It took me 45 years to make my first (and maybe only) visit to Reno. For those who have already seen the bells and whistles of LV I can say that for gambling, natural beauty, affordability, friendliness and lack of traffic Reno beats LV hands down.
Hotels
One night at Eldorado which I was pleasantly surprised at. It is really a nice property.
3 nights at Peppermill Tower which is just a spectacular place with the best casino pool area I have ever been to.
3 nights at Atlantis Tower. I found Atlantis to be a wonderful place with a great pool area and very easy to navigate. The non smoking Sky Terrace is a treasure.
Food
Terrible's Gold Ranch-a few miles out of town. It has the Bonnie and Clyde death car which drew me there. I had the $2.22 breakfast special which I believe is 24/7. 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 bacon AND 2 sausage. Great deal. They also have a $5 ham steak, eggs and hash browns deal which looked good.
Gold Dust West-best deal in town. 50 points on your players card and you get a truly great Prime Rib complete dinner. I played the 9-5 JOB hundred play. Won a couple of bucks, got a great Manhattan and the Prime Rib deal. PLUS they gave me $10 free play and coupons for more free play every week, one of which I could use. So they paid me about $25 to enjoy a Manhattan and a delicious Prime Rib meal. Not bad.
Awful Awful at the Nugget casino-a tiny dump across from Harrah's downtown. A half pound grilled cheeseburger and a pound of fries for $6.99 I think. Great.
John Ascagua's Nugget-Barbecue buffet Saturday nights only. Wow-This may be the best buffet ever with multiple selections, delicious foods and out of this world desserts. $23 I believe but they give you free play for signing up.
Atlantis buffet-This is huge. Not as good as Ascagua's but a lot of good selections. About $17 or so.
Peppermill breakfast buffet-Excellent. I went for the laser and waterfall "show" but it has been gutted due to bitching ("Too Loud") from the geriatric set. Around $12.
Sands Regency-Fillet Mignon and Ravioli dinner for $9.99 is first rate at their gourmet room 4-10PM.
Atlantis Steakhouse-Wow-I had a perfectly cooked 36 ounce bone in Ribeye with french fries and some chocolate dessert. First rate all around. Around $70 including beverage and tax.
Casinos
Silver Legacy-the 4 FPDW quarter machines are still there, right along the wall at the Virginia St. entrance. They are not labeled "deuces" but are multi game labeled "Double Bonus" or something similar. You can usually spot them by the men who play there, banging away at mind numbing speed, sucking down cigarettes and ordering black coffee.
Circus Circus-nice place with free play for new sign ups. The nuisance of milling kids is not much present as in the LV place.
Eldorado-a very nicely presented place though I didn't play there.
The Nugget-this is a dingy and dusty tiny place with 7-5 JOB as the best game I saw. The music is loud as long as you tip a buck the drinks will come non-stop even if you are playing nickels.
Cal-Neva-somewhat dumpy locals place with a great $40 for $20 new member offer.
Ascagua's Nugget-This is a great and popular place.
Alamo Truck stop-one table of BJ with $5 single deck and great rules. I won a couple of bucks on nickel 8-5 JOB. Dumpy to be sure.
Western Village-This is a smaller version of the Peppermill with some of the great neon. I didn't see the 100 play nickel NSUD that are supposed to be there.
Peppermill-WOW-this is what all casinos should look like with lots of neon and colored lighting. It can be a bit difficult to navigate though. They have lots of NSUS including 50-play quarters.
Atlantis-very easy to navigate. Very nice and friendly place with waterfalls. I did most of my playing here on the 100 play 9-6 JOB and NSUD. Note that the 100-play Bonus Poker Deluxe in the database is GONE from all machines, downgraded to 8-6 or 9-5 (I forget which) at every machine-the 6 in the the Rock Tunnel, the 1 in the Sky Terrace, the 2 down the escalator from the Sky Terrace and the 2 across from Java Coast. The Deuces on those machines are that lousy 98.91% version and you want to check the paytables on the rest of the games.
Gold Dust West- The 4 Pickem machines don't appear to still exist. I checked just about every machine in this surprisingly large casino and didn't find them. They are definitely NOT where the database says they are-"slightly to the right as you enter the main doors".
Boomtown-boy they built this place WAY too big-although is does draw a nice little crowd.
Lake Tahoe-spectacular. I went to Horizon, Montbleau and Harveys casinos for a quick drink and cheap VP play at each and went on a 2 hour sailboat cruise for $38 from Zephyr Cove. Montbleau still has that old horse racing game that used to be at the Frontier and Horizon has a cheap $1 BJ machine.
I should note that I played hours at Atlantis and Peppermill at their hand held single deck blackjack $5 minimums with double only on 10 and 11. I found drink service all around much better than the Strip.
Also I stopped at the Casino Fandango in Carson which has a free play for new sign-ups and is surprisingly nice with a steady mix of customers.
I may well think of other tidbits to post at some other time.
I took many short videos which I will post within a week or 2-hopefully.
Trip Report October 7-14
Let me add:
Siena-I went there on the Friday, walked in and noticed all the machines were out of order. A woman came up to me and frantically said "we are renovating and will open in 2-4 weeks-we are not closing"
I had a chuckle at that. Too bad-it's a very nice place.
Atlantis-I can conclusively say that the 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢ 5-15 Coins 3/5 Play NSUD machines listed as being in the "Sky Terrace on the left coming up the escalators from the casino" are not there. There are no 3-5 play VP machines at all in the Sky Terrace, which has fewer than 100 machines (slot and VP combined) total-yes I counted. I believe I canvassed the entire casino and those NSUD's are not there-anywhere.
I missed out on the Donut lady even though I did play there a couple of mornings.
Atlantis can be very sneaky. For instance in the Sky Terrace they have a hundred play machine with 9-6 JOB while the 50 play right next to it is 8-6. The NSUD is sometimes full pay on quarters but short on nickels all on the same machine! which is a sneakiness I have not seen before.
···
--- In vpFREE_Reno@yahoogroups.com, "mike" <melbedewy1226@...> wrote:
It took me 45 years to make my first (and maybe only) visit to Reno. For those who have already seen the bells and whistles of LV I can say that for gambling, natural beauty, affordability, friendliness and lack of traffic Reno beats LV hands down.
Hotels
One night at Eldorado which I was pleasantly surprised at. It is really a nice property.
3 nights at Peppermill Tower which is just a spectacular place with the best casino pool area I have ever been to.
3 nights at Atlantis Tower. I found Atlantis to be a wonderful place with a great pool area and very easy to navigate. The non smoking Sky Terrace is a treasure.
Food
Terrible's Gold Ranch-a few miles out of town. It has the Bonnie and Clyde death car which drew me there. I had the $2.22 breakfast special which I believe is 24/7. 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 bacon AND 2 sausage. Great deal. They also have a $5 ham steak, eggs and hash browns deal which looked good.
Gold Dust West-best deal in town. 50 points on your players card and you get a truly great Prime Rib complete dinner. I played the 9-5 JOB hundred play. Won a couple of bucks, got a great Manhattan and the Prime Rib deal. PLUS they gave me $10 free play and coupons for more free play every week, one of which I could use. So they paid me about $25 to enjoy a Manhattan and a delicious Prime Rib meal. Not bad.
Awful Awful at the Nugget casino-a tiny dump across from Harrah's downtown. A half pound grilled cheeseburger and a pound of fries for $6.99 I think. Great.
John Ascagua's Nugget-Barbecue buffet Saturday nights only. Wow-This may be the best buffet ever with multiple selections, delicious foods and out of this world desserts. $23 I believe but they give you free play for signing up.
Atlantis buffet-This is huge. Not as good as Ascagua's but a lot of good selections. About $17 or so.
Peppermill breakfast buffet-Excellent. I went for the laser and waterfall "show" but it has been gutted due to bitching ("Too Loud") from the geriatric set. Around $12.
Sands Regency-Fillet Mignon and Ravioli dinner for $9.99 is first rate at their gourmet room 4-10PM.
Atlantis Steakhouse-Wow-I had a perfectly cooked 36 ounce bone in Ribeye with french fries and some chocolate dessert. First rate all around. Around $70 including beverage and tax.
Casinos
Silver Legacy-the 4 FPDW quarter machines are still there, right along the wall at the Virginia St. entrance. They are not labeled "deuces" but are multi game labeled "Double Bonus" or something similar. You can usually spot them by the men who play there, banging away at mind numbing speed, sucking down cigarettes and ordering black coffee.
Circus Circus-nice place with free play for new sign ups. The nuisance of milling kids is not much present as in the LV place.
Eldorado-a very nicely presented place though I didn't play there.
The Nugget-this is a dingy and dusty tiny place with 7-5 JOB as the best game I saw. The music is loud as long as you tip a buck the drinks will come non-stop even if you are playing nickels.
Cal-Neva-somewhat dumpy locals place with a great $40 for $20 new member offer.
Ascagua's Nugget-This is a great and popular place.
Alamo Truck stop-one table of BJ with $5 single deck and great rules. I won a couple of bucks on nickel 8-5 JOB. Dumpy to be sure.
Western Village-This is a smaller version of the Peppermill with some of the great neon. I didn't see the 100 play nickel NSUD that are supposed to be there.
Peppermill-WOW-this is what all casinos should look like with lots of neon and colored lighting. It can be a bit difficult to navigate though. They have lots of NSUS including 50-play quarters.
Atlantis-very easy to navigate. Very nice and friendly place with waterfalls. I did most of my playing here on the 100 play 9-6 JOB and NSUD. Note that the 100-play Bonus Poker Deluxe in the database is GONE from all machines, downgraded to 8-6 or 9-5 (I forget which) at every machine-the 6 in the the Rock Tunnel, the 1 in the Sky Terrace, the 2 down the escalator from the Sky Terrace and the 2 across from Java Coast. The Deuces on those machines are that lousy 98.91% version and you want to check the paytables on the rest of the games.
Gold Dust West- The 4 Pickem machines don't appear to still exist. I checked just about every machine in this surprisingly large casino and didn't find them. They are definitely NOT where the database says they are-"slightly to the right as you enter the main doors".
Boomtown-boy they built this place WAY too big-although is does draw a nice little crowd.
Lake Tahoe-spectacular. I went to Horizon, Montbleau and Harveys casinos for a quick drink and cheap VP play at each and went on a 2 hour sailboat cruise for $38 from Zephyr Cove. Montbleau still has that old horse racing game that used to be at the Frontier and Horizon has a cheap $1 BJ machine.
I should note that I played hours at Atlantis and Peppermill at their hand held single deck blackjack $5 minimums with double only on 10 and 11. I found drink service all around much better than the Strip.
Also I stopped at the Casino Fandango in Carson which has a free play for new sign-ups and is surprisingly nice with a steady mix of customers.
I may well think of other tidbits to post at some other time.
I took many short videos which I will post within a week or 2-hopefully.