I posted this on vpFree also. This group needs activity, eh?
Anybody try these machines at Peppermill (between the cube bar and the island buffet) -OR- see them at any other casino?
On my most recent visit to Peppermill- Reno last week, I
came across three new video poker machines, the likes of which I’d never seen.
Turns out they are made by WMS and I learned from a machine
mechanic tech guy the first day I was playing them that they are WMS’s first
foray into video poker casino machines. They are somewhat similar but not
identical to machines and glass shown on the WMS website: http://now.wms.com/products/Poker
Two of the three were identical – Multihand, Multigame. I
posted one photo on vpFree of the entire machine & the glass of the two
that were identical. I didn’t do a very
thorough scouting of all the multihand configurations, I guess I was busy
playing. The third machine was different, only 3-line play was available
(3-Hand). I’ve posted three photos of jackpot hands I got on these machines on
vpFree: quad wild deuces for $1000, a dealt bonus quad playing bonus poker for
3 times $200, and a bonus quad with a kicker on one line of 50c five-line DDB. I
posted my full trip report on vpFree_Reno, without much mention of the new
machines, mostly because I played them for only 2-3 hours during my week-long
stay.
I’m wondering if these machines have found their way into
other casinos. Write a reply if you’ve seen them & played them- maybe we
can get some feedback going to WMS.
Here’s some of my impressions and opinions:
The ThreeHand game had denoms up to $1 and max bet was 15
creds. It offered Deuces wild, set to full NSUD paytables, like most of the
machines at Peppermill Reno. Also it
offered 8/5 BP and 9/6 DDB with the added lure of 55-1 pays for Straight
Flushes instead of the more usual 50-1.
I think there were other games offered, SuperAcesBonus and JoB, but I
failed to scout those paytables.
The other two identical WMS machines had a different
Five-Hand configuration, you can see it in the photos: One main larger hand and
four smaller card/font other hands. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/vpFREE/photos/albums/166961128/lightbox/923753512
The settings had three sound levels and three speed levels,
very nice. The look of the cards and the
font of the numerals and letters was more “squared” than the IGT machines I’m
used to. I gotta say it took some getting used to, and I didn’t like that some
of the numerals were too similar to each other, so it took me an extra look for
a couple seconds to make sure I was holding a pair and not a 5 and a 3 for
example. I didn’t critique it that
carefully, but if you play it, you’ll likely see what I’m talking about.
Another “glitch” that happened in my first long session, was
it wouldn’t let me hold the dealt cards. This wasn’t a mechanical sticky DEAL/DRAW
button glitch, but it was an electronic malfunction: I hit the deal button,
just tapped it per usual, and then before I could hold the cards, it tossed out
the five dealt cards and gave me a complete redraw. The first time I figured maybe I had
double-struck the button, I play fast and it happens, tho rarely. But the 4th time in a row it
happened, I’d had enough. I stopped playing and hit the SERVICE button. Soon enough, an attendant came by. She listened
patiently to my story and called a tech on her squawk box to come work the
problem. She decided to “make me whole” for three lost hands and gave me $38
cash. I still had about $45 in the machine. The tech guy showed, and he checked
all the electronics and determined there was no sticky button issue. I always
enjoy looking into the guts of a machine, and the techs don’t usually mind us
players snooping in my experiences. So,
he decides to reboot the machine, and figures it’s best for me to cash out
rather than wait for ten minutes. He
says “play one more hand so I can see if anything seems odd…” so I hit the max
bet, $12.50 and hit the DEAL button. Zoom zoom, I can’t hold any cards and I
get a full redraw on five lines. (No, no jackpots, just one paying pair).
I’m very happy that he got to see the problem first hand, I
don’t care that I got taken for maybe $10….(yes, I should have switched to
nickels) So, the tech makes a note of something and commences the reboot and I
take off. SO that’s the last of it. I
decide to NOT play that particular machine even tho the tech didn’t close it, in
my remaining couple days.
But, I played the adjacent two machines many times.
One more glitch was the bill/ticket acceptor slot on all the
machines. When I fed in crisp hundred dollar bills, many times it “chewed” or
wrinkled the bill halfway through and turned the half sticking out it
sideways. It would either jam and spit
the bill back out or, if I was deft enough to straighten the bill out while it
was grinding and chewing, (mental images of blood splatter after people got
yanked into industrial machines when their hair or clothing gets caught in a
lathe or a high speed roller) sometimes the bill would straighten out & slip
in and accept it. Sometimes not. It was
quite the bother, and ultimately that bother exceeded my enjoyment of the new
machine screens and their 55-1 SF payoff.
So, that’s most of what I wanted to say about the new WMS
video poker machines.
Only the slot manager at Peppermill knows how well these
machines have been received.
I do notice that Peppermill is very good about trying out
new machines from the manufacturers. I like that.
I know the mechanic grumbled to me that he wishes they just
get rid of them – having to often service a completely different layout was too
much of a bother to him. He said they’d been there for a month & a half or
so.
I’ll cross-post this on vpFree_Reno AND vpFree. Looking forward to your comments and experiences
with WMS machines.
~Mark Time