"Hey! Al! C'mon over here and take a look at these two old IGT clunkers." Al was across the room punching up games and looking for plays. But he walked on over.
"Damn! What is that? Vintage 1980's?"
"Yep" I responded Old 1980's IGT keno clunkers."
"So what's the big deal?"
"Take a look at the 5-spot progressive."
Al squinted at the number. The progressive was at $257.
"Is that a play?" he asked.
"Yes. It's worth a little money."
We were in Shelby, Montana. We had checked into a hotel then scouted the town out for plays. We hadn't found much. Just a few hundred dollars in expectation. And we ran rough on that. We were up a grand total of $78 for the day. But the hotel room had cost us $81. And we were staring at two old IGT clunker keno machines with linked progressives in an old rundown bar/casino.
"What's the cost to spin it off?" Al asked
"Well, it's a fifty cent bet and with that payscale about $160. But hold on. I'll pinpoint it."
I pulled out my pocket calculator. It wasn't my first rodeo with 5-spots. I knew the numbers by heart.
"The cost is $169 per cycle, Al"
"Reckon how fast the meter is?" Al said.
"Usually a half percent."
"Okay, so let's get to work."
"I don't know. It's damn near one in the morning. There gonna close pretty soon. We should probably hit it in the morning before we leave town."
"Yeah, you're right. We'll tag it in the morning."
On the way out the door Al asked the bartender what time they opened in the morning.
"Eleven O'clock sharp." the bartender responded.
"Damn" Al said as we got in the car. "They don't open until eleven. That's gonna make us late for gettin' into Cut Bank. How much is that play worth."
"It's a $90 earn."
"Chickenfeed. You wanna just blow it off and head to Cut Bank early?"
"Well, here's the problem, Al. That number, $257, is way out of whack for a game where the meter resets at probably around $125, and the meter runs only half percent. Now, Al, how have we made a lot of money in the past in this state?"
Al thought for a few seconds....
"Mistakes! he almost screamed. "Casino mistakes!"
"That's right, Al. Where does that damn meter reset? We might have us a straight through play."
"Yeah! You're right! We gotta stay and spin it off" he said as he pulled into the hotel parking lot.
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