Visitreno

[Mammothgambler]

Hi, hope everyone is doing well! Happy almost Thanksgiving...been out of the loop for a while, long story short I sold my old computer on eBay and it got stolen during shipment! Good thing I took the insurance. Was without a machine for almost a month but the mess finally got cleared up and I finally received a claim check. The upside is that everything looks so much better now on a 24" widescreen...

Just got back from Reno and South Lake Tahoe. Left on Friday night after pulling a 14 hour shift so it was kind of slow going at first. I'm still shopping around for a truck, and the rental car agency here has been closed for the past few months due to airport renovations, so it's been kind of hard getting out of town for the weekend up until now. I had received an offer for a $49 Grand Suite weekend rate at the Peppermill, but like the case usually is, there was nothing available when I called, so I wound up going with another offer for 2 free nights at Circus Circus, identical to the one I went with on my trip in June.

Got into Reno at about 3 am on Saturday morning. On this trip, I had $25 in free play at Circus Circus, $20 at the Horizon, $10 at Montbleu, and $10 at the Atlantis. First stop was the Atlantis - in and out in about 10 seconds. I've never won a red cent there, but I always go to get the $10 of free play every month and keep the comps rolling in. Next up was the Peppermill. In and out in about half an hour, down $70. As much as I still like the Peppermill, I definitely think it's time for some new machines there. It seems like some of the old standbys are starting to lose their flair.

When I arrived at Circus Circus, I was given a deluxe room in the Sky Tower on the 17th floor. It was pretty much identical to the room I received on my trip in June, the only difference being that it was decorated in an orange color scheme instead of purple. Everything pretty much was the same since my last visit. The elevators and hallways are still pumped with the extra-strong coconut scented air freshener. Kinda sticks to you after a while! Finally got to sleep at about 5 am.

Woke up at about 10:30 and went downstairs to redeem my free slot play. I went back to the $1, 3 coin Home Run machine that I had good luck on my last trip, but like the case usually is, the free play went in about 5 seconds. It was only after I put in $20 of my own money that I hit a $200 jackpot. (Hey, does anybody actually ever win in free play mode?)

One of the reasons I chose this particular weekend to go back to Reno was that it marked my 1 year anniversary of hitting that $2000 jackpot at the Pep last year, on the famous Double Ten Times Pay machine. Being the semi-superstitious person that I am, I went back to see if either machine would give me another round! I started out on the 3 coin model. A lady playing beside me had mentioned that it had hit for someone for a whopping $9000 the day before. On my last planned spin, I got a $150 hit - a double symbol, triple bar, and double bar. Better than nothing I guess!

Didn't really check out any of the other casinos, it was basically just the Pep and Circus Circus. I happened to notice that Fitzgerald's was still open and actually looked pretty busy. There were definitely lots of people downtown this weekend but it didn't seem overly crowded like it was on my trip in June. It was good to see that the El Pollo Loco right down the road from the Pep is still up and kickin', always a stopoff since we don't have much for fast food here in Mammoth!

By this time it was around 8 pm on Saturday night. I decided to hit the road for Stateline as I hadn't been since March. When I got there, I did the usual rounds, and hit the bonus round on Pinball at the Horizon - 4 bonus spins for a total of 125 bonus credits. Hit up the Top Dollar right beside it and got another $75. Harveys, Harrahs, Bills and the Lakeside Inn yielded no results whatsoever.

Stopped to see a couple of friends in South Lake Tahoe, then it was back down the hill to Reno.

I decided to hit the Pep again going back into town. This time, I went over to the main dollar area and played a few of the 3 coin Blazing 7's machines. After a few pulls, I got 3 red 7's, a $300 jackpot. From there, I went over to the quarter area around Romanza Something really interesting then happened...I looked up, and there was a cage manager along with two security guards standing right in front of me! They said, "Excuse me, but we've been tracking your play and we noticed that there were $69 in credits left on one of the machines from a previous player that transferred on to one of your payout tickets. If you repay us right now, we won't have any problems and you can continue to gamble here." I really didn't know what was going on, but after a few minutes of them showing me the ticket transactions, it turned out that they were right! My main question was who would be foolish enough to walk away from a machine with $69 in it? They came back a bit later and gave me my change and thanked me for my cooperation. Truth was, I had a few beers in me by then so I guess the whole thing went over my head entirely!

Today, I went back to the Pep on the way out of town, only to give back about $150 of my winnings. Better luck next time I guess!

So, that's about it for this trip...had a few wins and came out about $175 ahead after all was said and done. Trying to go back in a few weeks, packing it all in before the snow really hits here. No super huge jackpots, but definitely still fun!

Mammothgambler

[hawk]

Well, Mammoth, I am out - of - breath/exhausted from reading your TR. Man, You pack a lot into a short time period. Exactly opposite of my Reno trips.
Also nearly stopped breathing on the Rent-a-cop dealie. Very interesting.
We (most of us) feel invisible in a casino. Not so, is it?

Thanks for report. Very informative. good luck and keep hittting those dollar machines successfully.

[garyandsharon]

Nice reading your trip report. You've been missed on this board. One thing that doesn't sit too well is the cage manager and security asking you to return $69 dollars on your ticket. If you had found the money on the floor would they have asked you to give it back. Sounds to me it should be finders keepers. Gary did that once with a lot smaller sum. He left the machine with money in it. When he immediately went back the guy sitting at the machine said 'what ticket?' Gary didn't argue, just acknowledged his error in taking the ticket out.

Anyway, we are heading to the Pep Friday, Dec. 6. We checked with our host when we hadn't received the quarterly Preview Coupons that come in the mail. She said marketing discontinued the Preview. Even things are tightening up at the Pep.

Thanks for the reminder to watch my coins.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sharon

[RenoLady]

Glad to hear all is well with you MG, I was wondering about you!

Nice trip, you covered a lot of ground and took some money home, can't be that.

I'm a little pissed at the Pep's handling of the $69. You get to keep gambling there if you quietly give them the money? $#%! Either they think you're a thief and they toss you, or it's an honest mistake and they should treat you with more respect. Or, it's a loss like Sharon said and none of their concern! But the we're going to be rude to you and LET you stay if you give the money back is chicken $hit and beneath them.

[alison]

Hey Mammoth!

I have been wondering about you. We have not heard from you in ages. Now i know why. Bummer. At least you now have a nice 24in screen. Sounds pretty sweet!

Thanks for posting your report. I have been missing them.

Sorry to hear abou the situation at the Pep. I would have been offended. Its an hones mistake. Especially easy to overlook if you have been drinking. Rude!

Sharon-Bummer to hear about the Preview being discountinued. I was wondering why i had not recieved one in awhile. Now i know. I plan on staying less time at the Pep. I get better offers elsewhere. My friend is pissed too. Everythime they send her free play, its less and less.

Ali

[stan_allen]

What is this "Free Play" of which you all speak? Ah, we cheap-skaters receive no such solicitations, and we are welcomed with no encomiums once we grace the casino floor - alas, we are non-persons!

But it's always good to hear your finely detailed amblings, save for that business at the Peppermill with "Someone else's" sixty-nine dollars. If I were a judge, I'd be in a tough position, because as much as my sympathies lie with you, I would probably have to agree that the $69 belonged first to whoever left it there, second to the casino, and third to you - so if you'd continued not noticing, and had left before they came around to claim it, that would be fair - but my inner lawyer's preliminary findings indicate that the casino has a legitimate claim to money that is left behind in its machines.

LVBear may take me to task for this; I'll be interested to see his take on it.

But otherwise, great trip, and great trip report - thanks!

[remano]

[Mammothgambler]

Hey, good hearing from everyone and thanks for the replies. Yeah I can understand if it legally belonged to the casino but it did make me stop and think, how different was that from all the 2 and 17 and 39 cent tickets you always see laying around the machines that people are always stopping and picking up? All I remember is following my usual "3 spins and get up" rule at the machines but you all know how it is with the dollars, they'll spit out a ticket back at you if the dollar amounts aren't whole, usually for the "cents" part. I had originally stuck in a ticket for $317.69 and obviously the "69" part came out, but I didn't realize it was dollars, not cents...in reality I think they were just mad because not even 15 seconds later I switched machines and hit it for $300! Then I hit a 3 spin bonus round on a Lucky Spins as they were returning my change. I said, "Thanks for the change!" They also said that they were going to make some notes on my account about the mishap. Ooooohhh, I'm so scared (like I'm really getting the royal treatment there as it is already, right?!)

Remano - good hearing from you and thanks for the info.

Stan - the "free play" I was referring to is the free slot play that comes with my comps in the mail every month. I try to maintain low roller status, but most of the Tahoe casinos along with the Atlantis, Sands, and Circus Circus are good about throwing $10 or $20 at you every month even with that status. Every casino has their own way of dealing with it and you must be careful because it's really easy for the machines to take it back if you don't cash out if you hit anything. One thing that burns me up is that most of the time you have to stick in some money to get it activated so in reality it's not really free!

Alison and RenoLady - yeah that was pretty funny! I guess they were just doing their job but still I was like, "ok, whatever, can I see your transaction reports?" They about dropped with surprise that I had even asked them that, and it took them several minutes to locate it in the computer. So I didn't give in without a fight. (Hey all my slot books taught me proper etiquette when dealing with stuff like this!) Five minutes later this lady was hovering around those Blazing 7's machines giving me the stink eye so I was wondering if it was her that left the money behind. Hopefully one of the machines took her 69 dollars back lol Alison, if you are looking for easy offers elsewhere, drop about $50 at the Atlantis and you'll get on their free room list. Same for Circus Circus. Those are the only two "easy comps" places I've come across besides the Sands, Horizon and Montbleu. I'm considering some other options too, as I think the magic of the Pep is going out with all the neon...

Garyandsharon - good hearing from you and good luck on your upcoming trip! Yes I had the same question...I guess I'm going to have to stop picking up those random tickets I always see laying around everywhere! It's a shame about the Preview magazine, although I never received any. Come to think of it, I didn't see any of the coupons laying around anywhere that people usually leave behind (along with the tickets), so I can definitely believe they are tightening up in some areas. It was pretty funny because my Passport card was all beat up so I got a replacement. They were like, "you've had a card before here right?" I said, "yeah, been a purple member for almost five years now!"

A few other observations about the Pep - I did happen to notice that although the mainstream construction/remodel is done, they are now redoing the exterior of the main building, right along Virginia Street in front of the coffee shop entrance, in the Italian style of the rest of the new stuff. A few people told me that most of the tower rooms are remodeled now, and they are next going to start on the suites in February, so I might be able to make it back a couple more times to take in the last of the old decor. Their website is now transitioning with pictures of both the old and new room types. Saucy's looked pretty good, but I still didn't get a chance to go in. A couple of people were loudly complaining that the Spa Toscana that just opened up on the 15th has no customer service and needs work. It looks like a new oriental-style restaurant called Chi is coming soon.

Well, it looks like I came and went just in time - yesterday, we got a foot of snow on the mountain, and this morning, there's another foot on my front porch. Guess winter's on!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,
Mammothgambler