More Money from the Planet Moolah

Gotta love them cows. I played my new favorite slot machine again tonight in my last gambling of this trip.

Invasion of the Planet Moolah replaces any three matching figures in a row so you get to try again; they call this new development in slot machine games a "cascading: effect. If you do that more than 3 times, you get to the bonus round of free spins (and you can imagine the permutations as, even in the bonus round, groups of 3 disappear). The best part about it, well, besides the money, is that cows appear as wild; they moo when they connect to score you points (and I moo, too, when that happens...involuntarily). And the cows in the flying saucers above do all the lasering.

Twice in that last session, a session that only lasted 10 minutes as I was trying to get outside to see my last Fremont Experience up above the square, I got a message that read BIG WIN. I had never seen that before. The cows all lined up and each was mooing like crazy (each cow has a different moo). And in a matter of minutes, I won $70 with a $10 input. (This is a penny machine.) So I stopped.

Right before that, also at the Four Queens, I used a $10 matchplay coupon (and promptly lost), but stayed to win $80 above my stake. I then had an ice cream to celebrate.

And the day hadn't started out that auspiciously. I took a cab immediately to the Tropicana, and before breakfast, I played blackjack. The dealer had a difficult time counting, at least it seemed to me, and I had to tell her at one point not to pay me. Another incident occurred which made me want to leave: the guy next to me was upset that he was losing, so he bet half his money on one hand, and lost; I hate to watch things like that. I then moved away, quickly, and decided to go to breakfast at the Garden Cafe. After that, I took a cab to the Las Vegas Hilton, passed by Elvis, who still stands in front (after being moved from the lobby), and played another match coupon at the blackjack table. I promptly lost.

But the other guy I was playing with was quite entertaining. He was playing well, but losing, and kept talking about how we're in this together. I left shortly after he did, thankful I escaped without investing more money into that losing venture.

I was so surprised that the Hilton had $5 tables, and I mentioned that to my newfound friend. He answered, "Well, look around. There's nobody here." And, indeed, he was right.

I went over to the Starfleet Casino, which still exists, but found that The Experience was boarded up and ads placed over the boards where the entrance used to be. So sad. But there's a hard rumor that it will reappear downtown.

And so I went downtown after getting my Southwest boarding pass (one of the real reasons I went to the Hilton, because I knew where to do that there). The cab driver I rode with was also quite entertaining. He told me the city is really suffering. He often gambles with his wife when he cashes his paycheck at one of the smaller casinos. He normally goes to the Eureka casino, a place I've never heard of but apparently is next to the Sahara, to do the check-cashing and gambling, but was met for the first time in 20 years with questions about the check's authenticity and demands to see more I.D. In disgust, he and his wife have moved on. His point was that even the smaller, more family-type casinos are facing hard times and apparently changing in response.

You can, however, borrow money even if you don't have much of your own. I had read in Las Vegas Advisor that Binion's offer to get a free photo with its new million-dollar display is exactly that: free. Just allow half an hour for processing, and you have to be a member of their slot club, which I am. So I got the picture made. As I was standing behind all that money guarded by plexiglass, this disembodied voice rang out from the woman snapping the photo: "You can touch it." So I did, if somewhat gingerly.

I met another cab driver tonight who told me he often went to Sacramento from Las Vegas to do construction jobs. He was pretty high up in the company, but the economy kept forcing reductions. He now drives a cab. Construction has gone from about 500 houses to 50 or so, he said. It's devastating.

Everybody's finding new things to do as old jobs dry up. Case in point was a guy who met me -- on two separate nights, in two separate cab pick-up places downtown. He greets you, washes the handle of the cab and a window of two, opens the door for you, and hopes for a tip. I tipped him both nights. Handsomely.

I think enterprise like that should be rewarded.