Question of the Day - 13 December 2018

[Editor's Note: We handed this one off to our guy David McKee who, as you'll see from the answer, has a deep affection for the Derby device.] 

It’s important because Sigma has long since gone out of business, meaning that the Derby is an endangered species of game.

MGM Grand went above and beyond the call of duty in keeping its machine alive, scrounging up spare parts and even MacGyvering new ones when the old ones gave up the ghost. Finally, it was simply past the point of repair. As an MGM Resorts International rep told VitalVegas.com, the company had “done everything possible to prolong its active lifespan, but that’s simply no longer possible.” (Among other vulnerabilities, the coin-only game couldn’t be retrofitted for ticket-in/ticket-out play.)

Sigma Derby was popular with players despite its huge edge for its parlay betting (you bet on two "horses" per race), for its lengthy time on device (10 times as long per wager than even the slowest slot machine), and for the fun of watching little plastic horses canter around a miniature racing oval. In a way, it was an allegory of the horse-racing industry: Races subsidized by slot machines, a minuscule racino. With its 10-player capacity, Sigma Derby combined the atmosphere of a table game with the mechanical action of a slot bonus round.

The Sigma Derby dome also made a convenient rendezvous point, as it stood out on the vast MGM Grand casino floor. Now you can only play it at the D downtown. (D owner Derek Stevens made himself something of a hero to nostalgia buffs when he brought back Sigma Derby.) Stevens is backstopping The D against the day when Nevada’s last Sigma Derby game goes to that big glue and baling wire factory in the sky: He installed a Fortune Cup machine, made by Konami. It's the same idea, though more technologically up to date (bill acceptors, ticket-in/ticket-out, etc.) and more expensive to play: a dollar compared to Sigma Derby’s quarter. 

We hope MGM didn’t just throw its Sigma Derby machine into a landfill. That beloved old war horse belongs in a museum -- for example, the Pinball Museum in Las Vegas.