Ask the Slot Expert: Good (slot, video poker, ticket redemption) machine news at a casino

With casinos closing closing buffets, doubling the play required to earn a video poker point, and cutting back on comps and promotions in this post-pandemic world, it's rare that I get good news from a casino. I received three pieces of good news at Red Rock casino the past few weeks.

First, two items from the Slots Lost and Found department.

Item 1: A bank of 10 "Up to 99.8%" video poker machines across from the 8 Noodle Bar

I passed by this bank many, many times entering from the east parking garage. I usually kept going deeper into the casino to play at one of the other banks with high-payback games.

All of the banks but one are nickel minimum denomination. I liked playing at the bank in the center of the casino because it was quarter minimum and you were less likely to get stuck playing near someone who started games by hitting the Max Bet button or Bet 1 five times. There used to be a bank of Buffalo machines next to this bank and I enjoyed watching the Buffalo players play their bonus rounds.

The machine I played most often and had an on-again/off-again, love-hate relationship with was as far from the east entrance as you could get, across from the Panda Express in the food court. There is no glare on the machine and it deals a bit faster than the others. I've had the machine lock up on me and, a couple of times, have had it suddenly stop recognizing that my players card is in the reader in the middle of play. Hence my complicated relationship with it. The machine is still very popular with other regulars and there is frequently someone I recognize playing it.

Over the past few months, I've passed by empty end games at the Noodle bank only to find that all of the end games were in use at the other banks. I had to hurry back to the Noodle bank to grab one of the end games that I hoped was still available.

I eventually said to myself, "Self," I said, "why are you passing by an available end game and taking a chance on finding another one farther in? Why don't you just play the game here?"

I started playing games at the Noodle bank frequently, even though I could use the extra steps from going deeper into the casino.

A few weeks ago I was going to look for an empty end game at the Noodle bank. Before I knew it, I was beyond the spot where the machines were. I figured I must have walked right past them.

I doubled back to where they were and discovered that they were no longer there. If those machines were gone -- and it was very possible that they were gone for good because they're old -- that would be a very disappointing decrease in the number of high-payback video poker games in the casino.

A few weeks later, I used a discount offer at Side Piece Pizza, which used to be at the Palms, and needed to kill some time before my pie was ready. I walked from Side Piece in the food court back onto the slot floor and what was in front of me? The Noodle bank of machines.

I probably walked by these machines three or four times and never noticed them because I was intent on getting to one of the other banks. After I saw the bank was gone from the Noodle area, I should have checked www.vpfree2.com to see if the machines were moved or removed.

Item 2: Frankenstein Unfound

The casino level exit to Red Rock's "backyard" and pool area is a ways down the main walkway from the old location of the Noodle bank. There are a handful of machines in the corridor before the doors. Every few weeks, there were different machines in this area.

Frank Legato once told me that casinos frequently have a "new machine area," a high-traffic area where they put new machines to ensure players see them. I figured that this area was one of Red Rock's new machine areas. I had never been enticed to play one of the machines in this area, so I didn't know whether machines that were no longer there were moved or removed.

The whimsical symbols on Mighty Wins: Frankenstein finally got me to play a machine there. This can be a rough game to play if you don't get your share of bonus rounds. The first time I played it, the machine rewarded me with more bonuses than I deserved. It got even with me on future sessions.

The bonus round is a lock-and-link type of bonus. During the bonus, credit amounts lock into place when they land in a reel position on the screen. Adjacent positions that form rectangles combine and pay bigger amounts.

One day I saw that a new batch of machines was in the area. I figured that angry villagers with pitchforks and torches had driven Frankenstein out of the casino. Then one day I took the long way from Lucille's Smokehouse to the east garage and what did I find? My Frankenstein machine. It wasn't removed, just moved. I haven't been able to repeat the good luck I had the first time I played it.

Let's leave the Slot Machine Lost and Found Department and look at a different machine, the ticket redemption machine.

Some redemption machines are obsessed with dispensing 20s. I asked one of my friends who works on the slot floor why some casinos go out of their way to give you five 20s when a C-note would do. He said that you're more likely to put a $20 bill in another machine and more likely to walk out with a $100 bill.

I figured out the rule at Red Rock's machines: Always pay at least one $20 if you can. If the ticket is under $120, you're going to get all $20s. At $120 and above, you'll get a $100 bill. You won't get two $100 bills until you hit $220.

I figured out that the way to minimize $20s and maximize $100s from the ticket redemption machines is to redeem tickets worth $x20 and above. I've even put more money into a machine when I was done playing to get the ticket above $x20.

On a recent visit I didn't follow my rule and redeemed a ticket for $100, which happened to be the amount of money I had put into a machine. I was pleasantly surprised to get paid with one $100 bill. I haven't redeemed another ticket since, so I don't know whether this was a fluke or the new policy.

If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.