Good Vibrations

20 February 2020

By John Grochowski

When I hear from readers about their first casino trips, their stories are a mixed bag.

I’ve hear from players who had some nice wins the first time out, others who didn’t win anything and some who had no idea what was going on around them.

Over the last few months, several tales on the positive side have crossed my in box. Let’s see what a couple of them have to say.

EILEEN: This isn’t about me. It’s about my neighbor, Megan.

The complex where we live has bus trips to a casino. It’s kind of funny. There’s a casino a 15-minute drive away, but the bus takes us on a two-hour drive. It’s a day out, and we get a lunch buffet in the deal.

Megan had never joined us on the trips. She told me she’d never been in a casino and was afraid of what to expect. I told her she could hang out with me and I’d show her the ropes.

We started on penny slots, betting 30 cents on one and 40 cents on the other. Neither of us got much. She got one free spins bonus, so that was fun, but she only won 200 coins – five bets worth.

I asked her if she was up for some old-school play. She told me I was the guide, so I took her over to some three-reel Wheel of Fortune games on quarters. I told her we wanted to bet three quarters there, and she was a little nervous about that. So we decided to split. We each put $10 in and I’d play one spin, she’d play the next and so on.

On her very first spin, she got the wheel. She laughed at “Wheel! Of! Fortune!” and the clicks of the wheel. When the wheel spun, it landed on a 400-coin space. We won $100, and she was thrilled.

Then on her next spin, she got the wheel again! This time she got the 1,000, and we had another $250 to split.

After that, we tried a mix of games before lunch. They were hit and miss, but we went home each ahead by around $200.

Meg told me, “It made me nervous. I wouldn’t want to do that every day, but that wheel was really fun.”


FRANCIE: I only went because my mom wanted to go. She’s been playing slots online. Not for money. Just those free apps.

She wanted to try slots for real, and she had one of her friends interested, too. They corralled me into driving.

I didn’t really want to play slots and I don’t know how to play the table games. But my husband used to have one of those hand-held video poker games, so I went to a video poker game near the slots my mom and her friend were playing.

There were quarter games, and I bet one quarter on each hand. I know now that’s not the best play, but then it seemed pretty daring.

It probably hadn’t been 15 minutes when I got four Aces, and I won $200! The game must have been Double Double Bonus, but I didn’t know it then.

I couldn’t believe it. It was all I could do to keep from shouting out. I was so nervous I cashed out and walked around and around the casino, working off energy.

I’ve played pretty often since, but that was my first big win, and it was special!

Mom and her friend? They had fun. They didn’t win money, but they were ready to go back.


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