Las Vegas in Motown

There are many games of chance that you can play for free on the Internet these days. Who hasn't played Texas hold em for free. You know if it were that much fun to play on the Internet, there wouldn't be such a strong internal homing device drawing me due North like a compass.


Detroit, Michigan has 3 rather large casinos, the MGM, Greektown and Motor City fill that excitement genes needs. They are located in downtown Detroit less than a mile apart. The MGM is new and glitzy with a hotel, The Motor City has had major renovation to their old building, adding a hotel and Greektown is Greektown, new hotel and an gaming addition that push out the side of the building taking part of Lafayette Blvd.





I personally like Greek Town the best. Maybe it's because I've been there more and I like the assortment of slot machines. I read that they have over 2400 slot machine there.





Here I go remembering the "Good Old Days" back before Detroit had any casinos, we used to take a bus 3 1/2 hours to a floating casino near Gary, Indiana. Man that was desperation to gamble. If the wind was blowing off Lake Michigan, the boat would rock & roll. It was difficult to walk up & down the isles without seeing someone seasick. Every good gambler has a collection of those small plastic buckets with name of the casino emblazoned on the side. That weight of that bucket of quarters is what kept you from sliding off your stool during a stormy day.





Things have changed in how you are paid with your winnings. It used to be the person with the most bucket of quarters was the biggest winner. At the end of the day when you were about to go home you had to stand in line and have the clerk pour your many buckets of quarters in the counting machine. I can still hear the tinkling sound as the coins were counted. That was the sound of success. Now you get a piece of paper from the slot machine that looks like a cash register slip with your winnings printed on it.


I have a number of machines that I like to play, but I guess my favorite is Star Wars based on the movie. I have had a love /hate relationship with that machine since I discover it over a year ago. It's a 1¢ machine, one single penny. Doesn't sound like much, right? Well those who have played penny machines know that 1¢ covers the bet for only one stinking horizontal line. You could sit there all day playing 1¢ at time till you used up your initial $20. However, to win you have to cover many combination of lines. You can choose to cover 1-5-10-15-30. Yes that's 30¢ per pull of the handle. You can increase your winnings by how many times you want to multiple that 30¢ bet 1-2-3-4-5-6 etc. Your penny bet can now be up to $1.80 per pull. You now can rip through that $20 bill in a matter of minutes not hours.


What happens when you get a machine that seems to be defying the odds of payback. You are beating the casinos ass, taking it for $40 or $50 dollars on a penny machine and you have to go to the bathroom? One thing I learned is that luck on a slot machine is directly proportional to the distance from the restrooms. I hate myself for taking that last complementary drink from the hostess with big pushed up boobs that walks around looking for people that are winning so she can ply them with her free drinks that will go through you instantly and force you to leave your hot machine for the bathroom. And guess what, after you have made the pit stop and come back to your machine a big fat lady is sitting your machine, smoking a cigarette and holding a drink. She, however, has expandable bladder gene that allows her to sit at the same machine for hours on end without getting up to go pee.