Golden Touch Craps

There are times when writers actually forget to talk to their audiences. I don’t mean in our writing; I mean in our lives. I’ve given my opinion about this and that concerning slot machines for almost 20 years but I often overlook or impose my opinions on the world of slot players. I’m not the only writer who sometimes does this – we are legion.

So on a recent trip to the wonderland of casinos, I decided to ask slot players what kind of slots they would want to see in casinos. The answers surprised me.

"I like machines where you get to make choices but not like video poker which I find really boring, so much that it gives me a headache," states Benjamin Cohen, age 49, from Chicago. "I’d like to see a machine where you decide certain aspects of what is going to come up. Like if you had a Wheel of Fortune, where you pick which color will come up on the bonus game and if that one does come up you get double the prize. That would add a lot of excitement to the games. When you get to make choices then you are really involved."

"I like the machines of the past, those three reelers with no fancy graphics," says Mary L., age 74, of New York. "You find fewer and fewer of those machines and more of the movie star ones. I got to tell you I hate the machines with movie star labels. Who cares about them? You go to the movies to see them; I don’t want them on a slot machine. Instead of paying movie stars for their names and images on machines, give us more of a payback on the machines. You can even advertise that this machine is dull and boring but pays back a lot of money, the highest percentage in the whole casino. I think players would rather play that if they knew it was really loose."

"Give me a video game where you get to fight someone else who is also playing the machine," says Troy Napolitano, age 27, of Los Angeles. "The casino can take a cut out of the profits when a player wins a round. That would be edgy and a lot of fun. Most of the slot machines are the same old stuff just repackaged into new looking models but they are just as boring as the old models. I want interactive machines where you are at war with one of more players. I really don’t care about Elvis Presley."

"I love the big progressives but I think they should have one that starts at fifty million dollars and goes up from there," says Donna Slattery, age 37, of San Francisco. "The only reason I play machines is to dream about all the money I could get if I win a big jackpot. So give us jackpots that make our mouths water. I really don’t care if these machines are tight or loose, I want the thrill of knowing I could buy an island if I won."

"I hate the machines that pretend to offer you nickel games but really suck you in with so many lines you wind up playing what you can’t even keep track of what you are playing," says Carla T., age 66, from New Jersey. "I love coming to Vegas but these new machines are not fun to play because you have no idea of what you are playing and how you are winning or why you are losing. I don’t want to sit at a machine and be confused. I want it all spelled out for me. Slot machines should be simple. If we wanted something complicated we’d play blackjack."

"Okay, call me old fashioned or a dope but I don’t like the new paper machines," states Marty Friedman, age 54, from Texas. "I want to put coins in and I want to hear real coins coming out when I win. Have you listened to those phony sound recordings of the old time slots? Do they sound real? They sound like the fake laughter on those crummy sitcoms that are on television. You could divide the casino up and have half the slots in one part of the casino be real slot machines with real money and the other half of the casino could be the new paper machines. You know change is not always good and many of us are sad to see those old machines becoming less and less."

The above are just a few of the examples of what slot players want. All slot players wanted "loose" machines although some didn’t call them that. "I want machines that pay me something once in a while. I have been down almost all the time when I play." That quote could be the refrain from a song it was said so often in so many ways by so many slot players I spoke to.

Sometimes it’s good for writers (and slot manufacturers) to listen to the players.