First introduced in 1985, the now-cult mechanical horse-racing game was the creation of Japanese manufacturer Sigma Game Inc. and soon became an almost-ubiquitous fixture on any self-respecting Strip-casino floor. However, in the intervening decades Derby has became very much an endangered species. This is in part on account of the amount of physical space the table takes up, especially for such a low-rolling game, but more crucially, it's demise is attributable the manufacturer running afoul of gaming regulators and embarking on a slippery slope that started with mass layoffs, and concluded with the sale of all its remaining assets back in 2010. At that juncture, Sigma Game Inc. effectively ceased to exist, taking with it the crew of maintenance workers and spare-parts manufacturers who'd kept these vintage games alive.
However, cashing in on the wave of retro nostalgia that has been sweeping through downtown of late, Derek Stevens, owner of the D, made a smart move back in 2012 by introducing an upstairs casino floor that featured an area dedicated to vintage video poker and slot machines, including the same Sigma Derby game that had once called the New Frontier home. It became the second-only working machine in Las Vegas, the other being at MGM Grand.
Still, while the Grand certainly has the casino-floor space to accommodate a Sigma Derby set-up (which seats up to 10 players), late last year we learned that the property had run out of spare parts and that the next time their machine broke down, it would be retired from the casino floor. Hence, there was widespread panic back in March of this year when word got out that MGM Grand's Derby game was down... It turned out to be a false alarm when somehow they found yet another fix, so for the time being players can still be off to the races without having to set foot in the nearby race and sports book, although we feel this model is living on borrowed time.
As to the much-hyped machine at the D, we were rendered speechless at the very thought that Derek might have ditched his Derby game! We didn't catch the episode of "Pawn Stars" in question, which aired June 8 as Show 37 of Season 12 and was titled "Pawntucky Derby"; however, while the official History Channel listing for the show is typically vague and gives nothing away, from perusing some chat forums we quickly gained reassurance that the machine remains in situ at the D and that the whole incident has more than a whiff of "barefaced publicity stunt about it. Considering Derek Stevens' amusing and wildly OTT unveiling of his replica "Manneken Pis" peeing-boy statue last September, we would hazard a guess and confidently suggest that the owner of the D never had any intention of selling his prized piece of casino memorabilia -- another clue being his crazy $80,000 asking price.
We don't know how much Stevens paid for the New Frontier specimen, but the last records we have of Sigma Derby machines being offered for sale date back to 2011, when the former Circus Circus model was being offered for a mere $7,000, and more recently to February 2014, when a game, purportedly in good condition and full working order, sold on eBay for $37,500. We're pretty sure Rick Harrison and his minions at Gold & Silver Pawn saw the same listing that we did and based their appraisal price on the actual sum fetched for a similar machine in fairly recent history. Even if the Pawn Star crew had momentarily lost their minds and offered Derek his $80,000 asking price, we're pretty sure his machine wasn't ever actually for sale.
