My wife and I just got back from a very fun Vegas trip. My wife has been to Vegas several times before--both as a child (trapped in a hot north Vegas mobile home with relatives who smoked and drank gin in between trips to Jerry's Nugget) and as an adult without much of a gambling budget or desire to play much. That changed on this trip, and now she looks forward to Vegas.
I've been a LVA subscriber most years going back to the 90s, so I had a MRB on this trip. My wife, who began this trip unemployed, did not. But we did both have the American Casino Guide book. So, loaded with $5 & $10 match plays plus food coupons, off we went.
Day 1: flew ANC-SNA. Picked up rental, toured Mission San Juan Capistrano. Beautiful place.
Headed back to the car, wife checks our home answering machine to...a job offer! Totally awesome way to start the trip! This has been a very long time coming! Time to celebrate, so it's off to The Tonga Hut in Hollywood for a drink!
Then to Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles for dinner. Soooo good.
Day 2: woke up in Pomona, did some clothes shopping and messed around in LA, at one point we chased The Edge from U2 in his dark green Maserati in Malibu. Maybe it wasn't actually him, but we went to see the house that my money helped him buy and when we got there, this car pulled out of the garage. I like to think that it was him, and that my rented Ford Focus couldn't keep up. Funny stuff, sweet house too. Spent the night slumming it in 29 Palms at the shampoo-less Motel 6.
Day 3: drove through the hot and beautiful Joshua Tree National Park, meeting I-40 on the south end of the park. Well over 100F now.
Spent the night in Prescott where we attended a very disappointing concert by Puscifer.
Day 4: Got up late, bought a small boxed wine which we sipped out of hotel plastic cups as we watched the sunset on the Grand Canyon. Good times.
Day 5: Our anniversary! Checked out of our Flagstaff hotel and stopped by Sunset Crater National Monument. Then on to VEGAS!
First stop was the the office to pick up my MRB. Then to the Mirage to pick up my LVA-discounted tix for LOVE. After checking in at the fantastically remodeled Plaza, we used our $30 off coupon for an excellent steak dinner at The Flame. After the show, a nice, slow drive on the strip was called for before calling it a night.
Day 6: Now it's all about coupons!
Aliante Station: LVA 2-1 feast for lunch. First time seeing this place and was impressed with it's lack of customers. Nice, but it's no GVR or RR.
On to Lucky Club: joined their club which resulted in $5 free slot play using the ACG, won $10 on that playing some dumb camping-themed slot where toilet paper gets the big win. $10 ACG match play at bj won me another $20. Took my $30 and used the 3rd ACG coupon for a free Corona.
Next up was Bighorn Casino, another new one, though I've been to the Longhorn on Boulder with LVA coupons in the past without ever signing up. ACG had a $10 match play, and since I was closer to 21 than the dealer, I walked out $20 wealthier.
After a nice afternoon nap, another LVA 2-1 Feast was consumed, this time at Boulder Station, followed by a $2 win on Goldfish 1. Tried to hit up the Longhorn for a play, but didn't have my card with me. It would have to wait.
Back downtown, my wife signed up at the Golden Gate but forgot to use her signup-only ACG $25 match play. 'Doh! Still, she won $23 playing Goldfish Mermaids, I lost $35 on the Armada version. I finished the night losing $20 at the Plaza on JOB VP.
Day 7: got up and headed to Ellis Island. Using the first of our two 4 free drinks coupons, we chose bloody Mary's and then headed to the diner to use another 2-1. I had an account, to which I applied a $10 VP and$10 slot credit which wouldn't be accessible until the next day (paperwork).
Wandered over to Tuscany, who gave me $5 slot play via an ACG coupon (won $3 at some German beer themed slot) and the new sign up fun book had a $5 match play which was a winner. Gift shop coupon gave us each a deck of used cards. Yay. Walked out up $13. Thanks, Tuscany!
Down the street at Terrible's, I used the ACG $10 match for a bj win of $20. Hit up the free slot tourney upstairs and wanted those 3 minutes back when done.
Over to the Hard Rock, where we were given an American Flag and lanyards. In return, I tried to give them a $10 using a ACG match play but I won $20 again using that, and after being absent from their casino for a decade, I had been purged from their system, allowing me to use the ACG sign up bonus of $10 slotplay. That won me another $15 on a Frankenstein machine. Yay!
Back to the Longhorn to use that $10 match play, which was a loser.
Since it was the 4th of July, we now headed north and parked at Fiesta Rancho where I made good use of the LVA Agave bar chips/salsa and margarita coupon, a great play. Then over to Baja Fresh at Texas Station for dinner. At 9, we headed outside for the fireworks show being launched from the Texas parking garage. Great show! Watched it from the sidewalk then headed outside Texas Station. Back inside, I won $3 in an hour of JOB. Meh.
Drove back downtown to get my wife signed up at the El Cortez and all that brings--a keychain? We each played our $10 slotplay from ACG on a Enchanted Unicorn machine, leaving $5 richer. Also won $4.50 on a automated craps machine--Press The Button! Yeah, that's annoying.
After wandering down Fremont, we stopped in at Insert Coins which was packed. Sad that these machines cost $.50 now, but it's understandable. Wife killed at Tetris, setting a top 10 score for the day and got to enter her initials. It's 1985 at 2012 prices. Neat!
Stopped by the D to try out the newly installed Sigma Races coin-op machine. Fun game! Glad to see it return to Fremont St. I think I lost a few bucks on it, and quit playing when it would just spit my quarters right back out upon insertion. Weird.
One last stop at the Goldeny Gate for a shrimp cocktail. What's this $3.99 stuff? Skipped that and we sat down at Goldfish once again. Drunk woman leaned up on my wife, put her arm around her, called her gorgeous and said " hey how about you buy me a shrimp cocktail?". Uh, no? I forget what was said next, but we didn't need security and the drunk loser left. Then I won $14 and wife won too. What a day!
Day 8: Spent $50 for the Tropicana SlotPlayOnline new signups deal, then after spending several hours at a laundromat and doing more clothes shopping, we finally continued the run back at Ellis Island. My $20 in coupons were waiting for me, so I walked away with $22 on some wolf-themed game, used the LVA 2-1 diner coupon for another excellent meal, and used my wife's 4-free drinks coupon too! Love this place, but sadly the bartender said this year was the end of coupons for Ellis Island. Hope that isn't the case.
Headed to the Trop to make use of that $50 for $25 slotplay deal. Ended up $16 (thanks Goldfish!). Also made use of the Trop's refund deal, as I "lost" $40, but got $20 back on the promo on day 1. Played through that, ended up even.
After an awesome late dinner at The Vegas Hofbrauhaus and two free 10oz beers for joining their mailing list. Boy can they make sausages...
Cranking some Kraftwerk in the car (we are the operators of our pocket calculators), we headed to Frankie's Tiki Room on W. Charleston for a 1am beverage. Wow, these are good! Frankie's is now a must-do in Vegas. Milked 2 drinks for over 2 hours in good company, bought a t-shirt, shared a pizza from Boston Pizza, not the chain. Very good! Bed at 3:30, just like it should be.
Day 9: moved from the Plaza to MSS next door to save $50 for the weekend. Back to the Trop for the next %25 of our rebates, which garnered me $11.
Orleans: LVA $10 match play bj win for $20. LVA $10 slotplay coupon came out about even. Forgot to use ACG $10 match. Must be the ridiculous 110F heat.
Back downtown to Magnolia's in the Four Queens. Another 2-1 and a good lunch. Applying the LVA $10 slot coupon nets me $11.
And this brings us to Saturday 3pm bingo at the Silver Nugget!
As is always the case with bingo, I really have no idea what my purchase was. I gave them $50 and my ACG 2x$25 coupon. Won the $50 back in a single win shared win. Maybe 20 people playing?
Ran over to Jerry's Nugget after this session to cash in a ACG coupon for a free draft beer, signed up for their club which gave me a free reusable shopping bag, and won $10 on a $5 ACG match play coupon. Raced back to the other nugget for the 5pm session...
Using the first ACG $25 match voucher, I again have no idea what package was bought. Whatever! Won the coverall, but had to share the $70 with 3 other players. With tips, this was a $13 net loss.
Final session is at 9pm, and we've got entries at Texas Station for a 8:15 drawing! Race over there, do another LVA 2-1 feast, find out we didn't win the sweeps, head back to Jerry's. Another $25 +match voucher, and I win $13 this time. $100 buy-in for bingo with $150 in cards and I basically end up dead even for this play.
Yellow Brick Road is playing at Texas Station at 10, so we go back and catch 1/2 hour or so of that. Packed house, SRO, and about 20 degrees too hot for us, we head to...the Cosmopolitan!
The traffic is awful. It took 45 minutes to exit I-15 and find our way to the Bellagio garage where it's at least 125F from the weather and engine heat. Taking the tram to city center and walking to the Cosmo, decent video poker at a non-chandelier bar for a $20 buy-in, I lose $17 but consume two Yuzu sours--so good! Some guy on the couch has a vomiting problem so that was fun to watch the Cosmo deal with.
Then back to the Orleans to use that final $10 ACG match--winner! Took the $20 and ran to bed.
Day 10: As wife slept, I was up at 9am headed to the Boar's Head Bar for some quality JOB. Sipping coffee, I hit a nice straight flush and a FOAK with a $2 scratcher. I like rolling out of bed to win $100 or so.
Since she doesn't have a LVA MRB, I head out solo to Money Plays for a $10 vp buy-in and 2 free tacos and a pint. Yum! Didn't win, but the food was worth it.
Drove over to NYC Bar to use the $20 match vp coupon on 7/5 job. Not the best game by far, but the match makes it easy to play for a while and have good convo with patrons. Walked out with my $20 back, less the cost of a beer.
Picked up my wife, and headed to the Riveria. Maybe this place is having problems because the music in the joint is horrible? ACG $10 bj match is a loser, even worse as I only saw 6/5 naturals. Wife is a new member and runs through $100 on goldfish losing $52 of it, goes back to the club where they put $25 in credits back on, she plays through that and walks with $32 in cash and a$25 voucher that is good for a year starting next month. Not great, but lots of p,ay for little cost. I hope the Riv is in business for another year.
Over to the Gold Coast, lost $5ACG match, didn't bother with the LVA $10 slot coupon as it seemed they weren't interested in our use of coupons. Screw 'em.
Palms: win $20 with the ACG $10 match, used the LVA 50% at Garduno's. Terrible food and bad service, but great margaritas. This place has gone downhill big time.
Back downtown for our final night, I lost $5 at bj and $5 at roulette using ACG coupons, but 2-1 drinkie coupons help a bit.
Golden Gate: I fed the fish another $15 for squat.
Plaza: lost $15 on auto craps. Have they ever cleaned this machine? There's dark grime all over it, and the dice container is all messed up like someone poured a vanilla shake all over it and now it's dried on. Ick.
MSS: another 90 minutes at the Boar's Head nets a few bucks and 4-5 bottles of water. Water, because we have to drive back to LA in he morning.
Day 11: drive/fly home! Hottest July 9th in Vegas in 70 years I later learn. Gambling wise, I think I end the trip up between $150 and $200. No complaints! Had a blast!
I've been a LVA subscriber most years going back to the 90s, so I had a MRB on this trip. My wife, who began this trip unemployed, did not. But we did both have the American Casino Guide book. So, loaded with $5 & $10 match plays plus food coupons, off we went.
Day 1: flew ANC-SNA. Picked up rental, toured Mission San Juan Capistrano. Beautiful place.
Headed back to the car, wife checks our home answering machine to...a job offer! Totally awesome way to start the trip! This has been a very long time coming! Time to celebrate, so it's off to The Tonga Hut in Hollywood for a drink!
Then to Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles for dinner. Soooo good.
Day 2: woke up in Pomona, did some clothes shopping and messed around in LA, at one point we chased The Edge from U2 in his dark green Maserati in Malibu. Maybe it wasn't actually him, but we went to see the house that my money helped him buy and when we got there, this car pulled out of the garage. I like to think that it was him, and that my rented Ford Focus couldn't keep up. Funny stuff, sweet house too. Spent the night slumming it in 29 Palms at the shampoo-less Motel 6.
Day 3: drove through the hot and beautiful Joshua Tree National Park, meeting I-40 on the south end of the park. Well over 100F now.
Spent the night in Prescott where we attended a very disappointing concert by Puscifer.
Day 4: Got up late, bought a small boxed wine which we sipped out of hotel plastic cups as we watched the sunset on the Grand Canyon. Good times.
Day 5: Our anniversary! Checked out of our Flagstaff hotel and stopped by Sunset Crater National Monument. Then on to VEGAS!
First stop was the the office to pick up my MRB. Then to the Mirage to pick up my LVA-discounted tix for LOVE. After checking in at the fantastically remodeled Plaza, we used our $30 off coupon for an excellent steak dinner at The Flame. After the show, a nice, slow drive on the strip was called for before calling it a night.
Day 6: Now it's all about coupons!
Aliante Station: LVA 2-1 feast for lunch. First time seeing this place and was impressed with it's lack of customers. Nice, but it's no GVR or RR.
On to Lucky Club: joined their club which resulted in $5 free slot play using the ACG, won $10 on that playing some dumb camping-themed slot where toilet paper gets the big win. $10 ACG match play at bj won me another $20. Took my $30 and used the 3rd ACG coupon for a free Corona.
Next up was Bighorn Casino, another new one, though I've been to the Longhorn on Boulder with LVA coupons in the past without ever signing up. ACG had a $10 match play, and since I was closer to 21 than the dealer, I walked out $20 wealthier.
After a nice afternoon nap, another LVA 2-1 Feast was consumed, this time at Boulder Station, followed by a $2 win on Goldfish 1. Tried to hit up the Longhorn for a play, but didn't have my card with me. It would have to wait.
Back downtown, my wife signed up at the Golden Gate but forgot to use her signup-only ACG $25 match play. 'Doh! Still, she won $23 playing Goldfish Mermaids, I lost $35 on the Armada version. I finished the night losing $20 at the Plaza on JOB VP.
Day 7: got up and headed to Ellis Island. Using the first of our two 4 free drinks coupons, we chose bloody Mary's and then headed to the diner to use another 2-1. I had an account, to which I applied a $10 VP and$10 slot credit which wouldn't be accessible until the next day (paperwork).
Wandered over to Tuscany, who gave me $5 slot play via an ACG coupon (won $3 at some German beer themed slot) and the new sign up fun book had a $5 match play which was a winner. Gift shop coupon gave us each a deck of used cards. Yay. Walked out up $13. Thanks, Tuscany!
Down the street at Terrible's, I used the ACG $10 match for a bj win of $20. Hit up the free slot tourney upstairs and wanted those 3 minutes back when done.
Over to the Hard Rock, where we were given an American Flag and lanyards. In return, I tried to give them a $10 using a ACG match play but I won $20 again using that, and after being absent from their casino for a decade, I had been purged from their system, allowing me to use the ACG sign up bonus of $10 slotplay. That won me another $15 on a Frankenstein machine. Yay!
Back to the Longhorn to use that $10 match play, which was a loser.
Since it was the 4th of July, we now headed north and parked at Fiesta Rancho where I made good use of the LVA Agave bar chips/salsa and margarita coupon, a great play. Then over to Baja Fresh at Texas Station for dinner. At 9, we headed outside for the fireworks show being launched from the Texas parking garage. Great show! Watched it from the sidewalk then headed outside Texas Station. Back inside, I won $3 in an hour of JOB. Meh.
Drove back downtown to get my wife signed up at the El Cortez and all that brings--a keychain? We each played our $10 slotplay from ACG on a Enchanted Unicorn machine, leaving $5 richer. Also won $4.50 on a automated craps machine--Press The Button! Yeah, that's annoying.
After wandering down Fremont, we stopped in at Insert Coins which was packed. Sad that these machines cost $.50 now, but it's understandable. Wife killed at Tetris, setting a top 10 score for the day and got to enter her initials. It's 1985 at 2012 prices. Neat!
Stopped by the D to try out the newly installed Sigma Races coin-op machine. Fun game! Glad to see it return to Fremont St. I think I lost a few bucks on it, and quit playing when it would just spit my quarters right back out upon insertion. Weird.
One last stop at the Goldeny Gate for a shrimp cocktail. What's this $3.99 stuff? Skipped that and we sat down at Goldfish once again. Drunk woman leaned up on my wife, put her arm around her, called her gorgeous and said " hey how about you buy me a shrimp cocktail?". Uh, no? I forget what was said next, but we didn't need security and the drunk loser left. Then I won $14 and wife won too. What a day!
Day 8: Spent $50 for the Tropicana SlotPlayOnline new signups deal, then after spending several hours at a laundromat and doing more clothes shopping, we finally continued the run back at Ellis Island. My $20 in coupons were waiting for me, so I walked away with $22 on some wolf-themed game, used the LVA 2-1 diner coupon for another excellent meal, and used my wife's 4-free drinks coupon too! Love this place, but sadly the bartender said this year was the end of coupons for Ellis Island. Hope that isn't the case.
Headed to the Trop to make use of that $50 for $25 slotplay deal. Ended up $16 (thanks Goldfish!). Also made use of the Trop's refund deal, as I "lost" $40, but got $20 back on the promo on day 1. Played through that, ended up even.
After an awesome late dinner at The Vegas Hofbrauhaus and two free 10oz beers for joining their mailing list. Boy can they make sausages...
Cranking some Kraftwerk in the car (we are the operators of our pocket calculators), we headed to Frankie's Tiki Room on W. Charleston for a 1am beverage. Wow, these are good! Frankie's is now a must-do in Vegas. Milked 2 drinks for over 2 hours in good company, bought a t-shirt, shared a pizza from Boston Pizza, not the chain. Very good! Bed at 3:30, just like it should be.
Day 9: moved from the Plaza to MSS next door to save $50 for the weekend. Back to the Trop for the next %25 of our rebates, which garnered me $11.
Orleans: LVA $10 match play bj win for $20. LVA $10 slotplay coupon came out about even. Forgot to use ACG $10 match. Must be the ridiculous 110F heat.
Back downtown to Magnolia's in the Four Queens. Another 2-1 and a good lunch. Applying the LVA $10 slot coupon nets me $11.
And this brings us to Saturday 3pm bingo at the Silver Nugget!
As is always the case with bingo, I really have no idea what my purchase was. I gave them $50 and my ACG 2x$25 coupon. Won the $50 back in a single win shared win. Maybe 20 people playing?
Ran over to Jerry's Nugget after this session to cash in a ACG coupon for a free draft beer, signed up for their club which gave me a free reusable shopping bag, and won $10 on a $5 ACG match play coupon. Raced back to the other nugget for the 5pm session...
Using the first ACG $25 match voucher, I again have no idea what package was bought. Whatever! Won the coverall, but had to share the $70 with 3 other players. With tips, this was a $13 net loss.
Final session is at 9pm, and we've got entries at Texas Station for a 8:15 drawing! Race over there, do another LVA 2-1 feast, find out we didn't win the sweeps, head back to Jerry's. Another $25 +match voucher, and I win $13 this time. $100 buy-in for bingo with $150 in cards and I basically end up dead even for this play.
Yellow Brick Road is playing at Texas Station at 10, so we go back and catch 1/2 hour or so of that. Packed house, SRO, and about 20 degrees too hot for us, we head to...the Cosmopolitan!
The traffic is awful. It took 45 minutes to exit I-15 and find our way to the Bellagio garage where it's at least 125F from the weather and engine heat. Taking the tram to city center and walking to the Cosmo, decent video poker at a non-chandelier bar for a $20 buy-in, I lose $17 but consume two Yuzu sours--so good! Some guy on the couch has a vomiting problem so that was fun to watch the Cosmo deal with.
Then back to the Orleans to use that final $10 ACG match--winner! Took the $20 and ran to bed.
Day 10: As wife slept, I was up at 9am headed to the Boar's Head Bar for some quality JOB. Sipping coffee, I hit a nice straight flush and a FOAK with a $2 scratcher. I like rolling out of bed to win $100 or so.
Since she doesn't have a LVA MRB, I head out solo to Money Plays for a $10 vp buy-in and 2 free tacos and a pint. Yum! Didn't win, but the food was worth it.
Drove over to NYC Bar to use the $20 match vp coupon on 7/5 job. Not the best game by far, but the match makes it easy to play for a while and have good convo with patrons. Walked out with my $20 back, less the cost of a beer.
Picked up my wife, and headed to the Riveria. Maybe this place is having problems because the music in the joint is horrible? ACG $10 bj match is a loser, even worse as I only saw 6/5 naturals. Wife is a new member and runs through $100 on goldfish losing $52 of it, goes back to the club where they put $25 in credits back on, she plays through that and walks with $32 in cash and a$25 voucher that is good for a year starting next month. Not great, but lots of p,ay for little cost. I hope the Riv is in business for another year.
Over to the Gold Coast, lost $5ACG match, didn't bother with the LVA $10 slot coupon as it seemed they weren't interested in our use of coupons. Screw 'em.
Palms: win $20 with the ACG $10 match, used the LVA 50% at Garduno's. Terrible food and bad service, but great margaritas. This place has gone downhill big time.
Back downtown for our final night, I lost $5 at bj and $5 at roulette using ACG coupons, but 2-1 drinkie coupons help a bit.
Golden Gate: I fed the fish another $15 for squat.
Plaza: lost $15 on auto craps. Have they ever cleaned this machine? There's dark grime all over it, and the dice container is all messed up like someone poured a vanilla shake all over it and now it's dried on. Ick.
MSS: another 90 minutes at the Boar's Head nets a few bucks and 4-5 bottles of water. Water, because we have to drive back to LA in he morning.
Day 11: drive/fly home! Hottest July 9th in Vegas in 70 years I later learn. Gambling wise, I think I end the trip up between $150 and $200. No complaints! Had a blast!
