Keem ’em coming!
It’s always going to be casino-dependent on the “optimal time,” and some casinos are just always quite competitive. Heck, it’s why I take so many trips to places like the Bahamas, Colorado, Aruba…you name it. If I could go into my local casinos in Connecticut and find plays all day, I’d just do that. At most casinos these days, I am not sure there is an optimal time where you’re going to have the casino to yourself, so I wouldn’t necessarily try to find that magic window.
You may have to do some camping from time to time as well rather than just looping around. Trust me, I’d rather be on a fun scavenger hunt rather than lurking behind a machine myself, but sometimes the smart money is in doing the latter.
I have blog posts on that here:
“Most machines at this one had the same screen for all the different line amounts at higher denoms. Do some casinos reset their machines overnight to curb AP playing? Is this a tell tale sign few have been on the machine since it turned on?”
When new games are added, they often come at the low end of a build. Or there may just be some stock screen; Golden Egypt, among many others, comes to mind. Once someone plays on that screen, it should change for good. However, I have seen this before:
On a podcast I was on, the idea of casinos resetting machines was brought up as well. I wouldn’t rule it out, though usually it’s just going to be that no one has played on the high bets yet.
“People were blatantly camping everywhere. And while I tried to be discrete, others were standing up, quickly checking every denom and moving to each machine in the row. Again, being completely obvious with what they were doing.”
Yup, happens all the time. If the casino never makes an effort to curb advantage play, people get quite brazen with their checking. In fact, I actually prefer going to casinos that have started throwing out other advantage slot players because I can often check machines in a more subtle manner and find more plays than I would otherwise.
I’m more of a morning guy myself, but I would not say that’s the magic time frame or anything. You’ll have to see what works and what doesn’t at your specific casinos. And if you really want slotting to be a way to make steady money instead of just a fun hobby, you may have to travel around a bit, depending on where you are.
Formal term…hmm. I have a few in the glossary. “Advantage player” is probably the most common.
As you said, all opinions are welcome. We’re at an interesting time in slotting: There are a ton of advantage games out there. There is a lot of competition. Some casinos are starting to care about advantage players and do something about it. Manufacturers are creating new games with smaller edges and bigger swings, or just “fake advantage games”:
False Flag Slots (Fake Advantage Games)
Advantage slotting is not easy. I will be the first to say that. There’s still a lot of opportunity out there, but it can be a serious grind like any 9-to-5 type of job in a way.
Ben Rosenthal
