Ask the Slot Expert: Rooting against a progressive?

It's that time of year again. I don't mean the holidays. I mean time to re-qualify for upper tiers in slot clubs.

Because I let re-qualifying go to the last minute, instead of playing mostly video poker to re-qualify, I'm also playing a bit more slots than I usually do because I earn three times the tier points per dollar played through a slot than through a video poker. (I'll also admit that I'm a sucker for Egyptian-themed games.)

I've been playing a game called Ramosis' Treasures. Why isn't it called Rameses' Treasures? Maybe because the name can also be spelled Ramses and maybe the condom folks still have the trademark.

In any case, Ramosis has two progressives. One, the Grand, is shared among the four machines in the pod and is around $14,000. I figure I have very little chance of winning that one.

The other progressive, the Major, is machine specific. I play the one with the highest value, which is about $1200 now. I think I might have a chance at winning this one. I've hit mid-level progressives on other machines.

You play to win the progressives and the two other fixed jackpots in the appropriately named Jackpot feature, which is randomly triggered when a scarab with a green jewel lands on your screen. You start with 12 free games in the Jackpot feature. When a scarab symbol lands on the screen, it turns around to reveal a jewel, a credit amount, or a number of free games.

The credits and free games are self-explanatory. You collect jewels to win the jackpots. Collect four purple jewels to win the Mini jackpot. The other jackpots require five jewels: blue for the Minor, green for the Major, and red for the Grand.

I always root for getting a green jewel. As I said before, hitting the Grand is so unlikely that I don't think red jewels will help me. Better green than red.

Although there was one time when I had four green jewels and four red jewels and eight games left. I wondered whether this might finally be the time I get the Major that I've been chasing for a few weeks or even the Grand. It wasn't.

Playing the Jackpot feature another time, I realized that it sometimes doesn't make sense to root for more green jewels. When I have just two or three games left and I need two or three green jewels to win the Major, chances are that I'm not going to collect enough jewels for the Major and that any green jewels I collect will just disappear at the end of the feature and not add to my winnings.

The same goes for red jewels and the Grand and, come to think of it, the other jackpots too. If I'm running out of free games and I still need more than one jewel for a jackpot, I'll root for scarabs that give me free games or credits instead of jewels.

Free games are nice because they give me more chances to win more money. I like credits the best, though, because they go straight to my bottom line.

I haven't run any tests, but I'm pretty sure that my rooting has no effect on what the machine gives me no matter how hard I root for a particular outcome.

Still, if you can do a Vulcan Mind Meld, you can hear me silently rooting for green jewels and free games and credits while playing Ramosis' Treasures.

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