I originally grew up in New England and I have lived all over the United States - most recently settled in Iowa for a new job. My parents are still in Connecticut and while they live independently, they are older -and my siblings and I try to assist them with different things. Periodically this means a trip back east. During this most recent trip, I wanted to hit a couple of east coast casinos.
We caught a flight from Iowa via Chicago to La Guardia, picked up our rental from Avis and before too long I was on familiar roads slowly going over the Whitestone Bridge on my way to Connecticut. My plan was to take a couple of quick gaming junkets to Yonkers Raceway(Empire City Casino) and Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun along with taking care of the family obligations. I have been coaching my brother on successful advantage play (who thanks to VP for Winners has turned into an accurate JOB player). I convinced my father that we can get a free lunch from our play. He has always liked the idea of something free, and I remember driving around town to find gas a penny or two less per gallon.
Yonkers is about 35 minutes (traffic depending) from where my folks live. My dad and I got into my rental (my brother wasn’t available) and headed up the Merritt Parkway. Traffic was reasonably open for this area- meaning it was actually moving without bizarre multi-decade construction zones. I remember going to Yonkers raceway thirty years ago and was surprised to discover that they actually had a casino there. We pulled in, parked and walked in. My father is remarkably agile for an 89 year old man and is always up for an adventure. We both got our player’s cards and $5.00 in free play. The casino is a vast barn of slot machines and to my surprise, I found some 9/6 JOB VP in quarters. Both $5 vouchers disappeared without profit however.
I decided to take a hundred dollar flyer and play at my preferred dollar level; however the machine would not take the bill. I pulled out another- no luck. You know the drill- you take the bill and try to smooth out any wrinkles and feed it back in, the machine takes it, thinks about it, and spits it back out. My Dad offered to go trade in the bill and I saw a sign that said “redemption” and figured that it must be the cashier (wrong). As my Dad walked off I tried a third hundred which slide in just fine. I was playing along, had enough hits to double my money in about twenty minutes, and cashed out. I then realized that;
a. Dad should have been back by now
b. He is agile- but easily confused and gets tired easily
c. I had better go look for him.
I made a quick trip to the redemption area which is no more that a group of those machines that will cash in your ticket. I followed that pathway and realized that this place is huge, noisy, and that there are multiple entrances. After about thirty minutes of roaming, I found a security officer sitting in a little desk and asked if they had overhead page. Nope. I then explained that my elderly father was probably wandering around and could he alert other folks to be on the lookout? Nope. Thank you very much. Quick prayer and walk off again.
After another thirty minutes I decided that my Dad would probably go to an exit and wait for me. I circled the various exits and finally found him also asking a security guard if they had overhead page. I was disappointed in the rude snippy demeanor of the staff we encountered, although I should have kept Dad close by.
Dad asked if I won any money and I told him that I did. He said let’s keep it and not ever come back. I agreed.
The following day my brother, father and I headed up to The Mohegan Sun. My brother does some business in the area so it was a type of business trip for him and I figured we could hit their 9/6 JOB bar tops for a while and earn enough points for lunch in their chowder house. It was a pleasant drive for about an hour and a half. We passed the Sikorsky Helicopter plant in Stratford, Connecticut. I remember their lot being packed with Huey Helicopters during the Viet Nam era but saw only one lonely helicopter as we passed by. We were soon at the Mohegan Sun. We dropped the rental at the Valet and went in to sign up for slot cards. They were giving us $100 in free play if we had empire casino slot cards- terrific. I was impressed with this place- large and spread out with a nice selection of shops and restaurants connecting the various casinos (casino of the wind, casino of the earth and so on). As we were walking towards the casino of the wind, we passed a “lost guest services desk”- great idea although I was determined to keep Dad in sight.
I coached Dad through his hundred in free play which unfortunately didn’t provide any wins. We got Dad cold water and I saddled up. It was a great session as I hit four of a kind four times. Each time I would cash out, play another hundred and cash out the win. I ended up over $700 in about an hour of play.
My brother was sitting at the bar with a client hunched over a lap top and in true gambler fashion- noticed me high fiving my Dad and cashing out slips which distracted him from the work he was trying to do.
His client left and he tried a couple of sessions without success. I told him that he had neglected to properly align the machine’s mojo prior to playing.
My brother has a fair amount of play here and offered to use his points for lunch. We went to the chowder house and each had a cup of chowder (New England style) with fish and chips. The food was fair but the price was right. I think the bill was almost $75 so this is not an inexpensive place but the points fully covered the expense.
We wanted to be respectful of Dad’s energy level so decided to leave right after lunch. He curled up the back seat for a power nap on the way home.
I’ll be back to visit them again in October so I’ll plan a day where we can explore more.
We caught a flight from Iowa via Chicago to La Guardia, picked up our rental from Avis and before too long I was on familiar roads slowly going over the Whitestone Bridge on my way to Connecticut. My plan was to take a couple of quick gaming junkets to Yonkers Raceway(Empire City Casino) and Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun along with taking care of the family obligations. I have been coaching my brother on successful advantage play (who thanks to VP for Winners has turned into an accurate JOB player). I convinced my father that we can get a free lunch from our play. He has always liked the idea of something free, and I remember driving around town to find gas a penny or two less per gallon.
Yonkers is about 35 minutes (traffic depending) from where my folks live. My dad and I got into my rental (my brother wasn’t available) and headed up the Merritt Parkway. Traffic was reasonably open for this area- meaning it was actually moving without bizarre multi-decade construction zones. I remember going to Yonkers raceway thirty years ago and was surprised to discover that they actually had a casino there. We pulled in, parked and walked in. My father is remarkably agile for an 89 year old man and is always up for an adventure. We both got our player’s cards and $5.00 in free play. The casino is a vast barn of slot machines and to my surprise, I found some 9/6 JOB VP in quarters. Both $5 vouchers disappeared without profit however.
I decided to take a hundred dollar flyer and play at my preferred dollar level; however the machine would not take the bill. I pulled out another- no luck. You know the drill- you take the bill and try to smooth out any wrinkles and feed it back in, the machine takes it, thinks about it, and spits it back out. My Dad offered to go trade in the bill and I saw a sign that said “redemption” and figured that it must be the cashier (wrong). As my Dad walked off I tried a third hundred which slide in just fine. I was playing along, had enough hits to double my money in about twenty minutes, and cashed out. I then realized that;
a. Dad should have been back by now
b. He is agile- but easily confused and gets tired easily
c. I had better go look for him.
I made a quick trip to the redemption area which is no more that a group of those machines that will cash in your ticket. I followed that pathway and realized that this place is huge, noisy, and that there are multiple entrances. After about thirty minutes of roaming, I found a security officer sitting in a little desk and asked if they had overhead page. Nope. I then explained that my elderly father was probably wandering around and could he alert other folks to be on the lookout? Nope. Thank you very much. Quick prayer and walk off again.
After another thirty minutes I decided that my Dad would probably go to an exit and wait for me. I circled the various exits and finally found him also asking a security guard if they had overhead page. I was disappointed in the rude snippy demeanor of the staff we encountered, although I should have kept Dad close by.
Dad asked if I won any money and I told him that I did. He said let’s keep it and not ever come back. I agreed.
The following day my brother, father and I headed up to The Mohegan Sun. My brother does some business in the area so it was a type of business trip for him and I figured we could hit their 9/6 JOB bar tops for a while and earn enough points for lunch in their chowder house. It was a pleasant drive for about an hour and a half. We passed the Sikorsky Helicopter plant in Stratford, Connecticut. I remember their lot being packed with Huey Helicopters during the Viet Nam era but saw only one lonely helicopter as we passed by. We were soon at the Mohegan Sun. We dropped the rental at the Valet and went in to sign up for slot cards. They were giving us $100 in free play if we had empire casino slot cards- terrific. I was impressed with this place- large and spread out with a nice selection of shops and restaurants connecting the various casinos (casino of the wind, casino of the earth and so on). As we were walking towards the casino of the wind, we passed a “lost guest services desk”- great idea although I was determined to keep Dad in sight.
I coached Dad through his hundred in free play which unfortunately didn’t provide any wins. We got Dad cold water and I saddled up. It was a great session as I hit four of a kind four times. Each time I would cash out, play another hundred and cash out the win. I ended up over $700 in about an hour of play.
My brother was sitting at the bar with a client hunched over a lap top and in true gambler fashion- noticed me high fiving my Dad and cashing out slips which distracted him from the work he was trying to do.
His client left and he tried a couple of sessions without success. I told him that he had neglected to properly align the machine’s mojo prior to playing.
My brother has a fair amount of play here and offered to use his points for lunch. We went to the chowder house and each had a cup of chowder (New England style) with fish and chips. The food was fair but the price was right. I think the bill was almost $75 so this is not an inexpensive place but the points fully covered the expense.
We wanted to be respectful of Dad’s energy level so decided to leave right after lunch. He curled up the back seat for a power nap on the way home.
I’ll be back to visit them again in October so I’ll plan a day where we can explore more.
