NEW SLOTS

Scarab Ultra

By IGT

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his new slot, IGT’s Scarab Ultra is the latest iteration of Scarab, one of IGT’s most successful titles on dual-screen cabinets. It delivers everything players love from the original game with an all-new jackpot playoff with a guaranteed jackpot win.

Housed on the state-of-the-art CrystalCurve ULTRA cabinet, Scarab Ultra features a new animated Golden Scarab symbol that initiates multiple golden frames during play. In the base game, players have 10 games to land a Scarab symbol on the reels. When the Scarab symbol has landed, it turns the position into a golden spot. After the tenth wagered game, each collected golden spot turns into a wild for the Wild Stays Charges Then Pays feature that can lead to massive wins.

After three or more pyramid symbols land, the free game selection screen is activated and offers three player-selectable options for the opportunity to play for more spins or more wild positions. Finally, when three or more golden coin symbols land, the jackpot playoff is triggered, and players can win one of five different progressive jackpots. Scarab Ultra is an 80-credit cost-to-cover game. For more information, visit IGT.com. $

Life Of Luxury

By WMS Gaming

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layers are living the life of luxury with Life of Luxury—Mermaid’s Gold bringing exciting new experiences to casino floors! Offering 10 Free Games, a Life of Luxury Bonus and a Luxury Zone, it’s hard not to enjoy the lavish lifestyle.

Mermaid’s Gold also showcases a Hot Diamonds linked jackpot with 6 levels of local progressive jackpots, 3 increasing persistent state Free Spins level and Jewelry Boxes with Jackpots or credit prizes that players will want to chase!

And, there are three more variants of this slot too! They are called Far East Fortunes, Great Eagle, and Jungle Cats. If these names sound familiar to you, they should! If they don’t, we’re sure you’ll recognize them when you see them. These titles are among WMS’ most popular over the years.

Just a few casinos around Arizona have this game and we wish more casinos would install this great slot. If you’ve played the slot and like it, let us know.

To experience the game via an exclusive video of this new slot, just go to our website at AZGamingGuide.com. The actual link is: www.azgamingguide.com/index_files/videos.html. You can also find the video on our Facebook (/ArizonaGamingGuide). Or, if you are reading this digitally, just click the slot’s picture to the right! $

HOW A CRAPPY PAY TABLE KILLS BANKROLL

Running Numbers On Jacks Or Better

We know you’ve got your favorite Arizona casino video poker destination. Hopefully it’s based on the best possible pay table and not because the buffet is cheap or because it’s the closest to your house!

Not playing the highest pay table available to you can really affect your bankroll and therefore how long you can play for and how many hands you’ll see in order to have a chance to hit a Royal Flush or other favorite hand. What is presented next is a breakdown of all the different Jacks or Better (JOB) pay tables we are aware of and how each one affects your bankroll. Enjoy!

The standard JOB pay table (5 credits wagered) is as follows:

Royal Flush

4,000 Straight Flush 250 Four Of A Kind 125 Full House 45 Flush 30 Straight 20 Three Of A Kind 15 Two Pair 10 Jacks Or Better 5

What players need to look for to discern the difference between pay tables is the values for the Full House and Flush. In this case, 45 and 30 credits. Since you should always play max bet (5 credits) to receive the boosted win for the Royal Flush, the 45 and 30 credit wins are simplified to “9/6” in this case. The hold percentage (how much the house wins on average on every wager) for 9/6 is around 0.46%. For 9/5, it’s around 1.55%. For 8/6, it’s around 1.61%. For 8/5, it’s around 2.70%. For 7/5, it’s around 3.85%. For 6/5, it’s around 5.00%. While those hold percentages are far better than most penny, two-cent, nickel, and even some quarter slot machines, if you aren't paying attention to that ratio of Full Houses to Flushes, you may find yourself without a bankroll, even when playing nickel video poker!

Most video poker players can easily play one hand every 30 seconds. That’s 120 hands per hour. And, by the way, that’s slow. Many video poker players can complete one hand every 5 seconds. That’s 720 hands per hour.

So, expanding our pay table example out to one hour of play, the average loss for nickels goes from around 14 cents to $1.50 when the pay table changes from 9/6 to 6/5. The average loss for dimes changes from $0.27 to $3.00. In quarters, the average loss across the hour ranges from $0.68 to $7.51. If you love to play dollars, the average loss per hour is $2.74 per hour at 9/6 and increases to $30.02 on a 6/5 game! And remember, that’s if you play perfectly, and you are playing a one hand game with only 5 credits wagered. Across the board the losses change by a factor of almost 11. Ouch!

Hopefully this example proves to you the difference between a 9/6 game of JOB and a 6/5 game is huge! Even when playing slow. Playing fast (720 hands per hour), your average loss ranges from $0.82 per hour on a 9/6 nickel game to $180.14 on a 6/5 dollar game.

Send us an email if you want to know how to hold a hand! Doesn't matter if it’s holds you are seeing other people make, or if you just want to be sure about your own holds. Ask us if you have any kind of a video poker question, regardless of what it’s about!

Write us at Editor@AZGamingGuide.com, or send a letter to: Editor, AZ Gaming Guide, PO BOX 20636, Mesa, AZ, 85277. $