Some slot advice is worth ignoring
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In more than 30 years as a player, I've received a lot of advice, some good, some bad, some indifferent.
It was the bad advice that had my wife and I laughing a few weeks ago when the conversation turned to slot tips. The tips may not have been good, but they were memorable.
**PLAY THIS MACHINE! On a 1980s trip to Las Vegas, Marcy and I were walking the slot aisles in a casino near the north end of the Strip when a couple toting plastic buckets filled with quarters came rushing up to us.
Big grins were on their enthusiastic faces and the woman pointed and shouted, "You have to play that machine!" Joining in the moment, the man said, "We have to go to the airport now, but we've been playing for three days. The same machine. It's paid for our whole trip."
They went on their way. Marcy asked, "What do you think?"
I said, "They're probably shills, but we're playing anyway. No harm in playing one machine over another."
Twenty dollars and a few minutes later, it was on to a different game.
Slot shills were more common than they are now. My mom once saw a man who was playing two $5 slots outside a downtown Las Vega casino. He was surrounded by plastic racks filled with $5 tokens. The area was roped off and had security guards at either end.
The player couldn't lose, and as tokens poured out of one machine he'd pull the handle on the other.
When the player left, the games were shut down. But the impression of winning was there for passers-by.
**DON'T PLAY THAT MACHINE! It was fairly early in the development of video slots. The first Monopoly slots were just being introduced and I went to a press event for the unveiling.
