Summer 2012 – Day 15
Once again, it was time to pack things up and leave Laughlin and make the drive back to Las Vegas. However, I needed stay until 10:00 AM when the promotions booth opened to get my last scratch off amount. I got everything packed and all the morning routine finished by 8:30 and walked down to the casino and played the one 50-play machine for two cents. Once again the dealt three-of-a-kinds simply weren’t coming and it appeared I was once again heading for another loss but then managed to catch a royal on hand 37. This is the third royal this trip on this machine. I don’t count this as a Royal like I do on a single line. For a 2-cent machine, you only win $80 for the royal, which really allows you to keep playing, it’s not a “cash out” moment like a single line $1000. For that I am still waiting. On my 240th hand (it’s easy to calculate as it takes two dealt hands for one point ($10.00 per point and I had 120 points this session), I was dealt three 5s. I managed only one quad. Three hands later I was dealt three Jacks and hit 6 quads (at 600 credits per quad on Super Double Bonus that was $72). That was the last dealt three-of-a-kind of the session. I finished the session breaking even and putting 286 points on my card. However only getting dealt two three-of-a-kinds in 572 hands is downright suspicious. Okay, no more whining.
I went to the promotion booth and my last scratch off was another $25 making the total promotion $65 for me. As I waited in line, I struck up a conversation with a nice older couple. She was doing much better getting $25/$50/$50…so at least someone is catching some luck. I used the free play on a single line of Jacks and lost that, so it was time to get in the car and go. At least I broke even and added a few points on the card.
The drive to Laughlin was good. The sky had just a few clouds and the temperature was 98. I filled up the car yesterday in Bullhead ($3.12) so there’d be no reason to stop at Costco in Henderson this time. I pulled over at the rest stop that I’ve been talking about for the few days. It seems they began working on this around the same time the new Boulder Dam Bridge. The bridge has long been finished and this place is still putting on some “finishing touches.” Here’s at least a picture of it.
The unusually rest stop between Laughlin and Searchlight
I drove directly downtown and parked in the Main Street Station garage, my hotel for just tonight. I’m meeting Terry and Louise, LVA friends from Aurora, CO. They’re stopping over at Vegas for a couple of days and then flying off to Hawaii to attend a wedding and then back again to Vegas for a couple more days. After this Vegas trip ends for me, I’ll be flying off to their place and on to the Black Hawk/Central City casino area outside the Denver area in the mountains (no fire damage there). They’re staying on a comp at the 4 Queens, which is why I chose Main Street Station. Terry sent me a text this morning while I was on the 50-play machine saying he had just hit the 10/7 progressive for $1150. I’ve been here 15 days without a single line royal, and Terry hits one in his first two hours. Geez!
We met at Magnolia’s and chatted for a while catching up and discussing the plans for their Hawaii trip. We then walked over to Main Street Station so I could check in and was given Room 9-11, not a number easily forgotten (it also happens to be the birthday on one of my granddaughters ). I took my usual picture of the room and then noticed something shockingly different in the bathroom. For the many of you who have stayed here at Main Street Station, you very well know the one oddity of the place: the shower heads. All of the rooms were the same, the shower heads were made of the Lollypop Guild. In order to wash your hair, you’d have to bend way down to get your head under the faucet. Well, in the room at least, they moved it up! For you first-time readers, you must be thinking, “Geez, this guy’s writing about shower heads.” But for the rest of you—you know what I’m talking about.
The now famous relocated shower head
Room at Main Street Station - one bed for me, the other for my overnight bag
It was that time of year for me to play my year’s quarters, which has become somewhat of a tradition on these trips. I save up my change all year and before my summer trip, I separate all of it putting the pennies aside for whatever class fund raiser there is in the fall at school, and I’d play the rest in machines, counting up my winnings. Of course, there are no more nickel and dime coin-fed machines and there are only a couple of places that still have quarter coin-drop machines left in Vegas. So I took the dimes and nickels to my credit union at a coin machine, which turned out to be $35. The quarters I placed in a bag.
A year of throwing quarters in a jar at the end of the day
It’s important that I don’t count the quarters; just take the winnings. This year I’m going to play them through the 8/5 Treasure Chest machines in Main Street Station. Terry and Louise began playing on one side, and I played on the other. It wasn’t too long and I caught a quad, which turned out to me 140 credits. That was a good thing because when I finally ran all my quarters through the machine, I had only caught one full house and one flush. However, I did manage to make $103 when I cashed them in, which I’m sure was more than I started out with. I then put in $35 from the other change I had cashed and was soon dealt a quad and cashed out $65 for a $30 win. Terry also cashed out with a small win and the two of us went into the 777 brewery for a couple of beers. Louise wanted to keep playing. The brews here are good and I ordered a shortbread pizza appetizer. We had a great time just drinking the beers and talking. Finally, we headed back to find Louise still at her machine, but her credits were down having not hit another quad since we left. She was having a pleasant conversation with the lady next to her who happened to be visiting from Hawaii.
Terry and Louise
We walked back to Freemont Street and strolled into the newly remodeled Golden Gate Casino (the very first casino in the downtown area). Gone is the snack bar in the back with the famous $.99 cent shrimp cocktail. We all agreed that they did an outstanding job making this very old casino look new again. Unfortunately, there was hardly anyone in the place.
The new lobby at the Golden Gate
Very cool mosaic at the Golden Gate entrance
The newly remodeled casino area at Golden Gate
We dropped into the Freemont casino to check out the Pick ‘em machines. I read in someone’s trip report that they had added four more to the two that were already there. The three of us looked over the whole casino and couldn’t find them. If you’re reading these reports, could you let me know where they’re located? Perhaps they’re not in the Game King machines?
Outside the Freemont Experience was beginning to get busy and a few of the “characters” began to make their appearances (people dressing up as stars and cartoon characters for tips—panhandling in costume). Gene Simmons, a very bad Austin Powers, and a Sylvester Stallon were already hoping for hand-outs. Later tonight, they’ll be one every twenty feet or so. We went back into the 4 Queens as it was time to give them some play. Louise played the only available Lord of the Rings machine and Terry and I sat down at the 8/5 bonus poker games. It was another long, drought of quads with me hitting only one and Terry two. I lost $200 (though I had won $135 earlier, so the sting wasn’t so bad). The luck on this trip simply has to turn around at some point—I hope.
It was time for dinner. Terry and Louise had a comp at Hugo’s Cellar and were kind enough to invite me along. Hugo’s is located in the cellar (where else?) of the 4 Queens and is a fine dining restaurant. After Louise getting her traditional rose and being seated, we were given a basket of assorted breads. The salads make-to-order at your table with any ingredients you’d like (I had shrimp and anchovies—don’t ask). I could make an entire meal of just the salad—delicious. After the small ice cream cone of sherbet (cleansing of the palate, of course), Terry and Louise split a rib eye (they’re huge), and I had the sea scallops. This was followed by a complimentary desert tray of chocolate covered strawberries and other delights. The comp was for $150 and the bill was for $148—perfect! I might be a loser at gambling, but I’m a big winner when it comes to friends. Thanks!
We said our goodnights agreeing to meet the next day at 10 AM. I headed back to Main Street Station and the Freemont Experience was in full force. The bands were playing, the costumed panhandlers were out in force, and the place was packed! Summer is supposed to be the slow time in Vegas. Those pronouncements are made by the casino folk who don’t have the really large conventions, and thus the big gamblers; however, summer is when we “common-folk” come out in force to take advantage of the great room deals, and out we came. This is about a crowded as I’ve ever seen Freemont on a non-holiday. On my stop here last week, I had mentioned that I didn’t really have a problem with the costumed panhandlers, as they seemed to add to the kitsch of the place; however, there was one “devil” dressed in not much more than a bathing suit top and a g-string, which I thought was inappropriate considering the Freemont Street Experience is packed with families who have small children. One reader was disappointed I didn’t take a picture of her. Well—here ya go.
The band was rockin' on Freemont (okay, really just crank up the volume and screaming in a mic)
Yes, it's the rear view, but you get the idea
I thought I’d take a moment out to answer some of your reader questions or comments:
Wjkomo: You are 100% correct about Harrah's/Caesars green policy being selfish first, environmental second. If it saves them money, they are all about "being green". If it doesn't save them money somehow it will not make their "green priorities" list! I am all for green too, but let's challenge them to do something green that is significant, and that will COST them money!
Waynes: I haven’t been to Ellis Island (other than the fast stop during last year’s the Hit ‘em All Vegas) and haven’t eaten there in a long time. I’ll need to make a point of it this summer.
Sundrop6: No. The solar plant I took pictures of is building up. I’m not sure which one you’re referring to that is shutting down.
Strubb66: You’re right. It was $3.31 not $1.31…that was a typo. Yesterday when I bought gas in Bullhead, it was $3.12
Cancerchick: The QQ/Wheel game is in the Silverton. It’s hard to explain but if you go to Jonny Rockets, go directly into the casino floor about 20 ft. There are six machines in the middle (three back-to-back). On one side are just the wheel on the other side are three QQ/Wheel. You have to look closely on the panel that gives the name of the game. Also Ugly Deuces refers to the schedule: 5/10/15/20/20/45/75/125/250/4000 (full coin). The game is triple/five play in nickels and quarters.
Marcisdave: I also thought Huey Lewis would be the headliners and thus going on second. My guess is that because the weather was questionable, they flipped the order in case it would begin to rain. Perhaps, Cancer Chic would share with us the order as she saw them this past Tuesday in Albuquerque.
Thanks everyone for your comments. Keep ‘em coming.
I returned to Main Street Station and managed to stop the urge to play anymore and went up to the room. I watched a little TV and finally to bed. Main Street Station doesn’t have blackout curtains. All of their rooms have only shutters, which are attractive but are lousy for keeping out the light. Also, when you stay downtown, you can be sure that you’ll be hearing sirens at all hours. After a while, it all becomes just part of the ambience.
More tomorrow.
Once again, it was time to pack things up and leave Laughlin and make the drive back to Las Vegas. However, I needed stay until 10:00 AM when the promotions booth opened to get my last scratch off amount. I got everything packed and all the morning routine finished by 8:30 and walked down to the casino and played the one 50-play machine for two cents. Once again the dealt three-of-a-kinds simply weren’t coming and it appeared I was once again heading for another loss but then managed to catch a royal on hand 37. This is the third royal this trip on this machine. I don’t count this as a Royal like I do on a single line. For a 2-cent machine, you only win $80 for the royal, which really allows you to keep playing, it’s not a “cash out” moment like a single line $1000. For that I am still waiting. On my 240th hand (it’s easy to calculate as it takes two dealt hands for one point ($10.00 per point and I had 120 points this session), I was dealt three 5s. I managed only one quad. Three hands later I was dealt three Jacks and hit 6 quads (at 600 credits per quad on Super Double Bonus that was $72). That was the last dealt three-of-a-kind of the session. I finished the session breaking even and putting 286 points on my card. However only getting dealt two three-of-a-kinds in 572 hands is downright suspicious. Okay, no more whining.
I went to the promotion booth and my last scratch off was another $25 making the total promotion $65 for me. As I waited in line, I struck up a conversation with a nice older couple. She was doing much better getting $25/$50/$50…so at least someone is catching some luck. I used the free play on a single line of Jacks and lost that, so it was time to get in the car and go. At least I broke even and added a few points on the card.
The drive to Laughlin was good. The sky had just a few clouds and the temperature was 98. I filled up the car yesterday in Bullhead ($3.12) so there’d be no reason to stop at Costco in Henderson this time. I pulled over at the rest stop that I’ve been talking about for the few days. It seems they began working on this around the same time the new Boulder Dam Bridge. The bridge has long been finished and this place is still putting on some “finishing touches.” Here’s at least a picture of it.
The unusually rest stop between Laughlin and Searchlight
I drove directly downtown and parked in the Main Street Station garage, my hotel for just tonight. I’m meeting Terry and Louise, LVA friends from Aurora, CO. They’re stopping over at Vegas for a couple of days and then flying off to Hawaii to attend a wedding and then back again to Vegas for a couple more days. After this Vegas trip ends for me, I’ll be flying off to their place and on to the Black Hawk/Central City casino area outside the Denver area in the mountains (no fire damage there). They’re staying on a comp at the 4 Queens, which is why I chose Main Street Station. Terry sent me a text this morning while I was on the 50-play machine saying he had just hit the 10/7 progressive for $1150. I’ve been here 15 days without a single line royal, and Terry hits one in his first two hours. Geez!
We met at Magnolia’s and chatted for a while catching up and discussing the plans for their Hawaii trip. We then walked over to Main Street Station so I could check in and was given Room 9-11, not a number easily forgotten (it also happens to be the birthday on one of my granddaughters ). I took my usual picture of the room and then noticed something shockingly different in the bathroom. For the many of you who have stayed here at Main Street Station, you very well know the one oddity of the place: the shower heads. All of the rooms were the same, the shower heads were made of the Lollypop Guild. In order to wash your hair, you’d have to bend way down to get your head under the faucet. Well, in the room at least, they moved it up! For you first-time readers, you must be thinking, “Geez, this guy’s writing about shower heads.” But for the rest of you—you know what I’m talking about.
The now famous relocated shower head
Room at Main Street Station - one bed for me, the other for my overnight bag
It was that time of year for me to play my year’s quarters, which has become somewhat of a tradition on these trips. I save up my change all year and before my summer trip, I separate all of it putting the pennies aside for whatever class fund raiser there is in the fall at school, and I’d play the rest in machines, counting up my winnings. Of course, there are no more nickel and dime coin-fed machines and there are only a couple of places that still have quarter coin-drop machines left in Vegas. So I took the dimes and nickels to my credit union at a coin machine, which turned out to be $35. The quarters I placed in a bag.
A year of throwing quarters in a jar at the end of the day
It’s important that I don’t count the quarters; just take the winnings. This year I’m going to play them through the 8/5 Treasure Chest machines in Main Street Station. Terry and Louise began playing on one side, and I played on the other. It wasn’t too long and I caught a quad, which turned out to me 140 credits. That was a good thing because when I finally ran all my quarters through the machine, I had only caught one full house and one flush. However, I did manage to make $103 when I cashed them in, which I’m sure was more than I started out with. I then put in $35 from the other change I had cashed and was soon dealt a quad and cashed out $65 for a $30 win. Terry also cashed out with a small win and the two of us went into the 777 brewery for a couple of beers. Louise wanted to keep playing. The brews here are good and I ordered a shortbread pizza appetizer. We had a great time just drinking the beers and talking. Finally, we headed back to find Louise still at her machine, but her credits were down having not hit another quad since we left. She was having a pleasant conversation with the lady next to her who happened to be visiting from Hawaii.
Terry and Louise
We walked back to Freemont Street and strolled into the newly remodeled Golden Gate Casino (the very first casino in the downtown area). Gone is the snack bar in the back with the famous $.99 cent shrimp cocktail. We all agreed that they did an outstanding job making this very old casino look new again. Unfortunately, there was hardly anyone in the place.
The new lobby at the Golden Gate
Very cool mosaic at the Golden Gate entrance
The newly remodeled casino area at Golden Gate
We dropped into the Freemont casino to check out the Pick ‘em machines. I read in someone’s trip report that they had added four more to the two that were already there. The three of us looked over the whole casino and couldn’t find them. If you’re reading these reports, could you let me know where they’re located? Perhaps they’re not in the Game King machines?
Outside the Freemont Experience was beginning to get busy and a few of the “characters” began to make their appearances (people dressing up as stars and cartoon characters for tips—panhandling in costume). Gene Simmons, a very bad Austin Powers, and a Sylvester Stallon were already hoping for hand-outs. Later tonight, they’ll be one every twenty feet or so. We went back into the 4 Queens as it was time to give them some play. Louise played the only available Lord of the Rings machine and Terry and I sat down at the 8/5 bonus poker games. It was another long, drought of quads with me hitting only one and Terry two. I lost $200 (though I had won $135 earlier, so the sting wasn’t so bad). The luck on this trip simply has to turn around at some point—I hope.
It was time for dinner. Terry and Louise had a comp at Hugo’s Cellar and were kind enough to invite me along. Hugo’s is located in the cellar (where else?) of the 4 Queens and is a fine dining restaurant. After Louise getting her traditional rose and being seated, we were given a basket of assorted breads. The salads make-to-order at your table with any ingredients you’d like (I had shrimp and anchovies—don’t ask). I could make an entire meal of just the salad—delicious. After the small ice cream cone of sherbet (cleansing of the palate, of course), Terry and Louise split a rib eye (they’re huge), and I had the sea scallops. This was followed by a complimentary desert tray of chocolate covered strawberries and other delights. The comp was for $150 and the bill was for $148—perfect! I might be a loser at gambling, but I’m a big winner when it comes to friends. Thanks!
We said our goodnights agreeing to meet the next day at 10 AM. I headed back to Main Street Station and the Freemont Experience was in full force. The bands were playing, the costumed panhandlers were out in force, and the place was packed! Summer is supposed to be the slow time in Vegas. Those pronouncements are made by the casino folk who don’t have the really large conventions, and thus the big gamblers; however, summer is when we “common-folk” come out in force to take advantage of the great room deals, and out we came. This is about a crowded as I’ve ever seen Freemont on a non-holiday. On my stop here last week, I had mentioned that I didn’t really have a problem with the costumed panhandlers, as they seemed to add to the kitsch of the place; however, there was one “devil” dressed in not much more than a bathing suit top and a g-string, which I thought was inappropriate considering the Freemont Street Experience is packed with families who have small children. One reader was disappointed I didn’t take a picture of her. Well—here ya go.
The band was rockin' on Freemont (okay, really just crank up the volume and screaming in a mic)
Yes, it's the rear view, but you get the idea
I thought I’d take a moment out to answer some of your reader questions or comments:
Wjkomo: You are 100% correct about Harrah's/Caesars green policy being selfish first, environmental second. If it saves them money, they are all about "being green". If it doesn't save them money somehow it will not make their "green priorities" list! I am all for green too, but let's challenge them to do something green that is significant, and that will COST them money!
Waynes: I haven’t been to Ellis Island (other than the fast stop during last year’s the Hit ‘em All Vegas) and haven’t eaten there in a long time. I’ll need to make a point of it this summer.
Sundrop6: No. The solar plant I took pictures of is building up. I’m not sure which one you’re referring to that is shutting down.
Strubb66: You’re right. It was $3.31 not $1.31…that was a typo. Yesterday when I bought gas in Bullhead, it was $3.12
Cancerchick: The QQ/Wheel game is in the Silverton. It’s hard to explain but if you go to Jonny Rockets, go directly into the casino floor about 20 ft. There are six machines in the middle (three back-to-back). On one side are just the wheel on the other side are three QQ/Wheel. You have to look closely on the panel that gives the name of the game. Also Ugly Deuces refers to the schedule: 5/10/15/20/20/45/75/125/250/4000 (full coin). The game is triple/five play in nickels and quarters.
Marcisdave: I also thought Huey Lewis would be the headliners and thus going on second. My guess is that because the weather was questionable, they flipped the order in case it would begin to rain. Perhaps, Cancer Chic would share with us the order as she saw them this past Tuesday in Albuquerque.
Thanks everyone for your comments. Keep ‘em coming.
I returned to Main Street Station and managed to stop the urge to play anymore and went up to the room. I watched a little TV and finally to bed. Main Street Station doesn’t have blackout curtains. All of their rooms have only shutters, which are attractive but are lousy for keeping out the light. Also, when you stay downtown, you can be sure that you’ll be hearing sirens at all hours. After a while, it all becomes just part of the ambience.
More tomorrow.
