mamagrub visits a California casino every weekend and mentioned an advantage play being attempted by a family.
A couple months ago, she was at
Tachi Palace (which she affectionately just calls "Lemoore," after its location) and played the new Indiana Jones Treasure of the Incas and Well of Souls slot machines, in which one person is guaranteed a progressive when the bonus hits.
It was nickel denomination, and only 1 line could be played while still being eligible for the progressive (most progressives require a max line bet to be eligible). The only progressive they couldn't win was the top progressive. All the rest were up for grabs.
Sure, the odds of hitting are better the higher you play (like the more lottery tickets you buy, the more chances you have), but what if you took over all the machines and played one bet per spin?
At Tachi, a Cambodian family experimented with that idea and played the entire bank of Indiana Jones one nickel at a time until the bonus hit. On two separate visits, she spotted the same family at all the Indy machines, slowly playing 5 cents a spin until the bonus.
And she saw them hit $800 twice.
Not a bad win on one nickel.
mamagrub now reports that the Indiana Jones game at Tachi has changed to a 2-cent denom with a minimum line requirement for each spin.
I'm not convinced this was anything but dumb luck, but it would've been fun to test out the Indiana Jones Cambodian strategy. Unfortunately, I've yet to see the game in Las Vegas. To play a nickel a spin, be eligible for a big progressive, and get free drinks... can't beat that.
mamagrub also recently played Invaders from the Planet Moolah, a cascading reels game like All That Glitters and Pyramid of the Kings.
In cascading reels, symbols tumble down each reel like Tetris, and any winning combinations award and disappear, causing the remaining symbols above to fall and possibly form more wins.
Cows are portrayed as being beamed up by aliens piloting flying saucers. When the cows disappear, they make a quizzical "moo" sound.
I like different ways of getting into a bonus, and Moolah's bonus can be triggered by 1) three bonus symbols, 2) randomly while playing, and 3) a streak of winning combinations -- the more wins you make, the more free spins you earn.
mamagrub was down to her last 53 cents and could only do one more spin at the minimum of 25 max lines (it was a 2-cent game).
That spin caused a trigger of 50 free spins, which kept spinning and spinning until she finished with 89 free spins and $450, enough to replenish what she lost for the day.
900 times her bet.
16,000 times the Cambodians' bet.
I've been playing these games all wrong, I should be betting the bare minimum!
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