I probably should try more of the menu sometime

Still low-rolling, but a solid night

The chicken wild soup @ Minnehaha Cafe

Quick staycation hits the spot

Wonder if there really are random grand jackpots too…

Headed up to Grand Casino Hinckley today to test a theory about Black Orchid – that the top Orchid Progressive has the same odds on a nickel bet as it does on any other bet (see my recent long-form post on the Orchid here). On our last stop at Hinckley, there was still one machine with an unusually large top progressive on a nickel bet: a little more than $10,000. Unfortunately, someone beat me to it and that machine reset down to $500 (same as the yellow progressive).

Grand Casino is one of the only properties I know of that has tried to educate guests on volatility. They used to place stickers on the machines with a 1, 2 or 3 so you could tell how the game played. I don’t think they use those any longer, but Black Orchid was always marked a three for high volatility. After my multi-hour session playing nickels, I have to say that playing only one line boosts the volatility through the roof. I think I might’ve had a stretch of 100 or more losing spins before winning anything. Probably not the experience most players are looking for in a slot machine.

Of course the flip side of that is that when you do win, it’s usually for higher multipliers. The closest I came to getting a normal progressive was four cats, which paid $20 (400x win). Also had four jacks once, but that only pays $2.50 (50x). Very few three of a kind wins, although I did get three black orchids once. One of my free spin sessions re-triggered multiple times, for a total of 60 spins (total win: $3.00). Based on play today, I’d say that the frequency of black orchid symbols is the same as other bet levels. All of the other progressives hit much more often with the 40, 80 and 99 cent bets, however.

One last note, nickel orchid is probably not driving the level of play that the marketing department wants from their promotions. The August flier I received offered $5 of free play for every 20 points earned during the day (valid up to three times). I’m only first tier with their players club (“Preferred”) and am not sure how much play is required per point (the Grand Rewards page doesn’t really say). I think I played nickels for almost three hours and earned around 12 points. I prefer to be a low roller in general, but will enjoy going back to “regular” orchid at Mystic Lake next week…

Lots of play @ Mystic Lake on very little money

Could use some Rib Fest jackpots

A real-life jackpot would be nice too

Slot machines are fascinating to me – there are literally thousands of different games available in casinos around the world (and online). There are games with licensed pop culture content, brands cultivated by companies like Aristocrat and IGT, infinite varieties of video poker and keno – heck, even YouTube slot celebrity Brian Cristopher has his own branded slot machine now. These games form the revenue foundation for most casinos, but they can be complex to analyze when you throw in multiple denominations, bet levels, volatility and progressive jackpots.

One game that touches on all of these variables, Black Orchid from IGT, also happens to be one of my personal favorites. Introduced around 2013, it spawned two alternate themes based on the same math and gameplay model (Silk Seduction and Vintage Love) and can still be found in a few Minnesota casinos (Mystic Lake has two, Grand Casino has a bunch in both of their locations, Black Bear had three and Fortune Bay used to have one before the pandemic, but it has not returned). I last saw Silk Seduction at Bellagio (since removed) and there used to be Vintage Love games at both Hinckley and Treasure Island (also removed).

Black Orchid appeals to me because of the high volatility gameplay, tropical soundtrack, dimensional graphics (glowbugs!) and the affordable bet levels. Of course the biggest reason is probably that the Orchid is the only game that I’ve won hand-pay jackpots: $3,992.54 in October 2016 and $3,247.79 in May 2017. These both happened on 40-cent bets at Mystic Lake, which resulted in returns of 9,981x and 8,119x. Let’s take a deeper dive into the complexities of this classic casino game.

It is rather shocking to me that more information about slot machines is not documented online. These games have a lot of details for players to learn (and for the operators to market). The various online and app-based companies that offer “free” versions of real-life games are one way for players to become familiar with the ins and outs of a game, but unfortunately I have not found Black Orchid on any of these services (it appears there was a PC-based option at one point). The Lightning Link app licensed by Aristocrat supports many of their popular real world games, even giving players stats on their pretend play.

YouTube slot channels are another great way for players to become familiar with new games and how they play before they use real money. There is no doubt that influencers like Brian Christopher have impacted the popularity and business success of various games over the years. Casinos still tend to limit who can film on their floors, so I think older games like Black Orchid won’t get much of a boost from these channels, as influencers tend to focus on new games and marketing partnerships. I’m also seeing a trend towards more and more high-denomination videos, which means my little game with a $4.95 max bet is unlikely to be featured. I am curious to see if casino marketing departments start to shoot their own slot play videos to promote games (both new and old).

Speaking of max bets, let’s look at the options on Black Orchid. In Minnesota, I’ve only seen a penny denomination offered (even in the Hinckley high limit room). There is a video on YouTube with a ten-cent version, but I’ve never seen this in person. At Mystic Lake, the minimum bet is 40 cents. There are also 80-cent and 99-cent options, plus multipliers of 2, 3, 4 and 5. This means you have fifteen different bet options between $0.40 and $4.95 per spin. The machines at Grand Casino also offer 20-cent and 1-cent options, which gives 25 different bet options starting at a penny a spin (and some very interesting low-bet opportunities that I will discuss shortly).

So what’s the difference between the 1, 20, 40, 80 and 99-cent options? One word: pay-lines. The penny option gives you one pay-line (the five squares across in the second row down from the top), plus the four squares in the middle (top to bottom) that award the Orchid progressive when you get four black orchid symbols in those positions. The 20-cent bet gives you 20 pay-lines; 40-cent is 40 pay-lines; 80-cent is 40 pay-lines plus a 40 credit MultiWay bet for an extra 1024 ways, while the 99-cent bet is 60 pay-lines for 57 credits plus a 42 credit MultiWay bet for an extra 1024 ways. Learning what is and is not a pay-line or “way” is complicated:

MultiWayXtra game is played at 1024 Ways, times the bet multiplier. MultiWay wins contain one symbol from each adjacent column, beginning with the leftmost column. The same symbol, or it’s substitute, in a different position in the column pays that MultiWay win again. Only the highest win is paid for each MultiWay symbol combination. MultiWay wins are multiplied by the bet multiplier.

With this being a high volatility game, you can go many, many spins without a winning line hit. The real money for players is in the progressives: there are five smaller progressives and the one large Orchid progressive. To win one of the smaller progressives, you need five of the same symbol on a pay-line (with or without wild symbols, which can appear anywhere except the first column). You can win the same progressive on multiple pay-lines, but the additional lines all pay at the starting amount for that level.

As mentioned above, the Orchid progressive is awarded when four black orchid symbols appear in the middle column (which also awards 20 free spins; wilds do not count). Two black orchids awards ten free spins, while three black orchids awards 15 free spins. You can re-trigger during free spins, up to 130 total free spins (the most I ever had was 110, which paid me $86.35 on a 40 cent bet). You can also win any of the progressives during free spins (starting numbers on a 40 cent 1x bet):

• Red: “Flutter-bys” – starts at $5
• Purple: “Forgs” – starts at $12
• Blue: “Kitties” – starts at $15
• Green: “Dudes” – starts at $25
• Yellow: “Ladies” – starts at $100
• Orchid: “The Big One” – starts at $2500

All of the progressives change based on the main bet and multiplier. The multiplier increases in the smaller progressives are not straight up – each level only increases by the starting amount at each level. The Orchid progressive is much more interesting:

When that progressive gets very large on a machine that allows 1-cent bets, you can in theory win more than $10,000 on a penny spin. If you up your bet to what I call nickel Orchid, you can also win $500+ on a nickel spin. I’ve done that once at Hinckley, hitting a $524.76 Yellow progressive for a return of almost 10,500x. Playing nickel Orchid is fascinating – you can rapid-fire spins for hours and usually not risk more than $100. With only one pay line, winning spins are rare, but have high ratio paybacks when you do hit:

Triggering free games in nickel Orchid often results in the dreaded “FREE GAMES COMPLETE” screen, with no money won. I’m convinced, though, that your odds of winning the Orchid progressive are the same on a nickel spin as they are on a $4.95 spin (I talked to my old IGT friend about Black Orchid odds once, but I still don’t know all of the math behind this game). I do think that winning the smaller progressives is much harder on nickel Orchid, though, as there are 39 (or 59) fewer winning lines in play. It blows my mind that you can potentially get a 200,000x win on a nickel spin. This excitement is what gets people to play – and to return again and again in person.

While first researching Black Orchid, I came across the personal website of someone who listed themselves as a game designer on this title. I emailed him to ask if he could share more about the development of this slot machine, but never received a response (he may be under NDA for all I know). I’d love to know more about the math and why there is a rare alternate graphic for the cat…

Addendum published 8/2/2022

Fun day out at Mystic Lake (and we both left with more money)

Nice little 140x win on the goat before heading home

First visit back to Treasure Island in quite some time

Fourth online major?

Almost 10,500x win @ Grand Casino Hinckley

Wish I could get that to happen at a real casino

400x win for four kitties

All of the favorites – the Splash Cup was cool too

Had a random 133x line hit on the way out

Second random major ever (online)

So does that mean sports betting is already here?

That sure looks like a money bag to me #loser

Now I just need one IRL

Lightning Link iPad app with inflated fake money bets

Bay muffin with bacon & tri taters @ Gold Mine Grill, Fortune Bay

$1500 would’ve been a nice first night

Productive birthday nino visit

Guess you need to buy six in a row

Been a long time since I won on pull tabs

Good, better, best on the Orchid

Lego jackets, little smokies, turkey, Niver/Cossetta and Mystic’s new tower

So glad they just moved the Orchid (and didn’t retire it)

No big wins, but decent entertainment value for the money

As I get ready to go back into concert mode tonight for the Rollings Stones, I realized I never posted my pictures from the Morrissey show last month at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. This was a last minute impulse trip (booked the Wednesday before) and we were really glad we did it. This short five night residency had been postponed during the pandemic and we caught the last show of the rescheduled run.

First time for both of us in the venue built for Céline and we were very impressed – great sight lines and amazing acoustics. We were about 15 rows back on the main floor and loved the production. Second time seeing him live (and we will never forget the run-in at the Las Vegas airport Cinnabon after his House of Blues show too).

Not sure if I wrote much about the rest of the trip, but for posterity sake, we stayed at the Mirage, I golfed with Herm on the Paiute Sun Mountain course, Colleen saw RuPaul’s Drag Race LIVE! at the Flamingo Hilton and we had a lovely dinner at Chef Keller’s Bouchon in the Venetian. Setlist and photos can be found after the jump.

Viva Moz Vegas!

Setlist – Sunday, September 5, 2021

• How Soon Is Now? (The Smiths song)
• Alma Matters
• First of the Gang to Die
• Everyday Is Like Sunday
• Shoplifters of the World Unite (The Smiths song)
• I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
• Knockabout World
• Morning Starship (Jobriath cover)
• Ouija Board, Ouija Board
• Seasick, Yet Still Docked
• Never Had No One Ever (The Smiths song)
• Half a Person (The Smiths song)
• Love Is on Its Way Out
• Satan Rejected My Soul
• The Lazy Sunbathers
• I’ve Changed My Plea to Guilty
• Lady Willpower (Gary Puckett & the Union Gap cover)
• Back on the Chain Gang (Pretenders cover)
• Irish Blood, English Heart
• —
• ENCORE
• —
• Jack the Ripper

The car at Jackpot Junction

Doge wins are good wins at the nino

It’s literally been years, Mystic Lake

5X $5 = $25 winner

Historic Horse Racing Games: A Different Take on Slot Machine Style Gaming

Really wanted the maxed out major, but it was not to be

Solid, but overall I thought Revival is better

Mad Max Fury Road @ Venetian

Quick first visit to M Resort

Concert post coming soon

…not sure what to think yet

Doing the hard research for work #LeaguePartners

Not going to play for 100 points there, though

But $40 to go see the pool thing?

Quite an interesting variety of slot play (left down, but with money)

Just in time too – started to run low on free credits

…but no wins @ Grand Hinckley

Now to get it on a real floor…

Black Orchid @ Mystic Lake

Open-faced club sand wedge, Minnehaha Cafe

BOGO @ The Meadows at Mystic Lake (contest prize)

Knew it was possible – now want to see it at a real casino

RIP Stompy, though

One of the few highlights @ Fortune Bay

So great to catch up with friends

Minnehaha Cafe @ Mystic Lake

When in Rome (or Hinckley)

That was almost something

Two different progressives on the same spin

That was pretty interesting casino tech

Broke even on the initial few

Thanks for a great time, SMSC

Best win of the night

110 free spins on Orchid @ Mystic (40-cent bet, no progressives, won $86.35)

Back again this weekend

Not doing so great on scratchers lately