White Christmas

It doesn't look like much, but I just cleaned the snow off that truck about an hour earlier. It looks like the weather is going to keep us home for the holidays. Wisconsin is getting hit with a big snow storm just a day before Christmas. The forecast is for up to 12" of snow in central Wisconsin with wind gusts from 20-40 mph. In my younger days, I would have went for it, but now that I'm in my mid 40's, it isn't worth the risk.


Since snow is the topic for the day, I found this picture of a Christmas themed video slot machine. As an update to my article on slot machine strategy, I thought I would add a few tips specific to these machines. First of all, there seems to be an unlimited variety of these video coin gobblers out there. Most of them allow you to play multiple lines and multiple coins per line. You really have to be good with your basic math when it comes to selecting a video slot. For example the one pictured here has five columns or reels and these reels can line up in dozens of potential winning patterns. The problem is that the more lines and coins you play per line, the more it will cost you for each spin. Twenty lines at twenty pennies per line adds up to four dollars per spin. The casino just made you a high roller and you didn't even know it.

One of the things I mention in my article is that you need to play the maximum coins in order to get the best reward. This holds true for the video slots. The fastest way to find out if you can afford to play a machine is to look at the max coins sign on the machine. If the machine takes pennies and it says max coins 400, than you know that it is going to cost you four bucks each time you spin. It's easier than trying to multiply lines played by coins per line by coin size.

The new video slots have some amazing bonus levels. Many of them now have interactive touch screens where you can reveal the hidden bonus. This makes you feel like you have some control over the results, which can be very addictive. Once you find a machine with a bonus level that you like, you will enjoy the experience even more than the old mechanical slots.