Slots Adventures

here’s a brief overview of theis slots game that is slated for released in Feb 2007.

 the Magic Spell slot is a 25 line video slot.  players can wager up to 10 coins on each line, so there’s a wide range of wagering possibilities. 

 the theme of the slot is a magical academy (can you say harry potter?).  the wise old wizard symbol, named Master Tom, is the WILD symbol on the reels of this slot.  it also acts as a multiplier, multiplying the value of a winning combination by five.

 i’m trying to look at the paytable screenshot, and it looks as thought the WILD might be finicky, only substituting for some (not all) symbols.  hmmm, i’ll have to take a look into that when the game is released and i can do a proper “test drive” of the slot!

there are two bonus screens, which suggests that there should be some symbols used to unlock them.  there’s a MAGIC bonus, and a Secret Library Bonus.  both of them a pick’em games, but the Library one seems to be a tiered game as well.  kind of like, make the right choice, and go on.  choose the wrong door and it’s all over.  we’ll have to see.

the Magic Spell machine is going to be available for play at Roxy Palace, which is one of my more favorite microgaming casinos.

well, i got my heads up from the little birdie that chirps in my ear every month telling me about the new slots that will be rolled out to the microgaming casinos.  at first i only read the release about the table games, and thought, “wow, that’s a lot of work they did.  but, there’s no damned slot machines coming out?!!?”

then i wrote up a whole post saying i’m disappointed, but i understand if there’s no new slots in the pipeline.  then i uh, saw the second release with the slots on it.  made me feel about as bright as that time i tried to cash out at All Jackpots and forgot to hit the final “send me the money” button.  and spent a week wondering what their problem was.  hehe

anyway, to the chase . . .

there are two new slots coming out from microgaming in feb.  they’re both video slots, and they have a lot of paylines.  one is themed around the property craze that has been going on for years now.  if you have the home and garden channel on your tv, you’ve probably seen one of the fifty-two shows about improving, selling, or flipping houses.  this slot is for those folks.

the other slot is the Magic Spell machine.  hmm, released a little ahead of the next Harry Potter movie, it’s of that ilk.  secret rooms, potions, that kind of stuff. 

well, it’s another new week, and i’m sure there’s a big freeroll waiting for me over at English Harbour.  but, my computer has been acting kindof finicky lately, and i can’t seem to log in to the casino.  i get so far (for instance, i can enter a password and hit the “play for real money” button) but in the end, i can’t get to the games.  so, i decided to head over to All Jackpots and see what’s going on over there.

no new microgaming slot machines are due out for a couple of weeks yet.  but, there’s still plenty of slots that i haven’t tried yet.  i browsed through the list of machines, and settled in on “Moonshine” which isn’t one of their most recent, but it’s not part of the old guard of slot machines either.  i’d venture to guess that it’s been released in the last year.

here’s a screenshot of the machine . . .

i sat down and played more than a handful of spins at the $.02 coin setting, and have to say that this is probably the first microgaming slot that i don’t like that i’ve come across in a long time. 

i think i don’t like the theme of it, really.  while the crickets playing in the background are fine, the music that plays when you hit a winner just isn’t to my liking.  the images aren’t to my liking.  especially the frying pan full of what looks like worms.  that, turns me off.  the sardines don’t help either, lol.

haha, that’s what i want to see, speaking of sardines, the Fisherman of the Sea slot!  tug boats, tuna, lobsters, life preservers, and some old man in a set of yellow rain gear!

ok, back to the point.  i can see why slot makers end up with three or even more versions of the same basic slot machine, only with different graphics.  because the graphics and the sounds can be fine tuned to a person’s tastes to really bring all the features of the slot machine together into one big, fun package. 

that didn’t happen for me with this game. 

well, it’s been a couple of days since i’ve played any slots.  one of them i spent at the poker tables, and boy was it a ride!  in the end i was able to walk away pretty far ahead of where i started, and for that i’m glad. 

yesterday, no games at all.  i was a bit under the weather, and spent the day doing nothing at all.  but today!!!  today, i’m taking my shot at the Big Free II slots tournament that’s going on over at the Harbour and Superslots.

the Big Frees II is the $5,000 freeroll event that lasts from 9th until the 15th of january.  i’m coming in at the halfway point.

the prizes are split up in a unique manner this time out!

first, second and third each get a piece of all the cash money involved (20-15-10% respectively), and a good hunk of bonus money (1,00-500-$250), so there should be no complaints from the front line.

besides the top 3, there are 5 other layers of prize winners.  the next 10 players each get $100 in bonus money, and it says 30% of the cash, so i’m figuring they split it up between the players.  that’s the first time i think players at this level get cash money for their efforts.

the next level of prizes also includes cash, so it turns out the top 38 players get both bonus money, and real money prizes. the top 100 get bonus cash, so there’s a lot of prize money being given out, but, it’s also going to a lot of people.  that makes for a good tourney, in my mind.

well, must be in the minds of a lot of people, so far there are 14,000+ players in the event.

everyone starts with $500, and the leader turned it into a coll $100,000.  wow.

the machie being used for the tournament is the 5 reel Wheel of Chance machine, so i’m familiar with it.  i’ve put some pretty good time into playing this slot, and i like it!

well, after my first 20 spins, at $20 a spin, i’m up just a little and sitting in 300th place.  i’m going to keep the $20 spins going until i bust out, or make it up into the money spots!

one thing i just noticed about this slot is that there is no “suspense mode” like on the microgaming video slots (at least the newer ones).  i landed the scatter twice fast, on the first and second reels, and the game didn’t jerk into that slow-motion build the anticipation mode. 

also, even though there are 20 different paylines, they mustnot be the same as on the microgamings.  i’m looking waiting to get paid for a winner that’s on a payline on some machines, but not on this one.  hmm.  anyway, i’m still sitting in 300th spot, waiting to go up or down.

make that 273rd    - ta da - BONUS ROUND!!  now i’m 204th!

170th with that last win!

and from there, it was all downhill.  i’m busted.

well, my gaming is in for the day.  catch ya tomorrow.

well, while i’m feeling all bothered, i thought i’d take a couple of spins on the tunzamunni machine.

i set the auto-pilot control for 100 spins and decided to see where i land when they were done.  as it turns out, i landed at break-even, so i set it to go off for another 100 spins to see if they would make any difference.

200 spins on that machine (which incidentally has a jackpot of $83,000) would mean putting $50 into play, which isn’t a ground-breaking amount.  still, it’s a couple of hundred chances at landing a big one!

and here i sit at 200 spins for the night, and nothing to show for it.  while it’s certainly a good thing that i have money left in the account, i’m thinking i’m sitting pretty much in the same place where i started.  and that’s no different than when i woke up this morning.  so, why not give something new a try?

since i started with about $30 tonight, i thought i’d see if i can’t get in 500 spins on the quarter-spin tunzamunni game tonight.  that would be about $125 in wagers, which is not anything to write home about, so i’m hoping that the answer is going to be yes. 

still, if you start with $30, how much wagering can you expect to get out of a bankroll like that?

well, i guess that depends on simple things like “how much are you going to spend on each spin?”.  in this case, i’m hoping to put a quarter into play, so we are not talking big money.  but, if you’re looking to do anything 500 times, well that might change things a bit. 

i should be able to pull out a little bit of math and figure that out, but tonight i’m simply not in “math mode”.  i’d rather just play for the fun of playing.  and since i’m on spin number 450 or so, i’m thinking there’s no probelm getting to spin #500.  at least this time around.

well, you know, if a little is good, a little more is better.  so, since i’ve made it to 500 spins on $30, i thought i’d see if i could make it to 1,000 spins!!!

let’s see . . .

that’s right.  i managed to get in 1,000 spins on the Tunzamunni tonight.  despite having 1,000 chances at landing the jackpot, i’m still going to work on monday ( ) - but, on $30, i’m thinking that’s a good time.

and, considering i’m ahead of the game, even after putting it all into play one-thousand times, that’s better yet!

well, football be damned, it turned out to be a fun night after all. 

i’ll probably catch up with everyone on monday.  have a great weekend folks!

well, tonight was the night.  and i knew it was going to happen, but it not only happened, it did so in a dramatic fashion. 

football season ended with the cowboy’s loss to the seattle seahawks.  when their quarterback tony romo, who holds on kick attempts, dropped the snap and pissed away a chance at a field goal most high schoolers could make to go ahead in the final minute of the playoff game, i ended my emotional investment in sports for at least the next 8 months.

it’s certainly disappointing in one way, but nearly uplifting in another.  penn state won their bowl game (i listened on the radio because i was travelling, and managed to tivo it, so i caught the video of it later).  that was the climax for the game of football.  woo-hoo.

while the dallas game may not have been a wrap up if they had made the field goal, they did indeed manage to snatch defeat out of thin air to insure the end of the season.  heh, why prolong things to see if you could hang on to the lead if you can end the suspense by blowing the game while you have the chance?

i would say i’m disgusted, but that wouldn’t be true.  i expected them to lose, i just thought they’d come up short.  instead, they found a way to lose.  how very entertaining.

well, what can you do?  there’s a couple of more games to watch, although i could not care less who wins any of them.  including the superbowl.  although we do have a nice party for that, and the food is absolutely amazing at that gathering, so it’s always a good time.  still, the game itself is meaningless.

the flyers have almost taken the concept of losing to new heights.  i was almost rooting for them to make it through the month of december without a win.  because if you’re going to be a loser, you may as well do it right. but, they did eek out a win.  actually two, i think.

now, they’re just the worst team in the league instead of having a romance of incompetency about them.  but, what can you do?  you can’t say “if you already stink worse than everyone else in the league, you may as well go for the pity vote”.

long story short, i guess i’ll be renting more movies than usual until at least August.

oh, what does this have to do with slots?  nothing.  it’s just a rant.  i’ll get back to the slots soon enough, hehe

well, today is a good day, and i had time to look up the free slot tournaments schedule for the month of January for English Harbour and Superslots casinos. 

they’ll be running the regular daily slot tournaments with the nominal buy-ins (like the $5 one i played the other day, where i won my $5 prize, hehe).  but, they also have a set of big money events like they ran in December.  those events include:

Jan 1 -Jan 8  What’s Your Sign FREE   $5,000 + %
Jan 9 - Jan 15  5 reel Wheel Of Chance FREE   $5,000 + %
Jan 16 - Jan 22  Cleopatra’s Pyramid FREE   $5,000 + %
Jan 23 - Jan 31 The Reel Deal FREE $10,000 + %

each of them has no entry fee, so the freerolls are definitely on.

it’s great to see the big money continuing to flow, every week!

it’s well into the final football game of the evening on New Year’s Day, and i’m just getting into the swing of things for the day.  man, is my sleep schedule going to be off by a ton!  but, it’s not all the partying that’s turned me upside down, it was all of the travel over the holiday coming in quick bursts.  put me down for a nap this afternoon, so here i am bright-eyed in the late evening

anyway, i opened my email box, and it turns out there is a continuing player’s offer from All Jackpots Casino.  they’re offering 25 free spins on my choice of the following slot machines:

Avalon
Harveys
Isis
Loaded

hey, free spins are free spins, even if none of the machines are on my current list of favorites.  

looking at the “conditions” of the bonus, it becomes obvious that i’m not going to qualify:

“This offer is valid for players who have made a minimum of 2 wagered deposits between Sunday, December 31st 2006 and Wednesday, January 3rd 2007″

some offers are generous enough to make me consider being active to take advantage of them, like making an extra deposit or something of that nature.  this offer, requiring 2 separate deposits, isn’t really attractive enough.  although i do have to admit that even if i don’t take advantage of all of the offers, i like getting them. 

and, if the machines were different, that might have made a difference.  maybe not.

before moving on to some chores i can do at night, i thought i’d take a look in at English Harbour.  the last two slots tournaments i was in ended, and so there’s some fresh money in my bonus account.  that’s a good deal.

and, it looks like a new $5,000 freeroll has opened up.  i’ll have to look into the new schedule for january.

hope everyone is having a great new year’s holiday!

in a rare night time slots spinning session, i found myself heading out to All Jackpots to take a couple of spins on the Tunzamunni machine.  it was either that, or sit down at a poker table, and tonight the patience for that game was beyond my reach.  so, To The Slots I went!!

i decided to take advantage of the expert mode on the machine, and just set it to spin 100 times and see how it all came out in the end.  at a quarter a spin, that’s a whopping $25 worth of wagering, but, considering that that’s all i have in my AJC account, that’s enough.  besides, it would give me a pretty good idea of how well i got paid off at the reels.

if i found myself at $3 at the end of the night, i knew it was running cold for me.  if i was up, i’d know that the machine was running warm.

one thing i did think of while the reels were spinning is that the Tunzamunni is a progressive jackpot game.  not that i ever thought about winning the thing, i did think that maybe she’s a little cold so that way the jackpot could build up.  and the first 50 or so spins helped feed that thought.

after the first half of my spins were in i thought “if this were a bonus machine, i’d be due to hit” because it was not much more than lose, lose, lose coming out.  but after that, things turned around.

in the end, i hit a set of single bars, which is 75 credits, or good for covering the cost of 15 spins.  but, on top of that, i landed a triple 7’s (mixed, so it was worth 400 coins).  and that put me up over even for the night. 

in fact, i ended up at 32 bucks, which is a growth of 25%! lol, i know, i know, i’ve read about that stuff in some different slots articles, and who ever thinks of playing a slot machine as being the same as an investment???  but at the end of the night, it’s still fun to see that i caught a warm machine to play!

or, maybe had a warm session.  that’s probably more like it.  but it doesn’t matter.  i’m working with that bonus All Jackpots gave me for the holiday season (props to those guys).  and, i can either use it to try to win, or i can use it to try to win.  so, since i’m into this machine lately, i thought i might . . . well, you know.

this morning brought the advance notice of the New Year’s promotion at Slotland.  unfortunately, that growing jackpot of theirs was hit before Christmas, so it’s not like there’s over $110,000 to go after.  i think their jackpot is sitting at about $33,000.

that aside, i was talking with a friend of mine last week, maybe the week before, about Slotland.  he thinks they’re reputable people, you know, always pay as quick as possible, offers some good bonuses for the holidays, and so on.  but, he simply can’t stand that the machines have no sound as was wondering why they never upgraded their slot machines to at least try to keep up with the big guys, like microgaming and all.

i didn’t have an answer.  doesn’t really matter, it’s not like i run the place, so i wouldn’t be making any changes for them anyway.  but, since i still keep an eye on them and play there from time to time, it did get me wondering.

i know that i go back because i hit sometimes in those bonus newsletters.  if you’re not signed up there, every month or so they send out a newsletter with a little slot machine in it.  you can pull the lever, and when the reels stop you’ll win something.  usually a % deposit bonus, but sometimes it’s just straight cash that goes into your player account.

i’ve hit cash on those.  besides the newsletter thing, the slots are LOOSE.  and winning is always fun, with or without the whistles.

i guess that’s it, winning is fun. 

oh, the bonus announcement.  same thing as Christmas, unlimited bonuses of 20% on each deposit. that’s a pretty good deal. 

it works for both New Year’s Eve (the 31st) and all of New Year’s Day.  so, if you’re sitting down getting ready for some play on the holiday, keep that in mind.

i’ll be gone for the holiday, so i won’t be playing anywhere.  i’ll be travelling.  well, if i do play it’ll be because we stop in a casino while we’re travelling.   if i get the chance to do that, i’ll be sure to post about it!