The magic bus

19 March 2017

By John Grochowski

Casino players know well the ups and downs of wagering, with more downs than ups for most of us. But it’s the ups that are most memorable, like those relayed via e-mail by readers Betty and Pearl.

Betty: "For me a perfect day is having a good time, a nice lunch out and not losing any money. As long as I get to play some bonuses, have some fun and about break even, I figure I’m ahead of the game.

"There was this one time, though, playing penny slots, where I won at almost every game. It started at Goldfish. I got all the different bonuses. There’s the one where you get a starting credit reward in a bubble, and when the fish kiss the bubble, the prize grows. The goldfish kept kissing mine, and it got up into thousands of credits. Another one, you pick from a whole lot of bubbles. I got the one that awards all the prizes.

"I got so many bonuses, I won about $200 on that machine, and for me, that’s a lot. But I was just getting started. My friend said she like the Buffalo game, so I decided to try, and got those Buffalo stampeding on the screen. I won another $300 there. Then I went to Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I love that movie. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it. By now, I was feeling so good I’d have been happy just to pet that cat a few times – that’s one of the little bonuses. But I won a progressive there, and that was $113!

"We kept moving around, and I lost $20 here and $20 there. Whenever I lost $20, I moved on. I had some other wins, too, and when I counted it up at the end of the day, I had $550 more than I started with. So having some fun and breaking even is a perfect day, then I guess that day was just out of this world."

Pearl: "This was a park district bus trip. My girlfriends and I called it the Magic Bus, and it was magic that day. My girlfriends all play slots, but I like video poker. They have the Double Double Bonus Poker there.

"My very first hand I was dealt four aces and a 4. I didn’t even need to draw. That was $500 to start with, so it was going to be a pretty good day whatever happened after that. Within half an hour, I had a couple of more fours of a kind, the smaller ones that pay 250 quarters. Then it happened. I held ace, jack and 10 of hearts, and up came the king and queen for a royal flush and $1,000.

"I kept playing, and was going down little by little, but maybe 45 minutes later, I held two aces, and got the other two, no kicker this time. Then I held three 2s, and got the fourth 2 and a 4, so that was worth another 800 quarters.

"By now it was time to break for lunch. We got the buffet as part of our trip. Then we had another hour to play before we had to get the bus back. I went right back to the Double Double Bonus, and I got another royal! Clubs, this time, I kept A-K-Q-10 and drew the jack.

"I had my stories to tell on the trip home, let me tell you. I won almost $3,000. Magic Bus is right."


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