Slots Adventures

checking in at EH today, i noticed i’m on solid ground in the final festive freeroll event.  and, i decided not to try to make any great moves.  i’ll just take a regular old “in the money” showing in the tournament and be happy with that.

instead, i thought i’d sign up for the Five Golden Rings Tournament that they’re holding on the PayDay game.  it’s a $5 entry fee for the tourney, but they pay down to 83rd place.  so i think i have a perfectly fair chance to break-even at least, if not actually win a little something.

looking at the big leaders in the tourney, the top gun is sitting with about $9,000 in chips.  that’s a lot easier to take than the $90k or so that the top dog has in the $10,000 freeroll!!  maybe that’s why i decided to enter.  it reminds me a bit of the first tournaments, before 10,000 people started getting involved

well, after spinning through my qualifer period, i find out that i’m in 28th place!  woo-hoo (i hit one or two modest winners to start).  the payout difference between 28th and 78th is $0.  i’ll get my money back either way, so it looks like i’m on a bit of a freeroll!

had about $530 in credits - so i decided to up the wager per spin to $15, which is one heck of a bump over the $3 a spin i was using.  and, it payed off!  i hit triple 7’s, moving my total credit count up to $665.  lol, now i’m only $8,300 or so off the lead!

i had played this machine several times before during some other slot tournaments - in fact, here is a review of the pay day slot machine you can check out.

well, i gave it a good go, and i’m down to 51st place.  at this point i’m jacking it up for the night. 

even though this tournament had an entry fee, it really turned out to be a freeroll instead.  i have less credits than i started with, so i’m not much of a winner, but i’m still in the money.  can’t complain.  maybe i’ll have better luck next time.

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!

today is the day i’m going to be taking some spins in this slots tournament being held on the Reel Deal machine at English Harbour.  santa was super-nice to me, and i see the week being filled with a mix of chores and distractions, so i thought no better time than the present to get in a little gaming before i miss my chance at this main event slot tournament.

i checked out the leaderboard, and the player in first place took their $500 in starting credits, and spun it into $135,000.  second place is miles away, but still miles ahead of say, me, with just under $80,000 in credits.  so, those guys are the top two out of the 14,567 players involved. 

i’m going to start out playing $.50 per coin, and activating all 20 of the paylines, so if i do hit something, it’ll make a difference.  i’m kindof playing this, well, not to win, but losing won’t hurt my feelings today.  it’s not like i just came off of a poker tournament and the idea of busting out again bothers me. 

i’m thinking of it as i’m going to have to take some chances, and get lucky while i’m doing it, to get anywhere near the top in this event.  still, i’m not going whole hog for twenty seconds.  i’d like to get some spins in, at least the 20 warm-up spins, before busting out.

so, here goes . . .

well, sitting with $467 in credits, i’m also sitting at 278th in the tournament.  that, is in the money!   

but, being in the “go for the gold” mode, i didn’t let that stop me.  and, i kept taking spins at $10 each and kept losing.  and ran from being sure of getting $10 in bonus money just for signing up and spinning a little to being dangerously close to busting out. but i said i wasn’t going to be afraid to bust out this time!

and, before that happened, i caught 3 scatter symbols, which unlocks a free spin session (and is a winner in its own right.  i think they gave me $125 for hitting it).  and, now that the free spins have finished, i’m up to $622.  it’s still the same $10 in bonus money if i hold on to this position in the tournament - but, it’s more than i started with credits-wise. 

so, even if another, say, three thousand players rebuy or sign up fresh, they’ll have to do some winning to pass me out!

i’m shutting her down at this point.  we’ll see, maybe i’ll be back to take a stab at hitting the big one, maybe not.  but for now, ITM is a nice place to sit

i’ve been in the holiday spirit as of late, so the blogging has been a bit spotty.  i did notice, however, that the Slotland Jackpot went off somewhere over the $115,000 mark.  i had planned on taking a couple of spins on it tonight if it didn’t already get hit.

but, it did. so i took a couple of spins on the Tunzamunni insteaddidn’t hit anything of note.  didn’t run out of money, just no jackpots to speak of for the session.

then i thought i’d better check up on the big mega-bucks freeroll tourneys at english harbour.  they’ve started the headliner of the month, the $10,000 freeroll on the Reel Deal Slot Machine.

this tournament is free to enter, and runs from now until the end of the month.  this is definitely the biggie in terms of prize monies going out.  english harbour had been running a series of these freerolls all month, and each of those lasted a week and had $5,000 prize pools. 

the tourney takes place on the Reel Deal video slot game, which (as you’ve probably guessed) is a slot built around the idea of the “Deal or No Deal” game.  that’s what the bonus feature is, a “choose a suitcase” or “pick’em” game.

the payouts for this event stretch pretty far down the line.  the top 587 or so finishers get some sort of reward for their efforts.   that’s a lot of winners.  of course all the really big money goes to the very top players, but i can live with that.

players are all given $500 in tournament credits to start with, and then you can spin away until time runs out, you think you have enough credits, or you run out.  if you run out, you can rebuy (like in a poker tournament).  a rebuy costs $5, and gives you another $500 in credits to work with.

the money from the rebuys is throw right into the prize pool, so the actual payouts are constantly growing.

i haven’t registered yet, but i will.  this is one i don’t plan on missing.  i have all week next week to sit down and do some playing, so i’ll get to it then. 

’tis the season, that’s for sure.  if you’re like me you’ve been getting tons of mail lately, and in there are some special cards for the holiday season from family, friends, and business associates.  well, my wife and have been blessed this year, so we were sorting candy from gift baskets and cards the other night, and i came across one that was from “Jackpot Factory”.

while the name rang a bell, as though i’ve heard it before, i wasn’t particularly sure who these guys were.  but it sure sounded like a casino group, and so i opened it. there was a nice glossy card inside, and thankfully no cd of all the casinos.  i’m not sure why that would turn me off, maybe because of all the casino cd’s i’ve received when i already have that casino on my ‘puter. 

anyway, i open up the card, and inside there’s a pocket with a picture of a christmas stocking and a piece of paper sticking out of it. the paper has “stocking stuffer bonus” written across the top so i can see it.  as i pull it out of the stocking, the rest of the paper looks just like a check, for $10.

now, it’s not a real check.  but it’s not one of those “$x off” or “x% depsoit bonus” things.  it’s worth $10 in bonus money at the casino.

so, i went over to the Jackpot Factory website, and saw the whole group of jackpot factory casinos.  i’ve been playing at All Jackpots for, well, if you’ve been reading my posts you now it’s been quite a while.  i had to enter the internet address to get past the index page of the site and onto the page where they hand out the stocking stuffer bonuses.

they asked for my account number, which was conveniently written on my “check”, which is nice because those things are pretty cryptic.  i click a button and poof, i’m done. 

so i wonder over to the casino, and sure enough, about ten minutes later there’s another $10 in my bonus account.  can’t beat that.  that’s the second $10 or $15 no deposit required bonus i’ve gotten from these guys this month.  sweet.  and, i appreciate it!

so, i’m off.  i think i’m going to take a couple of spins on the Tunzzamunni machine.  if i hit big i’ll be back, if not, i’ll post some more tomorrow.   

which is pretty good news.  even better news is that the folks at Slotland know that the holidays are here, that’s a lot of cash, and maybe they ought to give a player a reason to play.  you know, some sort of bonus incentive to make everyone who’s been say, sitting on the fence decide to make a deposit and have at it a little for a piece of this ripe jackpot!

so, they decided to offer a three day special for the holidays!

it starts on the 23rd of December and runs through the 25th.  every deposit made at the casino will be accompanied by a 20% deposit bonus.  i’m looking and looking and looking, and i don’t see anything about “up to $x amount”.  which i think makes sense. 

after all, if they give you 20% every single time you deposit, what’s the difference between lots of smaller deposits and one bigger one?

here’s part of the email i got about the promo:

“All registered Slotland players receive their personalized newsletter prior to the start of each promotion. Each newsletter offers the registered SLOTLAND player a match deposit bonus from 30% to 100% for each regular monthly newsletter, PLUS the chance to win up to $10 on each special newsletter edition (there is generally 1 special newsletter per month)! If you are not yet registered at Slotland, NOW is the time to start! Increase your beginner’s luck at Slotland by cashing in on the fun and many bonuses! ”

truth is, each newsletter has a mini-slot machine inside of it.  you spins the reels and see what you win.  you don’t always win either, but that’s how i got my playing cash at that casino.  i won $10 or something like that, and hit on the machines when i went to go play it.  i’m down to like $40-$50 now, but had had it up over $300.

hmmm, so that’s all i have to say about the casino, the promo and the growing jackpot, except now what do you do?  do you wait until the 23rd to deposit so you can get the 20%, and hope the jackpot holds out that long?  or do you start playing now, and hope that the bonus doesn’t matter because you’ll rack up a couple of wins before the 23rd comes around?

decisions, decisions.

oh, and since all of the machines in the casino are tied to one big progressive jackpot, you can’t play for free there.  i think they’re the only casino online that doesn’t have free versions of their slots, so i thought i’d shoot a heads up about that before you go visiting.

today i made it into english harbour without incident.  i’m not sure what was up yesterday, but the casino wasn’t letting me at the games, even though i could log in without any problems.  so be it, that’s a thing of the past now.

a quick look at the tournaments lobby revealed a new tournament that’s going off today on the Fat Cat slot game.  it’s one of the 20 payline video slots at the casino, and i’m sure i’ve played it before.

this tourney wasn’t a freeroll, they were charging $2 for entry into it.  i do have a way to work around that (well, kinda.  as i develop the idea, i’ll let you know).  but let’s be honest $2 is perfectly cheap fun no matter what.  so, i’m off to have a couple of spins and see where things end up. 

since the thing only lasts for the day, there’s not a lot of sense in holding back.  we’re all starting with $500 in credits, and if you can’t turn that into mega-cash and place either first, second, or third, you’re out of luck.

so, i’m just gonna crank it up and hope for something big right out of the gate.  maybe not crank it all the way up, but firing off some decent wagers per spin so that if something does land on the reels it’ll make a difference in where i stand in the tournament!

well, i had taken the starting stack and turned it into well over a grand in credits, so i moved up from the $10 spins to the $100 spins and hoped for the best.  and, i did hit some sinners, but never managed to land the bonus round i was hoping for.  that might have been enough to put me up there with the leaders. 

still, i had a good time, and that’s what these tournaments are all about!

this slick video slot was released just in time to take advantage of the holiday spirit.

the new microgaming slots have little movies that they show before they take you to the game, and the short for this slot shows a Polar Bear playing the role of Santa, and having a bit of a hard time getting down the chimney.  the creatures below watch this poor fellow struggle, but finally make it down with a sack filled with toys in tow.

the whole scene takes place in an igloo, probably wayyyy up North.

the slot itself looks sharp.

not only does it look good, it’s filled with features.  there is the WILD symbol (the polar bear),  and a scatter symbol, and then another symbol that will function as a wild during the free spins session.

add to that a gamble function and you’ve got a lot going on inside this game.

but, the good thing is that you don’t have to keep track of it all to enjoy it.  well, that’s good in my book because a lot of the characters look too much alike for me to keep track of.  i’m just spinning and waiting until the slot shows me what i’ve won, lol.

i do know that the penguin is the big fella on this game, being the scatter and the symbol that unlocks that juicy free spins session.  if you land a penguin, the slot will beep at you, land two and it goes into “suspense mode” with a raising tone to the music and extended spin time on each reel until you either land the last symbol or run out of reels.

i think that suspense mode was a great idea.  i’m glad to see it put to use in this slot!

woo-hoo!  i finally unlocked the free spins sessino, which is what i was playing for.  while it didn’t make me rich, it certainly paid off handsomely!

even with all of the animals wearing the same cap (and making them too hard for me to tell apart) i like the slot!  i like the crisp animation and the fun theme.  to me, Santa Paws is a winner.

next up on the test-drive list is the Lady of the Orient video slot.  it’s a 20 payline slot game that is in the mold of the Age of Discover machine with the animated characters on the reels.  land a winning combo and watch them kind of come to life.

the machine lets you wager up to, get this, 20 coins per payline.  so you can really crank it up if you’re looking for action.

there is a WILD symbol, which is the Lady herself, and a Scatter symbol (the Palace symbol).  landing three scatters unlocks the free spins session on the slot.  and, winning combos that you land during the free spins cycle are worth three times their normal value. 

besides the special symbols, the other symbols on the reels are the traditional card values.  Ace, King, Jack, etc.  these aren’t my favorite symbols (they certainly work, and it’s not like there’s anything wrong with using them), so it takes a bit of the fun out of the game for me.

well, that’s an overstatement.  it’s not like it takes away from the fun, maybe i should say it doesn’t add any more fun to the game.  but, talk about a matter of personal preference. 

hehe, i would think it was fun though if you got credit for racking up things like a straight, or two pair   of course i’m a poker player too, so there’s a certain bias involved.

i did take advantage of the expert mode options to put the machine on “quick-spin”, and i like that better.  the reels seem a bit slow on this game compared to the Jingle Bells machine that i was palying earlier, and the Tunzamunni game too.

if you’re looking for a video slot that gives - 20 paylines, a WILD, and a Free Spin cycle, this is a machine that fits the bill.  for me, personally, the theme and graphics just don’t fit my mood of the day.