Thank you for again
acknowledging my letter regarding hot and cold casino rooms.
With regard to hot/cold
machines, looseness and such, it is precisely this mentality that has
made the penny and nickel machines so endearing. They hit often and
frequently and may even have multiple bonus games to excite us. But
if you look carefully, you can see the payouts are not the same as their
higher-denomination cousins. For example, on an IGT red-white-blue multi-line
penny reel-spinner, a 120-coin bet yields only 100 coins paid back on
a 7-7-7 win, unless the colors of the 7s are all the same. It's the
old one-step-forward, two-steps-back thing. We are winning and having
fun, but we aren't making money.
Some of these machines
are just plain scary. I saw one penny video slot at my local casino
that allowed for 100 paylines and 25c per line, for a max bet of $25!
At a typical payback percentage of 83-85%, imagine the profit this machine
makes for the casino. A player considering this level of play would
do much better playing a $5, $10 or even a $25 machine.
Thanks for your
time.
Steve
Dear Steve,
You can't compare
two machines based on how much they pay for a particular combination
unless you know the combination hits with the same frequency on both
machines.
We do have to be
careful when playing video slots and playing multiple coins on multiple
lines. You're right that we can probably get a higher payback playing
a higher denomination reel-spinning machine than many dollars per spin
on a video slot.
Best of luck in
and out of the casinos,
John
My husband and I
just returned from 5 days in Vegas. We have been going there for more
years than I care to remember. I have never seen such tight machines.
In the "Old Days" you would hear people scream and yell, "I
hit it". But now it is so quiet and just everyone we talked to
was so disgusted.
Especially the video
poker machines. One hundred dollars and nothing. Is it an older lady
just remembering better days (LOL) or is it just so money hungry everywhere?
Thanks for listening.
Annie
Dear Annie,
I'm glad you mentioned
video poker. You can tell the long-term paybacks of video poker machines.
I don't know where you played on this trip and where you played on previous
trips, but if I knew the paytables you played before and the paytables
you played this time I could tell you whether the long-term paybacks
on the machines were different.
The payback of a
slot machine is a mystery. There's no way to know if the long-term paybacks
on the machines you've played have gone down.
Best of luck in
and out of the casinos,
John
Hi, John,
Probably a dumb
question but maybe other video poker players might be interested in
getting an answer, so here goes:
Most vp machines
have maybe 6 to 8 vp games on them with maybe a slot game of some sort.
So if you're playing a game like bonus poker, and you line up four aces
or maybe the 2s, 3s, or 4s, while playing that bonus poker game.
Had you been playing
any of the other poker games would the same hand been shown in the other
games? Maybe you even get the royal. Would the royal have shown in the
other games also?
My wife says yes.
I say no. Each game is independent and deals are different for each
game.
An answer please.
Chappy1
Dear Chappy1,
The only thing that
changes when you change video poker games is the paytable. The RNG stays
the same.
Nevertheless, you
probably would not have received the same hand.
In order to get
the same hand, you would have had to have hit the deal/draw button at
exactly the same instant for both the deal and the draw. In addition,
there are other aspects of how the RNG operates that makes it unlikely
that you would have received the same hand.
Best of luck in
and out of the casinos,
John
Hi, John,
It seems that casinos
offer "free slot play" as a comp more and more often. When
taking advantage of the free play at the machines identified for such,
is there the same opportunity for a hit as when one puts cold, hard
cash into the same machine?
Peter
Dear Peter,
As long as the machine
is not just for the free slot play promotion, you have the same chances
with the free play as with your own money.
The old Vegas World
used to give a certain amount of free slot play in its vacation packages.
The tokens you received could only be played in special machines for
the promotion and those machines rarely paid out. You couldn't play
real money in those machines.
All of the free
slot play promotions I've used in the past few years have all been played
on regular slots. As far as the slot is concerned, the RNG doesn't care
-- or even know -- the source of the credits you're playing.
Best of luck in
and out of the casinos,
John
Send your slot and
video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@comcast.net.
Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't send
a reply to every question. Also be advised that it may take several
months for your question to appear in my column.