Slots Adventures

now, this was quite the pleasant surprise.  opening up english harbour this morning to check out how things are going with the different tournaments, and more specifically where i stand in them, i noticed this week’s new slot tournament was open.

so, i sign up for the tournament on the Monte Magic slot machine.  the tourney, called “Keep your Eye on the Prize” has over $500 in prizes that are a mix of $330 in cash and $250 in bonus money.  which is fine and dandy, i would have signed up for any amounts really.

the payouts are weighted towards the top ten, so 11th place is worthless.  kindof the new “go big or go home” strategy at the harbour for their tournaments.

the slot machine itself is an old fashioned three reel single line, the “classic” version of a slot machine.

if you look at the payout tables, you’ll notice that the payouts for two coins are double that for a single coin wager.  that sounds about normal.  the payouts for three coins, are the same as the payouts for two woins.  that, is not normal.

i didn’t notice that early on, and was playing my usual max coins on each of my qualifying spins.  But, during those spins i hit the bonus round symbol, twice.  that’s right, this mild-mannered looking classic slot has a video bonus game added to it.

it’s a pick’em game.  actually, it’s a layered pick’em game.  the game starts with a set of probably a dozen cards turned face up.  on each of the cards is a prize package, which probably depends on your coins size.  the cards are flipped face down and scattered around the table in a slight-of-hand manner that resembles someone dealing a game of three card monty.  which, now it sinks in, is part of the name of the slot.

after the shuffle is over, you get to choose three cards.  they are turned face up, so you can see what your final prize might be.  they are then turned face down, and shuffled a la three card monty.  then, you pick the final card, and receive that prize. 

it’s really cool to have that kind of bonus game attached to an old school classic slot.

now, that’s part one of the interesting things about this slot.  part 2 is the fact that playing max coins does not “triple” the pyaouts for most winners.  it only seems to unlock the bonus game.  so, for example, if the wnads winner is worth 10 when betting one coin, and 20 when betting 2 coins, it is NOT worth 30 when betting 3 coins.

see how that works !!

the third coin on the wager unlocks the bonus game if you land the right symbol.  but, that seems to be all it does.

i’m not sure exactly how to play this game to get the best overall expectation, but i do know that during my warmup spin stage, the bonus round appeared enough to make up for the lost in winners vs the extra coin spent in the wager.  on my qualifying spins, i spent 20 coins on that extra wager, and hit 80 coins in winners.  so, for me, it turned out to be a good wager!