose to avoid the holiday traffic.
Atlantis is next to the Convention Center & has a skybridge connection so it
was easy to get over to the volleyball tournament (girls). I had seen this
last year at the Convention Center & it was the girls high school teams.
This time it was girls club teams from all around the US but NV didn't have a
team entered however there were 10 teams from CA with the #1 seed (Vision)
from N CA & the other 9 from S CA. I'm sure there's some future Olumpians
there. After 3 days, I moved to Grand Sierra where they had the scrabble
tournament but I went back to the volleyball tournament since it was more
exciting. (Before I get pummeled by the scrabble players, let me say that I'm
a chess & backgammon player & I don't even take the time to watch those
tournaments even though I used to be an active player.) On the 4th, I was
helping a friend so I missed the fireworks completely but one very nice thing
about Reno if you like fireworks -- there's 5 places where they put on a big
display for the public! In my hometown of Salinas, CA (about the size of
Reno) it's DIY & so there were some real fireworks by our local hicks when
it got on some roofs & burned 3 houses. After my friends checked out of
Peppermill, I didn't want to battle the type A's returning home so I asked for
another day in the Peppermill tower & got a nice suite which I was able to
enjoy because I had already done all the gambling that I was going to do
so I took it easy, had dinner with my son who is an arcade hustler (because
he gets kicked out of the Circus Circus arcade for winning too often) &
then lunch with a friend the next day. Both times at Peppermill's Oceano. I go
there for the seafood, but something to keep in mind is they also have
steaks & sushi both of which they do a good job on. One day I had lunch at
Siena's Contrada Cafe. It's my favorite place for a view because it's located
next to & overlooking the river.
I guess some of you want to hear about the gambling. There isn't much that
I want to remember but here's what my rocky horror show played:
Atlantis .25 multis-strike NSUD -1500
GSR .05/.1O JB 100-plays -1000
Silver Legacy .05/.1O JB 100-plays - 500
Peppermill .25/.50 JB Super times pay 10-plays -4000
Compared to other recent trips this isn't too bad. That said, you know how
the rest of my year has been.
One thing to watch out for at Peppermill, they changed the system on the Mr
Money cards which used to give you free play. One change is the pt
requirement which has been lowered from 1000 to 150 pts so now it seems like you
get almost 7 times the chances you did before -- not quite. It takes more
play to get a point & the big surprise is that when I switched denominations
(.25 to .50) the pt accumulation only increased by maybe a third instead of
doubling. Also your Mr Money cards don't get you free play anymore -- it's
just a chance for it. You get pts & you have to be one of the top 100
pt-getters for the week. The prizes are free play from a high of $2500 to a
low of $25. I've been told that you need to score 22,000 to have a chance. Of
6 tickets, none were over 5000. I needed 10 pts for another ticket but I
didn't bother & I think the general feeling is that It's a waste of time. as
others were complaining about it too.
OK got to wrap it up now that I'm home as I've got to get a new fridge, get
my car serviced & check my fire insurance!
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