A Few Days Gambling in Tunica, MS
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Published: February 21st 2016
This gambling trip was a bit of a roller coaster. This will be longer as I will just put the gambling days all in one blog.
Monday Up early to find some breakfast. Dave liked playing cards at the Roadhouse last time so we head in that direction. Roadhouse had no options open for grub. Walked over to Horseshoe. Breakfast at their buffet. Delicious breakfast and their omelette lady totally rocked it. Back over to Roadhouse as Dave wanted to find one particular card game - he didn't find it. I played through $20 but no luck. Also the vibe just wasn't the same there. We went over to Gold Strike. We had forgotten our player's cards so needed to get new ones. Found out we had $10 free play each. Walked through the card tables but found nothing that looked good to me. Dave still didn't find this particular poker game. We went our separate ways for a bit. I believe I had my freeplay and $40 or $60. I used my freeplay on 3 reel 5 line quarters but no luck. Then walked around just playing some old favorites. I was overheating and I remembered there was
Dave & His Quarters
He really liked dropping those coins in! a new favorite near the door - Can Can. A nice older than lady had never seen it so was watching. I put a ticket in for $16 and was chatting not paying attention. Didn't even know which bet button I hit but got the high kick bonus first push. Never seen this happen. Turns out I hit $1.20 bet and won $31 - picture. Played five more pushes or so but nothing else. Scooted over to the next machine. Got the Love Wheel bonus at 3X. The wheel gave me 9 spins. Terrible win. Played a bit more and pretty quick got 3 high kick bonuses. Two not good and one very decent. If your not familiar with this game the high kick is random bonus. The frequency of hits on this one was very good hitting 3 in about 30 to 40 minutes of play. I flipped around on bet amounts but you can see them in the video.
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Met back up with Dave played a few games with him. Lost a good bit of my money I had built up. He had forgotten to use his freeplay and took off to the quarters. I played a
Dave's First Win on Dollars
This is the fifty dollar win. bank of Hot Shots - old but I love them. Finally hit one good one for around $50. Dave came back and had it $100+ on his $10 freeplay. Time to move on. It was raining so we cut through the Horseshoe and out to the car. Not sure why but Dave doesn't like to play at Horseshoe so we didn't. These three casinos for lack of a better term are down in a large cul-de-sac. Next stop Ballys which I like the tables there. Dave still didn't find the card game. ??? I sat down at a 21+3 card table. Bought in for $60 and played a good two hours or so. 21+3 is six deck shoe standard blackjack then the side bet is 3 handed poker. Your two cards then the dealer's up card. The poker side bet is not the best odds but I find it very entertaining. I was up over $400 at some point but in the end slunk away busted. So mad at myself for not walking away when up. Dave used to come get some of my chips but I was always so grumpy about it ... I wish he would start again!
He had no luck here & we moved on. Next stop The Fitz - Dave was very excited because we had read they still had coin droppers. These are the machines you actually still put coins in and your winnings still fall out in a tray. Immensely satisfying. All the clink clincking. Your hands just get really dirty. We played through $40 or so in quarters but no big grand wins. I cashed back out twenty once bored and wandered but lost it. Came back to Dave and he was done. Getting to be dinner time we had never been to 2nd floor at The Fitz so thought we would see what was up there. On the way right near the escalator we I spot a 9 line 3 reel nickle machine I love. It's called Spin to Win. It has two basic bonuses. If you spell out spin then you get 10 free spins at 3x. If you spell out win you spin till you get a win & it's a 10x. It plays old swing music during bonus. I'm easily entertained. Dave sat at a 9 line 3 reel nickle next to me. He hit this thing for
Dave's Win on Willy Wonka
Got to love those Oompa Loompas! $30 on a 18 nickle bet. Okay now up the escalator. There is a whole half floor up there with more machines. Also a cafe and buffet. They sure don't make this known. He had gone to the restroom to wash up and I checked out food options didn't look appetizing. Dave was not happy with me as he is a big guy and was hungry but we moved on. Ended up at Resorts and went straight upstairs to check out food options. They have tons of music type artwork up there - very pretty. The buffet was the only thing open and teeny tiny. But the atmosphere seemed good. Food was incredible and fresh. You know some buffets make up a bunch & leave it on the steam tables forever. Not this one. Small pans changed out often. The catfish I believe was the best I have ever had. So flaky and flavorful. Only thing lacking was desserts and service. A server at a buffet really doesn't have to do much but refill drinks. We got one tea each that's it never came around again. We played there for a bit but I don't remember anything special. The do
Dave's Big Win on Wheel of Fortune
2000 quarters is the largest amount on the wheel. have the Duck Dynasty slots but figured this out on the way out & Dave was tired. Back over to home base Sams Town. I'm not sure if Dave played or went upstairs. I played some favorites then some 21+3 bought in for my usual $60. Very lively table with a fun dealer. We had a good time. Never able to really build a stack so when I busted out went upstairs.
Tuesday A good enough sleep in about 9ish. Ate the buffet breakfast at Sams Town - big mistake. Really bad and food had been out a while. I had decided I wanted grits as a main dish - so salty no amount of honey helped. Today we took a drive down to Lula, MS to the Isle of Capri Casino. Lay out is a bit different. There are two hotels each with their own casino then meeting in the middle with a giant fountain & conf rooms. Half not open. We got players cards and $15 freeplay after playing $10. We slotted around but nothing much happening. I found some .10 cent 3 reel 9 lines that was fun and different but didn't win. We decided we were done as the place really had a downer kind of vibe. Walking out I spotted this Mardis Gras game I like so I took another $20 off Dave and played. Max bet is $1.50 and you have to play max to get all the bonuses unlocked. Five in total. I ran through that $20 in about 3 minutes. He had found this new mermaids game across the way. I watched him play this. He got the bonus and wish I had recorded because it was hilarious. You get to pick a shell for your wild mermaid - there are some way better that others they are star ranked. LOL. If your mermaid hits on the free spins, you get 8, then you win her value for the whole line. This is the funny part. At the end they do a second chance kind of thing. You have to smack the spin button to make an oyster open if it does you get more free spins. The funny part is 5 seconds into this a Chinese - ish voice - yells "PUSH THE BUTTON" - it is so funny. She does this a random number of times. If your oyster opens you start the whole bonus thing over - Dave did this four times and ended up with $40+ off of .50 cents. That got back some of our money. We then headed back to Tunica eating some road snacks for lunch since breakfast was so crappy. We stopped in the actual town to gas up. I had read the old downtown was something to see. Not really, a couple of the old buildings were cool but most run down and vacant. Cut through an older neighborhood - to see if we could find some old houses. They were old but not in a good way. We were obviously not in a neighborhood were we fit in. I spotted some older men out in yard and Dave's window was down so I was going to chat with them. I love talking to strangers. Before I could say hi they said a very ugly white folks comment they were black. I should have known better - this part of the world are notorious for still being very segregated. I don't like it. We headed back to Gold Strike - somehow our bankroll had dwindled to just $100. Not sure how that happens LOL. We each took $50 but busted out. We are now in the sad shape of being busted out of gambling $$$ at 3pm on the day before we leave and there is nothing else to do in this town. As we took the ride back to base camp I pouted. Then asked Dave kind of whiny if he had any put back money. If he did I would be cool with playing more coin droppers at The Fitz. He smiled and said he did. Yes - I'm pathetic but was desperate. Back to The Fitz with $20 in quarters each. David patiently played one machine as I bounced around. Turns out patience would have been good for me - the machine I played the longest hit for a lady for 950 quarters - dammit. I was ugly I didn't even offer to help her gather them up or get them to the cashier. Cashed in what we had left $10 - I wanted to play Spin to Win again so we each played $5. He hit on that same machine next to it. This time $30 on .45 cents. He decided to use $20 of this on what he had the put back for - dollars. Dave is normally what I call a micro roller - rarely bets more than .50 cents a spin. But this trip he really wanted to try dollars. To reinforce this The Fitz had coin drop dollars with these big old clunky metal dollar coins - I kept one as they are cool looking. When we play quarter coin droppers we say we are making it rain when we win. With these suckers it's make it hail. The bet was $2 so he had ten spins to make it happen. In a couple of spins he hit $10 then $10 again then $30 and $50. He was so excited he jammed up the machine - I went to get a tech. Once fixed I left him to it as he was being careful to put some money in a save bucket. I took the other $10 and bounced around at old reel pennies and nickles. Down to $2 and change I though hmmmm. I went to that same machine by the Spin to Win and played it - why not? I know it's crazy but hit $45 on nine nickles. This machine was like the most awesome ATM in the world. I went to show Dave and check in - he was still going strong. I played a couple video type slots with no wins or losses. Checked over to Dave and he is in the cashier line. I went to see what was up. He had filled his save bucket to the top. I stole my keepsake and sat at a quick hits with max bet $1.50 near the cashier cage waiting on Dave. I ended up running my $20 up to over $100 then cashing back out around $70. Dave cashed his bucket out at $150. He then put his $20 in the quick hits next to me and ran it up to $60 while we decided on dinner. Again pretty hungry. We wanted to try Barn Prime at Ballys but we got there and it was closed. There buffet looked and smelled good so there it was. Another small buffet very very good again - small batches. The waitress was spot on. She had closed down everything - it was like 7:30 - but a small manageable section. She was spot on with refills. Talked Dave into Hollywood Casino he didn't like it last time. Went in and walked about not much changes - the decor is cool. $20 each no wins - not much changed there. Went back to Sams Town. Played together on several machines. Dave won an Oompa Loompa bonus on the three reel Willy Wonka for $100+ on .70 cents. Played a few more together then called it a night. Good come back but the best is yet to come.
Wednesday Again sleep in till around 9 - love vacation mode. Got all ready for the road again. I went to hunt down a host. I had to call her on a house phone per the promo counter. Finally reached her and said I would like meet to go over my bill and play. She ran our players cards - on the phone. Nope and nada. Never had a host not just meet somewhere. Whatever checked out & car loaded. Didn't want to eat breakfast at Sams Town again so just went and played a bit. We split up and I took $40. Dave has to just give me small amounts or boom it's gone. We separated each playing what we wanted. I had $37 of my $40 having just hit on a cash wheel - I was micro rolling at .40 cents. I asked if he was doing any good at all - I didn't want to lose the little bit we won yesterday evening. He said had channeled my dad and played his favorite game - 5 line quarter wheel of fortune. Then showed me a ticket for $525! I ran over to the machine and picture. We cashed out tickets. Then played some more wheel of fortune. He didn't win anymore but I won around $70 on $20. I went to play one last round of 21+3 - nice enough table but not lively. Played $60 but couldn't get an traction on a win. Took the last $20 I was going to spend to an old cash spin penny game I like - double up there. Then went to play nickles. They have a 9 line 3 reel I like. It has a little fire headed guy if you get two he re-spins to try to the the third. If you get the third then 10 free spins at 3x. I hit with a 50 something nickle bet - 2 bonuses netted me $150. I slotted around running into Dave playing in the same area. It was creeping on 1pm - our leave at the latest time. I had lost down to $120 so I went back to my go to - cash spin. A bit of explaining here - I hadn't had anything to eat and was about 8 drinks in 😊. I kept telling my self I was not going to use that other $100 bill. But in the cash spin it went. I had it down to around $60 when I hit the wheel - thank goodness. I hit free spins which is 2x - I was betting max $2 and at that level wins are pretty good. Another wheel spin in the bonus and I got $30 which doubled to $60. Down to last free spin and hit wheel again for free spins. So 24 free spins in all - won total $160. I played down to $150 and high tailed it to Dave. LOL. We got out of there quick. So our great come back was 2/3's of our bank roll or so. Yes!
The casinos are technically in the town of Robinsonville but the county of Tunica. They are pretty spread out so a car is needed. Hollywood & Resorts are together and across from Sams Town on one road. Down the next road is the The Fitz. Straight dead end on the main road is Ballys. Then the final road is Gold Strike, Horseshoe and Road House.
Gold Strike -
http://www.goldstrikemississippi.com this is an MGM Resorts property. Players card program is M Life program. Very clean property and fun vibe.
Horseshoe -
https://www.caesars.com/horseshoe-tunica this is a Caesars property. Players card program Total Rewards. Always clean but older more stuffy crowd. Good food choices.
Roadhouse -
https://www.caesars.com/tunica-roadhouse this is a Caesars property. Players card program Total Rewards. Just not good anymore - would not be surprised if it closed soon.
The Fitz -
http://www.fitzgeraldstunica.com Players card program Key Rewards. Fun property with lots going on. Even live bands up on a stage that can be seen throughout the casino or at least heard. Not good food choices.
Hollywood -
http://www.hollywoodcasinotunica.com - Penn National Gaming Property. Players card program is Marquee Rewards. Cool movie stuff to look at but not much fun gambling.
Resorts -
http://www.resortstunica.com - Players card program Resorts Rewards. Good vibe - quieter. Excellent food choices.
Ballys -
http://www.ballystunica.com - Players card program Players Bonanza. Same owner as Resorts but players club is not interactive. I enjoy playing cards here quite a bit- good dealers. Also good food choices.
Sams Town -
http://www.samstowntunica.com - this is a Boyd Gaming property. Players card program is B Connected. Gaming wise we did quite well here. They have good dealers. Games are a good mix of old and new. The buffet has nose dived not very edible. The sandwich shoppe is still very good. The hotel is headed downhill. Besides not getting the room promised. Just a lot of updating needed.
As far as a winter gambling trip destination I think Tunica is off the list. It just seems to be drying up. Good service is lacking. Not many good places to eat. No really good shows come around anymore. And nothing else to do in the area.
I'm also very disappointed in B Connected and Boyd Gaming on this one. I will let that one just be.
Next up Hot Springs!
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