The Slot Machine Battle Royal
Getting a little extra oomph out of slot play
By Frank Scoblete
The jaded slot player has seen it all, done it all, but still wants some kind of new excitement; some new element that will raise slot play a notch or two. Slot manufacturers beat their heads against the walls trying to come up with new things on a yearly basis and you can see the flat areas of their skulls where they keep hitting them.
Sitting at a slot machine for endless hours, putting in your credits, hitting the spin/play button, waiting for a decision, and then repeating the same thing over and over and over can get somewhat tiring. In fact, many slot players go into a sort of alternative consciousness when playing the machines.
Look, there is nothing wrong with escaping the world by going inside the world of the slot machine. It is like a form of meditation for many otherwise harried people. Still, there are many slot players looking for something different, something not found on multi-casino progressives or bonus games or games with cute or ugly little video creatures scampering about.
The jaded slot player has seen it all, done it all, but still wants some kind of new excitement; some new element that will raise slot play a notch or two. Slot manufacturers beat their heads against the walls trying to come up with new things on a yearly basis and you can see the flat areas of their skulls where they keep hitting them.
But now I have come up with the ultimate new way to play slots. It’s called “Scobe’s Battle Royal Slots.” I have patented this method because I think it will become the ultimate playing experience for not just the jaded slot player and not just the satisfied happy-go-lucky slot player, but for table game players too.
Here’s how it works. You must bet a mere one dollar to get into the contest. Every hour the casino announces which five slot machines on their floors have returned the most credits. It has to be credits and not money since high-denomination machines would invariably win such a contest were money the criterion.
Each slot machine in the casino is given a number and you can bet on which machine you think will get into the top five. You must use your player’s card and you can only bet one bet once each hour. That would prevent someone from betting as many machines as he could.
So now during that hour many machines of various denominations will be played in the casino. Is such a thing good for the casino, handing out hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each hour?
Yes, this is really good for the casino. Here’s why: Players will sit at machines they want to win and play like maniacs, as fast as they can, decision after decision after decision to get that machine into the top five. The faster a player plays the more credits he will receive but the more money he will lose. Clever right?
Once a machine makes it to the top five; now we have to decide which one becomes the ultimate winner. If one of your machines makes it, then you have a shot at the grand “Scobe’s Battle Royal” prize. That prize is fully based on how much was collected in bets on the contest. On weekends, the prizes will be huge; during weekday mornings in the early o’clocks the prizes will be small; might even be one of the machines you played.
There is, however, one catch. Along with the five top credit producers, three other machines make it to the finals no matter what number of credits they gave out or whether they were even played.
With eight machines in the final contest it will become just a spin of the wheel to determine which of the eight machines wins the contest. Whoever bet on the winning machine wins or shares the pot with anyone else who bet on that machine. There is no risk involved in betting on the machines except for that one dollar.
Yes, some, many or almost all table game players will probably throw a dollar into the pot for a chance to win the “Scobe’s Battle Royal” jackpot prize but so what? That just makes the jackpots bigger.
I am sure there are some kinks to work out with this new slots system but you can see its benefits clearly. Slot players get an extra oomph in their playing experience by giving them a more long-range view of what they are doing. Because of this long-range view the casinos will probably make more money since the tendency on the part of the slot players will be to put in more time.
The amount of the jackpots, while varying greatly, will still be appealing. A small jackpot means fewer players to compete with; a large jackpot will mean more players to compete with. Some players will prefer to play odd hours to increase their chances to win; others will flock at crowded times to take a shot at the big jackpots.
You can see that the “Scobe’s Battle Royal Slots” is an idea whose time has come. Although this is an exclusive concept designed by me I will be happy to help any casino develop this system for their property—for the right price that is (wink!).
Frank Scoblete’s newest books are Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines! featuring advantage-play slots; Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker! All available from Amazon.com, or at your favorite bookstore, or by mail-order by calling 1-800-944-0406. Join Frank on his web site at www.frankscoblete.com.
