Slot games of yore

28 January 2018

By John Grochowski

Slot machines come and slot machines go as gamemakers introduce hundreds of new themes every year.

That doesn't stop players from yearning for old favorites. I asked slot players who have written to me in the past if there are games of yore they wish they could still play.

ERICA: Saturday Night Live. I loved them. There were several with the original cast.

I liked the one where the bonus was the Sense-o-Ring Toss games from the Coneheads. There were the images of Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd, and you'd rub their cones and toss the rings over them. I laughed every time.

JACKSON: This one was here today, gone tomorrow, I think. I can't find anybody else who remembers it. But I loved The Three Stooges slot. It was a three-reel slot, but there was some Stooges video when you got to a bonus, and it had the right pictures on the reel and the sound effects.

I think my wife got a little tired of hearing "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!" from me for days after every time I played, but that really wasn't that much. It was gone really fast.

CAROLYN: Yahtzee, the first time around when you used to be able to select dice to hold twice after the original roll, like in the regular dice game. There was some skill to that, and I loved it.

MARY: I still love the three reels and I'm grateful still be able to play Double Diamond — that's my all-time favorite. I guess if there's one I miss, it would be Double Jackpot. That was the game for me when I first started playing. There was no Double Diamond yet, but you could double your winnings if you got the Double Jackpot symbols.

Others I miss are the ones where you had those bonuses on the little screen up top. You still played a three-reel game with Double Diamond or Red White and Blue, but on this other screen there would be 7s racing. If you got a blue 7 on the reels, it would advance the blue 7 in the race. It was a nice extra when one of the 7s won the race and you got the bonus.

VAL: I miss the Slotto games. Remember those? They were three-reel games and on top they had a blower with those numbered lottery-style balls. That's where you'd win your bonuses, on the Slotto part.

Some of them were really clever. I remember one was Popcorn, with the machine made up like an old-time popcorn wagon and the Slotto balls in yellow to mimic buttery popcorn. It was all kind of gimmicky, but fun.

FRANCIS: Piggy Bankin' — I loved that game. I guess it would pretty primitive now. It was three reels, and the bonus was just dots on a black screen.

There was nothing like it then. We didn't have all these different bonuses. When you got the reel symbol to break the bank and the animation would have a hammer shatter the piggy on the screen to give you the coins inside, that was exciting.

Maybe nobody notice it now, but maybe it could be retro chic. Anyway, I miss it.

LOUISE: Is it too soon to say I miss The Hangover? I know that's not that long ago, but I can't find it anywhere anymore. I wish casinos would have a classic games area where you could go play all the old favorites. I know I'd play.

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