My Day Trip to Laughlin

[Blonde4ever]

My Day Trip to Laughlin

http://www.vegasbright.com/2016/08/08/outside-of-vegas-laughlin-day-tour/

[knagl]

Great write-up, Bonnie. 

We've visited Laughlin twice, and I thought it was decent.  The river area is nice.

I do know that even when I celebrate my 80th birthday, I'll be able to go to Laughlin and still be one of the "young 'ins". 

[Blonde4ever]

Ha ha!

Yes...I hope to do a return visit. I want to see more of that area.

[Voice of Reason]

Sharing your experience brought back some good memories of Laughlin.  On our first few trips the geography on the drive from Vegas was pretty interesting.  We caught a couple of charter flights into Bullhead city run by Harrahs and the Riverside.

Native American petroglyphs at Grapevine Canyon, Juniper bushes at Christmas Tree Pass.  Both require a car.

There was a time when just about every casino in town had positive expectation VP.  The Riverside had coin-dropper $1 FPDW.  When the VP left, so did our interest in Laughlin.  It was a nice place that had a lot to offer, just don't think about it anymore unless there is a recent Stungazed TR or an article like yours.

[JoyceAula]

Good write up and great picks. We keep saying we're going to do the taxi but never leave the casinos. Maybe next trip.

[thermonuclear]

There was a time when just about every casino in town had positive expectation VP.  The Riverside had coin-dropper $1 FPDW.  When the VP left, so did our interest in Laughlin.

Just curious, which definition of "coin-dropper" are you using? Any machine that pays coins, or specifically a machine that doesn't hold credits?

The latter would be extremely slow to play, I assume.

I only visited Laughlin once or twice during the good old days. I think I played 17/10 Loose Deuces for quarters at Flamingo Hilton (now Aquarius). Harrah's had a FPDW quarter progressive, and others probably had it with a 4700-coin royal. Pioneer had some good games with interesting promotions, but I avoided the place because the cigarette smoke was so thick, I feared it would become self-aware.

[StatFreak]

I think the Aquarius has the best VP today. I have a friend in Bullhead so I still visit relatively often but gamble less or none. Actually, I didn't even enter Laughlin on my last visit. I stayed on the highway and drove straight over the river. On the way out, I thought about giving one of the casinos some play to generate a future room offer but I was tired and blew it off.

For those with cars, the gas in AZ is MUCH less than the gas in Laughlin -- and Vegas. It's always a good idea to try to get to Laughlin with a relatively empty tank and to fill up at the FasTrip on Hwy 95 across the river before heading back to Vegas. It's usually around 30¢ a gallon less. Every once in a blue moon it will be the same or (gasp) slightly higher, so a quick Gasbuddy check is always prudent.

There is also access to the lake above Davis dam on the AZ side and the water is much warmer because the river water comes from the bottom of the dam (i.e., the bottom of lake.)


<ADD> Right now is one of those times when gas isn't cheaper. Prices here in Vegas are $2.039 Henderson/$2.099 Vegas at Costcos and Sam's Clubs and the lowest open stations are around $2.149-$2.169. Bullhead is $2.099.

[Voice of Reason]

Just curious, which definition of "coin-dropper" are you using? Any machine that pays coins, or specifically a machine that doesn't hold credits?

Pays out only in coins, accepts only coins.  Spits out coins when it reaches a predetermined level.

[thermonuclear]

Pays out only in coins, accepts only coins.  Spits out coins when it reaches a predetermined level.

That would be tolerable. You'd need to buy rolls of coins to initially build up the credit balance, but thereafter you'd be able to play without inconvenience. The worst were the machines that dropped coins after every win. I don't know if they're still in service anywhere -- possibly the 9/6 Jacks at either the California or Jerry's Nugget.

[stungazed]

Pays out only in coins, accepts only coins.  Spits out coins when it reaches a predetermined level.

That would be tolerable. You'd need to buy rolls of coins to initially build up the credit balance, but thereafter you'd be able to play without inconvenience. The worst were the machines that dropped coins after every win. I don't know if they're still in service anywhere -- possibly the 9/6 Jacks at either the California or Jerry's Nugget.

The Cal still has 2 banks for these upstairs for quarters and a bank downstairs by hotel check in for dollars. for some reason they are very popular. 

[knagl]

The weird thing about the ones at the Cal is that they upgraded from the Fortune I machines (which had the ability to hold credits, but was turned off to make them coin-in, coin-out on every hand), and upgraded them to Player's Edge Plus (PE+) machines, which absolutely can hold credits (there are still a fair number of PE+ machines in the downtown casinos that operate in credit mode), but they still have them set to non-credit so coins come out on every win.  They seem to be really popular with the Hawaiian tourists, though.

[thermonuclear]

^^^ OMG!!!

I love the technical details, so I was searching online and found this video of a "Fortune I":

(Sorry, can't figure out how to embed)


screen grab:


But it seemed weird because I thought the Fortune I machines had horrible graphics, like this:



I scroll down to the comments, and knagl himself has noted the error!!!



 

[knagl]

Ha, yes.  I'm 99% sure the one in that video is a PE+.  There's a subtle difference in some of the text displayed to the player on a PE (non-plus), and as such I'm nearly certain the one in the video is a PE+.

The one with the "horrible graphics" that you posted above is indeed a Fortune I.  ...and, as shown in that picture, they were capable of holding credits, although the few that I played in Vegas were all set up to dump out coins on every win.

[thermonuclear]

I liked the kid's strategy in the video. She figured, pairs are good, and high cards are good, so why not hold a combination of both?

BTW, I don't think it's a high priority to be able to embed videos. IMO, it can wait until the full software update.

Here's another image:



Despite the low resolution, I think they did a good job of differentiating the suits to avoid visual confusion, but I wonder if any players mixed up the 6s and 9s

[Voice of Reason]

This display reminds me of the Double Jackpot and Double Double Jackpot games.  Was Sigma the manufacturer?