Page 10 - February 2004 • Southern California Gaming Guide

CLASSIC When you think of slot machines, what comes to mind? Spinning reels? Video games with multiple-screen bonuses? Progressives with huge jackpots?
Walk into a casino — any casino — in Southern California, Las Vegas, Atlantic City — and one thing is for sure. ere is a sea of slot machines, artfully displayed to beckon your play. On second look, you’ll notice that slot machines fall into one of several categories: Reel-spinning slots like Double Diamond® and Blazing 7s®; video slots like MonopolyTM, SphinxTM, or Fortune Cookie®; and progressive slots (which can be either reel or video) like the famous and enormously popular Wheel of Fortune®.
REEL SLOTS
GO VIDEO!
Slot makers have created new video slots
from their famous reel slot brands,
resulting in exciting new games
Know the Different Slots
Here’s how to tell the slots apart: Reel-spinning slots have three (sometimes more) reels that spin when coins (or bills) are inserted and button(s) pressed or handles pulled to rest on a payline. Video slots have a monitor that displays a game with multiple paylines, various betting options, and multiple winning combinations. ey also have those fun bonus rounds that give
come in two varieties. e wide-area progressive with a large, sometimes life-changing jackpot has links in multiple locations, sometimes across the nation. Like Wheel of Fortune®, these slots are easily recognizable by a meter above the machine that displays a constantly accumulating jackpot amount. And there are casino progressives that have various banks of slot machines linked to an incrementing jackpot. And, just to confuse you, there’s even a stand-alone slot with a progressive jackpot like the Blazing 7s® reel slot.
Technology advances have had a profound e ect on the slot machine, and players have their pick of multi-line video slots with engaging secondary bonus games played out in computer-powered animation. In the last few years the expanding force in casino games has been video slots. While the
majority of slots at casinos these days are video slot machines, reel-spinners, no longer one-armed bandits (as handles have been designed out
of some of the games) are holding their own. Similar to cashless gaming, players will always want a bit of the past in their gaming experience. e look and feel of a reel slot, the sound of coins dropping and the experience of piling them in tubs—players want it all—cashless gaming, coins dropping, video slots with all the bell and whistle bonus rounds and the classic three-reel tried and true reel-spinning games.
Yes, reel-spinning slots still remain very popular with many players. And some reel spinners have become slot classics. So, recently clever slot makers have created some new video slots from their famous reel slot brands, resulting in exciting new games with familiar, classic appeal.
Slot Classics
Slot machines began as reel-spinners and have a colorful history (that’s a whole other article for another time).
Gamers consistently play slot machines that have become classics: Blazing 7s, Black & White SevensTM, Double Diamond and Red, White and Blue®, Triple Diamond®, Five Times PayTM, and Ten Times PayTM! ese are the ubiquitous reel-
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Page 10 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE February 2004