Originally posted by: Kevin Lewis
Since carny games are unbeatable without some kind of cheating, I'd say "no."
I have a fun memory from the early days of banking slots, like Piggy Bank and Cherry Pie. When Fromaggio (Big Cheese) opened in Vegas, they had rows and rows of those slots. Those were a vultures' paradise, and they accordingly swooped in. Shortly, there were far too many for any of them to make any real money. They got to perching at the end of machine rows, hoping somebody would abandon a machine in a positive state. I watched as a woman played Cherry Pie and almost filled up the pie, but ran out of money. She shrugged, got up and left. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a vulture hurriedly threading his way toward her machine from her left. Then, I looked to the right, and there was another vulture approaching from that side with equal speed. The two vultures and the woman collided in front of the machine. The two vultures immediately started throwing punches at each other, while the women scrambled to her feet, grabbed her purse, and got the hell out of there. The two vultures were still beating each other up when security arrived. I was all but doubled over laughing. The assistant casino manager showed up--this had attracted quite a crowd--and I told him what had happened and why. He thanked me and gave me a lunch comp.
Good times!!
The Stardust had quite a few of those machines as well. I remember that night I walked the Strip all the way from Bellagio down to the Sahara. I learned a lot that night. But I also learned that not every Cool Kat or Diamond Thief was guaranteed winner. Sometimes the machines were playing tricks on me. I also remember the legendary banks of Flush Attack games at the Riverside Casino. These machines were good. Along with good videopoker. Today you can be happy if you don't lose too much. Winning is actually no longer an object.
