Day 1: #SoberingVegas Start
I made it! Writing this now from my bed in the historic El Cortez.
The Flight
If you’re ever in Reno-Tahoe International Airport, make sure to swing by the massage chairs. That was the first thing I did. Usually a massage chair is 3 min for $1, 2 min if you’re at a stingy Vegas strip casino…(Hint: Roar). However, at Reno-Tahoe, you get 19 minutes for $5! That’s a pretty good deal, especially since everything in an airport is expensive. (I’m looking at you $10 6-inch Turkey Breast meal from Subway)
The plane ride was uneventful, but sadly due to some turbulence I didn’t get any of that Southwest Airlines snacks. On the bright side, I did win the game of Monopoly I was playing on the plane….
…but sadly that’s where the winning stops for the night.
The Plaza
I checked into the Hotel room (REVIEW TO COME LATER), set my stuff down, take a shower, and pretty much ran to the Plaza. Though I did stop at White Castle along the way, Walk and Eat!
Plaza is running a new member promotion where if you earn 100 points in your first day as a member, they’ll give you $10 in free slot play. If you earn 200 points, it is $25 in free play. However, you get 300 points, you get $50 in free play! I was on it!
First stop, the Silver Strike machine. The Plaza had placed these two machines onto the Casino floor back in January of 2020. The gimmick to this machine is that if you hit a special symbol on the third reel, you get a collectible token that could be redeemed at the Cage for $10. I wasn’t looking for Hamiltons though…I was going to keep them. I want all four to add to my collection. Good News…I got four. Bad news, I got a duplicate of one. Gaahh! Tomorrow Silver Strike….Tomorrow.
I then went to the Brian Christopher slot area at the Plaza. Brian Christopher is a social media influencer who films himself playing slot machines, it’s actually quite entertaining. Well, it is his videos that made me want to play Pop N’ Pays really badly. Too badly. I left the machine losing $50 of my original $100. Not one single free spin, after it faked me out five times. Oh well, onto the next machine….
Wheel! Of! Fortune! The Plaza had the brilliant (no-sarcasm) idea to have another themed slot zone, this time it’s about the venerable game show. Now this machine I played, Mystery Link, was featured on Brian Christopher’s page as well as fellow influencer Slot Lady. I wanted to play a Wheel of Fortune machine and had a hard time deciding. But a gentleman just got a handpay on that machine and I thought to myself “I want to get one too”; so I sat down, looked toward the lucky gentleman and told him “It’s your fault”. This machine wasn’t as bad as Pop N’ Pays, no fakeouts, but no bonuses. I lost $25 and headed to the Bingo room; but that’s a post for another day.
After Bingo, I went looking and finally asked a slot ambassador to point me to the Monopoly slot machine. I. Love. Monopoly. I have over 90 games of Monopoly. My personalized plate is Monopoly themed. My love for Monopoly knows no bounds, but it did get tested. I lost $50.
Silver Strike
Having gone belly-up for the day, I decided to head back to El Cortez. On the way, I stopped into the Four Queens to redeem my Las Vegas Advisor $10 Free Slot Play coupon. I got my players’ card, with an additional $5 in free play for signing up, and went to one of their Silver Strike machines. I turned $15 in free slot play… into 50 cents and no tokens. Dang it!
Today could have gone better. I didn’t hit any bonuses, but there is tomorrow. Maybe I can turn my luck around then. I can’t think of a good ending other than I’m hungry. Chow Time!
