First stop, a slant top.
It's a RED, WHITE, &BLUE. The colors refer to the symbols. In order to win
the jackpot for this machine the symbols must be, in exact order on the pay
line, RED 7+WHITE 7+BLUE 7. Why these colors? Because they are patriotic, and
there's nothing more patriotic than playing...well, maybe not.
You slide
into the vinyl-covered swivel chair that is attached to the machine, rest your
elbows on the padding that borders the front of it, and slip $20 into the currency
slot. The machine racks up 80 credits because you're playing for quarters. You,
wisely, take a moment to study the machine and the pay-offs. The first thing you
note is that just above the padding along the front, and also just below the viewing
area which displays the symbols, there are two small buttons over on the left
side.
CASH BET
CREDIT ONE
CREDIT
You've already played a little
Video Poker, so you assume the Cash/Credit button is what to push when you're
ready to cash out. Bet One Credit is fairly obvious. Then, to the right side are
two more buttons which you couldn't miss if you were blind.
Both are larger
than the buttons on the left.
SPIN PLAY 2
REELS CREDITS
Spin
Reels means exactly that. If this is a 2-coin machine, you could hit the Bet
One button twice, and then engage the reels by depressing the Spin Reels button.
If this was an upright machine, you could also pull or rank the handle located
on the left side of the machine's armor. Should you prefer faster play, simply
push the play 2 Credits button and the machine will both deduct two credits from
your total and set the reels spinning.
You then note that on the viewing
screen, just to the side of the actual symbols, there are several messages printed
in small type. The first says: Machine pays up to 1,000 coins, all other wins
paid by attendant. And that's okay. You don't care how you collect the money,
so long as you do collect the money. There's also a number which appears to be
glued on the screen, up in the left hand corner, which says: 41178. That's the
number of this machine. It is vital to the casino's accountants, but meaningless
to you unless you want to make sure you play exactly the same the next time. Then
more small print: Malfunction voids all plays and pays. Which means that if the
machine performs any action that is not part of its programming which produces
a winner the casino need not honor the pay-off. This, of course, is merely a technicality.
Until you play a machine which malfunctions.
The pay Line is clearly identified
across the face of the viewing screen. You can't miss it. It's in the exact middle
of all those symbols, and the line is connected to the printed word, Pay Line.
Then more verbiage. Pays on center line only, only highest winner paid. Which
means that if you are playing a
machine with "wild" symbols which can substitute for any needed
symbol to make a winning combination, only the highest possible pay-off will be
paid. This is like Video Poker in that if you hit a Royal Flush, you only get
paid for a Royal Flush, even though a Royal Flush is also an Ace-high Straight
Flush.
There's also a sign on the machine which identifies it as being a
quarter machine. You know it's quarters because you already have money in it,
but you should never insert the money until after you scope out the machine, so,
technically speaking, you already screwed up.
The pay-offs for all the winning
combinations are printed some place on the machine. There are two columns
of pay-offs because you can play either one or two coins. If there were three
columns of pay-offs you would know that up to three coins at a time could be played.
The
smallest pay-off is for three Blank Spaces. So if you spin and no symbols show
up on the Pay Line, you get back your bet. A one-coin bet returns one coin, a
two-coin bet returns two coins.
