Here's my Vegas nightmare: only a few years from now, there are only
three corporations left that own all the hotel/casinos in town. On
the gaming side, the only playable VP games are a few old coin
clunkers that are s.l.o.wwwww and located in remote parts of the
floor where cocktail waitresses are as scarce as discretionary
comps. "Casino rate" for a room is over $100 per night, every
night. Earned comps can only be used for food, and only when you
earn at least $150 in comps. Two deck blackjack has been outlawed.
This was sort of the case on my recent trip. I decided to go at the
last minute and to stay at Luxor because, hey, I've always wanted to
check out the Pyramid rooms. I have virtually no play (by LV
standards) on my One Club card, so I book online and get an okay deal
for three nights with some spa admissions and free "King Tut's Tomb"
tour. I was set.
First, let me say that I believe the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday
before the Super Bowl is a good time to be in LV. It was really
uncrowded. I had no problem parking anywhere and actually used LV
Blvd to get around. By the time I was leaving on Wednesday, it was
noticeably busier.
Check-in at Luxor was smooth and fast and they were able to
accommodate my request to be above the 22nd floor (important for the
Inclinator assignment and view) and facing north. Inclinators can be
nauseating the first time, but you get used to them. The room was as
cool as I heard it would be. I had a great view of Excalibur and the
NYNY skyline. The slanted wall is neat, especially at night.
Enough on the lodging, it was time to play. Our database says "BP
scattered around the casino." They're not kidding. I found a grand
total of 4 full pay BP. There are probably more but I kept getting
turned around (lost) in the pyramid. I picked a machine with a
scarab beetle on it thinking maybe the Pharaoh would look fondly on
me, and he did! I hit a royal on one of the slowest, stickiest
button, non-TITO machines I've ever played. That improved my
attitude even though I went 2 ½ hours without hearing the melodic
sounds of "Cocktails?" You'd think they'd bring me a diet Coke for
just sitting in one place that long.
As much as I love hitting royals, I don't like peaking too early in a
trip. And I didn't play much more at my host casino, thinking my
quarter play really wouldn't do much for me. Plus, even though it
was good to me, I don't really care for BP. It was time to travel.
My companion and I spent the next day racking up points at Sunset
Station. We haven't been there in a year, so it was fun playing the
new screened Optimums outside Capri, especially if any of you
remember the old burned out FPDW's that used to be there. Notice I
didn't say we spent the day racking up wins at SS. A little Pai Gow
got us a discretionary comp to the Feast, but we left them more $$
than we won.
It's so nice of Barbary Coast to give us more playable machines in
the form of NSUD's. We ended up there with 10 minutes left on
the "Hit a designated jackpot (for VP, that's a full-coin royal) and
win two jackets (which we wanted because we were cold)."
Unfortunately, we didn't hit a royal in the time remaining, but we
did have a lot of fun. We both hit a set of four Deuces for a nice
win. BC is so like a locals casino stuck in amongst
the "megatoilets" (RIP ROJ). Nice folks, great parking.
The next day was for sightseeing. King Tut's Exact Replica Tomb was
kind of interesting but I somehow thought it would be bigger and I
love the Disney touch of exiting through the gift shop. Companion
decided to go for it and played tables at Mandalay Bay, scoring a
discretionary comp to the Bay Side Buffet for dinner but little
else. Okay, I'm used to the buffets at the Stardust and Palace
Station. Mandalay's is really exceptional! This must be what Mirage
and TI's new buffets are like as well. If you think about it,
Excalibur's dinner buffet is ~$15.99. Spend the $7 more and hit a
really fancy buffet like Mandalay's if you're in an all-you-can-eat
mood. Or better yet, get a comp.
Check-out day arrived, and we headed downtown. We're getting a
little attention from Main Street Station, so we decided to try to
get some more. I was playing next to a man who hit quad queens and
then moved to the adjacent machine. I thought "How rude of him to
tie up two machines" then I remembered the scratch card promotion.
I'd let a couple quads go by unpaid, but managed to collect four
tickets the rest of the day. I got a $5 ticket, which for me is an
all time high (see, amounts other than $2 DO exist!). I was up so I
decided to throw $100 into a $1 JoB. In three hands I hit a quad for
$125. I was so excited I forgot to get a scratch card. I played a
little more, got the balance up to $250 and cashed out. Then it was
time to go.
Overall, this was a good trip. I didn't mind paying for the room so
much since I won plenty to pay for everything, although I'll probably
stick to my room offers for the rest of the year.
Triple cashback to all!
Drew