Page 5 - May 2002 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Extended Distribution, New Feature!
Spring has come to Southern California, and Mother’s Day (May 12th)! Time to celebrate our moms, yourself, your wife—all mothers! Take your mom out to a casino for a lovely brunch and some play on her favorite slot. Look for casino Mother’s Day specials—especially for Bingo and Brunch at Sycuan Casino.
www.SanDiegoGamer.com for current and past issue information plus hotlinks to casino web sites.
Don’t diet this month—or if you do, take a wee break. This issue we tell you all about San Diego casino buffets in our 2002 Buffet Guide, and all about casino food service in our second feature on page 15. It will tell you why you should go to each and every buffet (well, certainly not all in one month). In order to bring you this in-depth feature, our staff had to eat at every casino buffet (we persevered). All the buffets are extraordinary values, given the quality, type and sheer abundance of food presented. Gone are the days in Las Vegas, or anywhere else for that matter, that a guest could eat quality all-you-can-eat meals for outrageously
Starting with our May issue, we will increase our distribution of The San Diego Gaming Guide to Orange and southwestern Los Angeles Coun- ties! A while back we started to test-distribute in Orange County, and were inundated with phone calls and e-mails asking us where people could get our publication each month. Gamers in Orange and Los Angeles Counties have to travel either to Vegas or to Inland Empire casinos to play
their favorite slots, and they want to know
more about San Diego gaming, not only
for when they visit here, but to travel here speci cally to play. And San Diego has
some of California’s best casinos! So, a
big welcome to more Southern California
readers! You can nd The SDGG the rst
of every month in Vons, 7-Elevens, and
Savons in Newport Beach, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Laguna Beach, San Clemente and other coastal cities. Tell us what you want to know about San Diego’s gaming scene. We’re working on all the suggestions readers have already sent to us.
This month, we have also begun a new editorial feature that we call “Casino Cameo.” It is a cameo in the literal sense, in that it brings into sharp focus the character of each featured casino in words and photos. We hope this will give everyone a look at each San Diego County casino to get a really good sense of what the casino is like for those who haven’t been there, and news for those who know the casino
low amounts of money. But remember, especially at the large San Diego casinos, food & beverage managers cater to volumes of people and are happy to break even on their buffets, so you can eat quality steak, lobster and prime rib (yes, all-you-can- eat) for still (relative to restaurants) low, low prices! While we don’t rate the casino buffets, we tell you why you should go, and
why we will return.
Next month is our rst Video Poker issue. Get
ready to learn everything about the game and how to nd the best video poker machines in San Diego. Until then, have fun at the casinos!
SAN DIEGO GAMING GUIDE
“You can find The SDGG...in Vons, 7-Elevens, and Savons in Newport Beach, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Laguna Beach, San Clemente and other coastal cities.”
well. Let us know what you think about this feature. For more information on each San Diego casino, pull out our Casino Directory that has lots of information and driving directions. Those of you with Internet connections can log onto our web site
The Unknown Gamer Celebrates!
It doesn’t take much for me to nd a reason to celebrate. It’s Spring! That should be reason enough. And it’s time to wish almost half of San Diego’s casinos a big, Happy First Birthday! It was only about a year ago that Casino Pauma, Valley View Casino, and Pala Casino opened
their doors. And it’s been a great year for gaming for us all in San Diego. We got through our nation’s crisis in the Fall, strengthened and renewed, and we are grateful for everything that strength brings. Am I getting too philosophical? Birthdays are cause for re ection, but let’s look at what’s happening in San Diego’s casinos from a gamer’s point of view.
There are eight casinos in San Diego County. (This newspaper tries to bring you news of all of them—whether the casinos advertise on these pages or not.) As a gamer, I go to all the casinos—some more frequently than others. And as greed motivates us in this entertainment, I
friendly place, but I don’t want people to chat with me while I’m playing. I want to be able to play on a $20 bill for more than two minutes. (An hour would be wonderful. Making it into $100 would awesome!) I’m willing to drive to a casino that gives me what I want
(as long as it’s no more than 50 miles round- trip). I want good food when I’m hungry. And if I didn’t know all the casino buffets before,
I sure do now. I went with the SDGG staff to help compile this food issue, and I was amazed at the great quality food at San Diego casinos for fabulous prices. We here in San Diego sure are lucky to have so many great casino choices on a given night. So, Happy Birthday, Casino Pauma, Valley View Casino and Pala Casino! I wish you many, many more! Don’t forget to check out these casino’s celebration promotions. If
go more frequently to those
casinos where I consistently
win. There is one casino, as
much as I like a lot about
it, where I just cannot win a
thing. I may as well drive there and give the parking attendants my $200, and get the satisfaction of their astonishment and smiles, than deal with the frustra- tion of zip, nada winnings once again. But what’s it all about, anyway? Do I really have to win to have a good time? (Yes, at least some of the time.) What do I want from a casino besides to win as much as I possibly can? Most of the casinos know. I want a
they aren’t listed on the promotions page (page 17), call the casino (you can nd phone numbers in the Casino Directory) and ask what they’re doing to celebrate themselves, and their good fortune to be in America’s Finest City.
So, I bouffed (the past tense of buffeted—and am now wearing draw-string shorts) and thanks to the powers that be, I am nished dining with this motley crew (they eat everything in sight!) And next month, I will get to talk about one of my favorite casino games—video poker!
Thanks for the gaming stories—and send me more! unknowngamer@sandiegogamer.com.
“Happy Birthday to Casino Pauma, Valley View Casino and Pala Casino!”
May 2002 Page 5
Gaming Guide Editorial Column: The Unknown Gamer