Part four of a series:
The MSS Social Club is that stand alone building north of the casino
on the way to the parking garage. It is a nice banquet hall with an
old wooden bar in the corner. The Friday buffet was just fine.
Admission was handled by raffle tickets gained at the slot club. One
note, five o'clock means the time the buffet lines open and not the
doors. They moved things along and started doing the drawings for
cash totaling about $1k. They had several staffers scattered about
with cold hard cash. They would give away $25-50 at a time and the
nearest worker would give you currency. Such an easy straightforward
way to give away low levels of cash. I snagged $25.
Downtown Video Poker has improved a bit overall. The Plaza and Vegas
Club don't have much to play anymore. But the improvements for low
rollers are led by Binions and the Four Queens. Binions indeed stuck
in twelve playable uprights (FPDW, KBJW, 10/7 DB) over by the east
side snack bar. I think they will last too. Why, because they
incorporated "Binions" into the paytable glass.
The biggest downtown surprise was at the Four Queens. This joint is
now 100% TITO and proud of it. They also deal a good Craps game and
no 6:5 nonsense on Blackjack. There are several good VP plays on the
floor that are listed in the vpFREE database. What is not listed are
the new Game King bartops. All three bars (Kings, Palace, Chicago
Brewing Company) have identical plays with a mix of progressives on
some of them. So there are about 50 stations feeding the meters.
Not every game was promising like 17/7/progressive royal KBJW, but
three got my attention. The quarter Deuces (15/9 Illini/Airport)
royal was at $1,840, and grew about $100 overnight. The Double Bonus
9/7/5 had meters on the three quads (no royal meter) and the Double
Double Bonus 9/6 had meters for all five quad lines. My Winpoker
exercise, once I got home, put all three plays in the positive
range. Of course your mileage may vary, but normal cashback still is
$320 coin-in/$1 (.31%).
You can get a homebrew at the bars too. The Chicago Brewing Company
opens at 11:30am and has six Game King stations. They comp frosty
pints up there. The downside is they also sell the place as a cigar
lounge, so beware. The pizza looks really good too, really thin and
also deep dish pan style.
Other assorted downtown notes- The ABC store sells cheap Vegas
calendars. Bring back the old canopy light shows. The Golden Nugget
still is cramped. The Fitz made me get yet another new slot card. I
still like the purple outfits the Cal cocktailers wear.
Time to move to the Rio.
BS