Ask the Slot Expert: Another first royal story 711h5s

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Question: I loved your column about first Royals.

My story is slightly different (and I actually do not the date) but it's kind of funny anyway.

It was at the Holy Cow casino (previously Foxy's Firehouse), right across from the Sahara. I was playing nickel VP.

When I hit the Royal, the coins started spitting out. Yes, it was pre-ticket. The payoff was $200. I needed multiple buckets and I don't for sure, but I think we needed a hopper fill. This was different from the Stratosphere, which may have still been called Vegas World, where any slot pay of over $50 required a hand pay.

Anyway, I took the buckets over to the cashier. I knew the total amount because, if I recall correctly, there was no credit meter so everything was paid as you won. They put it in the coin counter and the payout was a few nickels short of $200. They refused to pay me any more than the machine had counted, so in reality, my first Royal paid me a little less than 4000 coins.

I don't recall how many coins I was shorted, but the fact that I WAS shorted is probably the main reason I never forgot my 1st Royal.

Answer: Thanks for the kind words. We can narrow down the date a little bit. According to its Wikipedia page, the Holy Cow Casino and Brewery operated from 1992 to 2002.

It seems strange that a machine would try to pay a jackpot larger than its hopper instead of locking up for a handpay. Things were weird back then and what we take for granted today just didn't exist.

I buying coins from the change people pushing their carts through the slot floor. Hand in hand with that, I taking buckets of coins to the redemption booth and how appreciative the people there would be if I tipped them a couple of dollars.

I told my friend who worked at the Desert Inn that they needed bigger coin buckets like other casinos had. He told me there was a reason the buckets were not bigger. Bigger buckets are heavier. The people working the booths would often strain their backs lifting the buckets. Hence, smaller and lighter buckets.

the stacks of empty buckets in between or on top of machines? Apparently, Treasure Island's management didn't like the look of the bucket stacks so they weren't sprinkled liberally throughout the casino. I usually grabbed a couple of buckets before going to a machine. When I left behind the buckets I didn't use, a floorperson would put them back where management wanted them.

One time I forgot to grab a bucket. Heeding the flight attendant's instruction to know where the nearest exist was, I looked around to see where the nearest buckets were. TI had put some machines in the corridor from the parking garage. They were not in the casino, but very close to it. The nearest buckets were just inside the casino.

I played one of the corridor machines and hit a nice payout and wanted to cash out. Drat! No bucket. I ran from the machine into the casino to get a bucket. In the few seconds I was gone, someone sat down at the machine. I didn't have a problem shooing them away, fortunately.

Two other things I being innovations that are now standard today. I the bill acceptors that were bolted onto the sides of machines. And I the cash/credit button to switch the machine from dropping coins with each win to using the credit meter instead.

I think I also seeing coins and tokens loose in the bottom of a machine when a slot floorperson opened it. I think I also that they occasionally would grab a couple of the loose tokens and put them in the coin tray for me.

I'm sure that the coin counting machine at Holy Cow gave a correct count. I'm also pretty sure that the slot machine dispensed the proper number of coins. It looks like it's possible that a coin can take a detour on its way from hopper to tray and end up in the bottom of the machine. I'm 100% sure that I don't miss coins one bit.

According to its Wikipedia page, Vegas World operated from 1979 to 1995. I don't have a slot club card from it in my collection, but I'm pretty sure I did visit it. The space theme appeals to me, but I think the place was -- let me put this delicately -- a dump. And not located near anything else.

I the ads Vegas World used to run that made the place seem like a great deal. One of the offers was something like a package that gave you the cost of your package back in free play.

I learned that the catch was that the free play could only be used on a set of "special" machines and that even though you could keep everything you won, the machines rarely paid out.

Today the Strat (formerly the Stratosphere) sits where Vegas World used to be. It opened in 1996. I went to my first gaming show that year. Stratosphere gave attendees a to go up the tower.

New slot club s were offered a buffet or a tower . When I signed up, I took the buffet . The rep was surprised. I said that I already had a tower .

Maybe it was the other way around. Somehow I ended up with both a buffet and a tower and the booth rep was surprised at which I took as the bonus for g up for the slot club.

I don't like heights, at least not at first. It took me a few minutes to be able to go near the window. Eventually I was able to go outside and take pictures looking up at the top of the tower. Those pictures must be around here somewhere.

I got one handpay at the Stratosphere. I'm a sucker for the Silver Strike machines that pay collectible tokens. I was playing one of them when I hit the top jackpot. I don't the amount, but it was considerably more than $50.

If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.

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