Wednesday, 27. September 2006, 15:11:57
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this morning the total stands at $92,272.
that's closing in on $100,000, which i think is a great jackpot to hit. especially since you can do it on any of the machines at the casino.
and that's kind of what i wanted to write about today anyway.
what are the different ways you can hit the jackpot at slotland?
they have 9 games, so i might not be able to get to all of them today! but, i can have some spins on some of them, and just update this post as i figure out more about it.
i would say something like "who knows, i may even become the lucky winner", but honestly, i'm not feeling it.
Here's a list of the different games at Slotland:
- which I've reviewed before.
- hit 3 red bars while playing $1.
50 per coin. with 8 paylines, that's a $12 per spin venture. i've tried it for about $180 worth of play that i built up from a bonus.
i don't think it was money i could have cashed out anyway, so i thought why not go for it? i, uh, didn't hit it though. 
Heavy Metal
- playing 4 paylines, at a $2 coin size will enable you to win the jackpot. that's a spin of $8.
Booster
- this is a single line slot, with a max coin size of $5.
so, playing $5 a spin and landing three BOOST symbols will win you the jackpot.
Tresure Box
- $2 is the largest coin size on this machine, and there are 4 paylines. so, each try at the jackpot will take $8.
three wild symbols in a line is the jackpot combination.
Magic
- is a five line video-type slot game. max coins size of $2 puts each spin with jackpot potential at $10.
you'll have to land 5 ringed planets to take home the jackpot.
Jacks or Better
- is a card game, but the chance of earning the jackpot is based on the same RNG as the slots are. you need a royal flush with a $10 bet to hit the jackpot, but keep in mind that the odds of landing that are tied to the slot machine odds, not the odds that you'd get from a deck of cards.
Striking 7's
- takes one bet per turn, with a max of $10. so, it'll cost $10 for a crack at the jackpot on this game.
Space Jack
- is a game based on blackjack.
players play three hands at a time, and hitting blackjack on all three hands awards the jackpot. once again, the jackpot is based on the slot machine RNG, not the odds of landing three blackjacks with a deck of cards.
here's how the casio phrases it .
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"Therefore, the probability of hitting the jackpot combination on SpaceJack is not natural but controlled by this shared random mechanism in the same way as slot machines' wins. "
i didn't see any "must play max bet" on the jackpot descrition for this game.
that's good too, because you can play up to $20 per hand. having to blackjack all three hands would mean a bet of $60!
Lucky Stars
- is a five payline game, so at $2 for each line, a jackpot spin would cost $10.
just for the record, the last jackpot hit at the casino was $76,675, so it almost looks like this jackpot is overdue.
there are some other machines listed at slotland, they just aren't so boviously available, they include . .
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Silver Kiss
- this is probably the cheapest machine in the house. with five reels and two paylines, it only costs $2 for a max bet.
land three hearts for a jackpot on this slot.
Halloween Magic
- there are five paylines ($2 max bet per) on this spooky game. a jackpot spin will take $10, but if you land a row filled with jack o'lanterns, you'll take home the big progressive.
Santa Sleigh
- another holiday themed slot. this one uses cards as well, so you're hoping for a royal flush. with three lines, at $5 each, a jackpot spin takes a $15 wager.
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i had stopped pulling the reels (ok, pushing the spin button) when i made it into the top 12.
checking in today i'm still firmly in 11th. but, this is one i'll have to keep an eye on.
i can see people passing me out without problem late in the tournament. then i'll have to go on one of those "win or lose" bigger coin size runs. i can almost see it coming up.
either way, i'll be sure to keep you posted.
on the $5k free slot tourney that'll go off on the Wheel of Chance slot, there are over 1,000 people registered already. just yesterday i was #31, 32?
overnight a thousand people came in and signed up. wow.
September 2006, 15:45:11
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after a short while, i turned that $10 in bonus money into something around $16 in "regular cash". i haven't played with it enough to cash it out, but i did manage to move it over into the "cash" part of my credits from the "bonus" part. and now since it's been moved, i can use it to enter a slots tournament.
woo-hoo!
so, now that i know that little tidbit of casino playing strategy, i'll be putting it to good use!
the tourney i entered today is called the Libra Slots Tournament.
it's being played on the "What's Your Sign" machine.
the info on the tourney looks like this:
Entry Fee: $5
Bonus Prizes: $500
Cash Prizes: $2247 so far
Cash to the top 3 players, the lowest of which has 4,700 in credits. the leader in the tourney too the $400 in starting credits and built a $15,000 pile.
Bonus prizes go out to the top 23 players
here's a screenshot of the What's Your Sign slot machine . . .
the game itself is a video slot, with a bonus feature that i didn't hit yet 
there IS a wild symbol, thank goodness.
after playing the 5 reel Rags to Riches game without a wild symbol, i realize i really want a wild symbol on my slot games. (it's the sun symbol).
the rest of the symbols on the reels are take-offs on some different zodiac symbols.
at first i didn't really like them, they were just a bit too, i don't know, feminine. doesn't matter though, because when you land a winner the reels come to life with little animations. and i like the animations a lot, so the symbols grew on me quickly.
after just a couple of spins, i climbed up into 12th place in the tourney, so i'm shutting it down for a while. i don't think i'll stay there, but i'm going to let some time pass and see where i stand tomorrow, and go from there.
oh, the paylines . . .
there are 12 of them. so, it's a step back from the 20 line machines, but there's more going on than on the basic 9 payline video slots.
September 2006, 15:04:16
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the games themselves start at the beginning of october, and run all month.
Prize Pool:
there is, ahem, $5,000 in prize money. i saw that there's a one time playthrough required on any prize winnings, which i could certainly handle.
that's a lot better than 10x or whatever some of these casinos put in their terms.
it's not a winner-take-all event, the monies are split up like this . .
.
1st Place Prize: $500
2nd Place Prize: $250
5 3rd Place Prizes: $100
25 4th Place Prizes: $50
100 5th Place Prizes: $25
so that's 132 different prizes.
players start with $500 in credits on the machine, and see how high they can build that before the month ends.
the tournament is being played on the wheel of chance five reel video slot, which is a fun game to begin with. the added prize money should make for a really exciting time.
this is, by far, the biggest freeroll slot tournament i've seen at the harbour.
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here's a screenshot of the game . . .
on this version of the slot, the coin size is fixed at $1 a coin, and unlocking the bonus round requires max coin play, so you're looking at a fixed price of $3 per spin.
the machine is a progressive jackpot slot!
hence the fixed coin size. you can see the current jackpot total displayed right above the reels in the center digital display.
the bonus wheel, located at the top of the slot, spins when you land the three jackot symbols (the Rags to Riches symbol).
there is no second screen, the wheel just goes into motion. it's not a long, drawn-out spin either. kinof feels like there's a lot of friction in that wheel because it starts, and stops pretty quickly.
i think it needs a shot of WD40 to lengthen the anticipation.
other symbols on the reels consist of three different sets of bars, a hobo's suitcase, and a magic top hat (the kind that frosty the snowman got ahold of).
one thing to note on the paytables, and here's a look at them .
. .
is that there is no winner for "ANY Bar", which is something that i've gotten used to. so, when i first landed a set of mismatched bars, and no credits racked up, it caught me by surprise.
the slot does have a simple autoplay function on it, and you don't need to go to a different screen to use it.
it's a button that's on the right side of the game. just choose the number of spins you want to the machine to take on it's own, by pressing an up or down arrow. simple enough.
this machine was made by cryptologic, which is like microgaming in that they are a company that makes games, and rents them out to online casinos. the cryptologic casino i play at is Intercasino. they're an english group, and i ought to write a review on them someday.
the quick of it is they give everyone a 100% bonus every month, and that's friendly enough that when i want to play cryptologic games, i go to Intercasino.
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that, and when i logged into EH today i found another $10 free in my bonus cash account, so i had some extra cash to play with. i missed the email they usually send saying "hey, there's another $10 in bonus money in your account, go have some fun", but i'd rather the sawbuck than the email 
here's a screenshot of the game .
. .
the coin sizes on this slot go the full range. you can turn them down to a penny a coin, or up to $10, and on a 20 line slot, $10 a coin should make even the highest of rollers happy.
the game itself is a 20 payline slot.
there are, of course, five reels on this version of the slot.
the symbols are nifty, with the letters A, E, I, O, and U on the reels instead of the more common A, K, Q, J and T. hey, any step away from the herd is nice.
the rest of the symbols are cars and money, and a few vacation symbols. One is a man in a beach chair with drink, a suitcase and beachball, and a cruise ship symbol.
there is a scatter symbol on the machine, which i guess i could describe as the scatter Vanna White.
this symbol also unlocks the free spins function on the machine. 3 or more scatter symbols will trigger a free spin round, and the scatter wins themselves are multiplied. check out the paytable to see what i mean.
there is a wild symbol as well, the diamond symbol.
there is also a bonus round symbol, that appears on the second and fourth paylines. if you land two of them, it will unlock the bonus round, and some spins on the wheel of chance.
the game has some flashy-ness to it. when you land a winning combo, the symbols kindof come to life, like they do on the . i really like it!
while playing the game, i did unlock the bonus screen, so i have a shot of that . . .
while playing the slot, there are a couple of things i found that i appreciate. you can bet any number of paylines by just pressing the number on the screen.
the good thing about that is that i can just push the number 15, and play 15 paylines. i don't need to press the "bet one" button fifteen times!
it also has some autoplay functions.
you can do things like set the number of spins, speed up or slow down the time between spins, and set stopping points so you can savor the really nice wins.
here's a shot of the paytable for the slot . .
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i wish they showed the paylines on the paytable page, like microgaming does, but i guess you can't have everything.
the bonus game:
it's a spin on the wheel of chance, which really resembles the wheel of fortune. on the first spin there is nothing but different winning amounts. when the wheel stops, you win whatever is printed on that slice of the wheel.
once you win, you get the chance to keep your winnings, or take a respin. the catch - some of the slices on the wheel have been replaced with black "bust" values, and if you land on them, you lose whatever you may have won previously.
so, there really is a game-within-a-game on this slot, and none of it requires any special knowledge.
that, to me, is good fun.
i've been playing this game at english harbour. if you're interested in playing, i suggest you take a spin on this before heading to the casino.
it'll give you a crack at some extra bonus cash.
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the US has just passed legislation that may make linking to online casinos illegal, i'm not sure.
but, until i figure it out, i'm suspending the free Bonus of Chance game. you can still obviously visit English Harbour and have at the Wheel of Chance freeroll by visiting them directly.
And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program .
. .
here's a post about this bonus game the guys at the Harbour gave me.
if you do not already have an account at english harbour casino, and are thinking of signing up, take a spin on the bonus wheel first. you might get some extra bonus cash out of it, and when it comes to money, more is better than less.
Click Here to play the Bonus Game for Bonus Money at English Harbour
of course the casino still offers a sign up deposit bonus to new players. it's been a 100% matching offer (maxed out at $275) for quite some time. when i signed up i got $35 free for a $35 deposit.
how things change . . .
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oh, this stuff is super-dry by itself, so i'll be interjecting my opinions in blue
19:46-1.28A Standards for the approval of a slot machine game
(a) No slot machine game shall be approved by the Commission for casino gaming unless it complies with the requirements of this section.
Payouts
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, each slot machine game shall have a theoretical payout percentage equal to or greater than 83 percent but less than 100 percent.
- there it is, there is a minimum payout - 83%, which really is a super-tight slot. and a MAX payout of 99.9999%, so you can have 100+% payout video pokers, but slots by law, have to make some money for the house!
A game-within-a-game may have a theoretical payout percentage equal to or greater than 100 percent if the theoretical payout percentage of the game-within-a-game and the primary slot machine game within which it is included, when determined together, is less than 100 percent.
- the short, bonus screen games on a slot can pay out a ton, as long as between the bonus screen and the reels, the slot pays out less than 100%.
This disproves the following myth that was proposed to me .
. .
The casinos have super-loose (100+% payouts) low coins size machines that pay out winners on purpose, to get you believing all their machines are that loose.
Then, players move to the bigger machines and get hooked in, losing all of their winning plus some of thier bankroll
(c) Except as otherwise provided in this section, each play offered by a slot machine game shall have a theoretical payout percentage equal to or greater than 83 percent. A particular play may have a theoretical payout percentage that is equal to or greater than 100 percent if the primary slot machine game in which the play is included has a theoretical payout percentage that is less than 100 percent.
No play offered by a slot machine game shall have a theoretical payout percentage which is less than, when calculated to one hundredth of a percentage point, the theoretical payout percentage for any other play offered by that slot machine game which is activated by a slot machine wager which is lower in value than the slot machine wager required for that play.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the theoretical payout percentage of one or more particular plays may be less than the theoretical payout percentage of one or more plays which require a lesser wager provided that:
- 1.The aggregate total of the decreases in theoretical payout percentage for plays offered by the slot machine game is no more than one-half of one per and
- 2.The theoretical payout percentage for every play offered by the slot machine game is equal to or greater than the theoretical payout percentage for the play that requires the lowest possible wager that will activate the slot machine game.
- you can't make the slot pay out less for higher wagers. If the slot pays out 90% for quarter wagers, it has to pay out at least 90% for dollar wagers.
(d) When determining whether a slot machine game or play meets the minimum 83 percent payout requirement, the following shall not be included as a payout:
- 1.
A payout of merchandise or thing of value pursuant to N.J.S.
A. 5:12-45 and N.J.
A.C. 19:45-1.
40A;
- 2.The amount of a progressive jackpot in excess of the initial or reset amount;
- 3.A cash or noncash complimentary issued pursuant to N.
J.A.C.
19:45-1.9(i); and
- 4.A limited time payout.
- the 83% minimum payout means in cash, from the slot machine. they can't set slot payouts at 75%, and then make it up by offering 8% in comps.
it also means that they can't set the slot really tight, and then have a sort of "happy hour" on the machine, where it's loose enough for a while to make the overall payout 83% or better.
Skill Slots
(e) A slot machine game that includes a play with a skill feature and does not automatically disclose the choice that represents optimal strategy or provide mathematically sufficient information for a patron to derive optimal strategy shall have a theoretical payout percentage equal to or greater than 85 percent.
- if the bonus screen has a game that you can honestly be good or bad at, either the game has to show/give you the right strategy, or set the payout a little higher , at 85% instead of 83%.
This disproves the following myth that was propsed to me .
. .
The game suggests the wrong choice on the bonus screen on purpose.
The machine won't always suggest to you the choice that wins, but they certainly do not suggest the "wrong" strategy choice.
(f) The theoretical payout percentage of a play and slot machine game with a strategy feature or skill feature shall be calculated on the assumption that a patron will always exercise optimal strategy.
(g) A slot machine game that offers one or more games-within-a-game shall comply with the following requirements:
- 1.
The primary slot machine game shall satisfy the 83 percent minimum payout requirement independently of any game-within-a-game;
- the reels of the slot have to pay out 83%, the machine can't rely on winners from the bonus screen to make up the payouts 83%
- 2.Each game-within-a-game shall satisfy the 83 percent minimum payout requirement independently of the primary slot machine game within which it is included;
- the bonus screens have to pay out at least 83% too
- 3.Each game-within-a-game, other than a game with a theoretical payout percentage equal to 100 percent, shall have an in meter, jackpot meter and manual jackpot meter that operate independently of the metering of the primary slot machine game, and the meters for the primary slot machine game shall be inclusive of all game-within-a-game activity;
- 4.
The last game recall of the primary slot machine game shall include all game-within-a-game activity; and
- 5.The theoretical payout percentage of a game-within-a-game that can be played through the use of a free play award shall be equal to or greater than the theoretical payout percentage of the primary slot machine game.
(h) A slot machine game that includes plays with one or more strategy features shall comply with the following requirements:
- 1.
Whenever a patron has an option to make a strategy choice, the slot machine game shall, in a manner approved by the Commission including, without limitation, through a readily available help screen, automatically disclose the choice that represents optimal strategy or information that is mathematically sufficient for a patron to derive optimal strategy; and
- 2. Once a patron has achieved the highest award offered on a play by a strategy feature, the slot machine game shall not permit the patron to risk the award by making an additional strategy choice.
(i) Unless the Commission expressly finds, after consultation with the Division, that a particular type of proposed scripting would not be deceptive, or unless otherwise provided in this subsection, scripting shall not be permitted in any slot machine game.
Jackpot scripting shall be permitted if:
- 1.It does not include any outcome in which no award will be received;
- 2.It does not display any unachievable resu and
- 3.
It is not otherwise misleading.
Free Spins
(j) A slot machine game that offers free play awards shall not display as a possible outcome of a wager any amount that could only be won through the consecutive activation of free play awards won on the wager. For example, if the highest jackpot offered by a slot machine game is $1,000 and it is possible to win two free play awards on one wager, the slot machine game shall not display $2,000 as a possible jackpot.
- just some more truth in advertising rules.
(k) A multi-denominational slot machine shall comply with the following requirements:
- 1.All meters required by N.
J.A.C.
19:45-1.37(b)1 to 4 shall increment in dollars and cents;
- 2.The slot machine shall provide the notice required by N.
J.A.C.
19:45-1.37(a)4ix; and
- 3.Unless all credits on the slot machine can be fully redeemed by a gaming voucher or other means:
- i.
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