Live at G2E

G2E was much as I anticipated it–very large, with many new machines. Here’s a few:

Click on it–you can see it in full size, the fruit of my brand new Minolta 5.0 megapixel camera–look for more great images soon. Anyway, I know that gaming manufacturers don’t target their machines towards kids, but when’s the last time anyone over the age of, say, eight got excited over the ice cream man? (An exception is noted for the ice cream woman, of course) I saw a lot of strange machines today, but this one was up there.

A while ago, I got an email question about the Milk Money machine. Today, I finally got a chance to see that side-splitting bonus round myself. I now understand a bit more about the game’s psychology. Seeing Bovina and Hefina produce whole, strawberry, and chocolate milk (hey, they even make egg nog, in the game’s logic) was truly an experience. Cows with attitude! What’s next, farm-bred salmon that just don’t care?

When I first saw “piggies,” I thought it might be some kind of reference to Piggy’s Bar on North Carolina and Arctic back in Atlantic City, which would have been great. Instead, it’s a slot machine that combines money with an Elvis-impersonator pig. I don’t even want to know about the creative processes that dreamed that one up.

For me, the Expo was great–I saw some people I knew, was recognized by a few people, and had total strangers tell me they use my website (http://gaming.unlv.edu). That in and of itself is rewarding.

Of course, there’s always the hammerheads who don’t have a second for you if you’re not buying something. Take for example, this exchange:

Dave, approaching booth with a new casino game: “Do you have any information about this game?”

Exhibitor: “I don’t know…what casino are you with?” (Physically grabs and reads badge, then shrugs dismissively.)

I understand that people are under pressure to make sales, but I’d be a little wary about blowing people off…you never know who someone’s working for, or who they talk to.

Personally, things like that make me laugh, kind of like people who don’t know me and call me to ask for information, prefacing it by, “You’re a guy who’s plugged into the top of the industry,” or, even better, “You’re very influential in the industry, so you must know…” Actually, with a whole week of parties and whatnot, I haven’t been invited to one. I tried to swing an invite to the Bally’s party at the Palms, where they’re celebrating their Playboy slot, partially on my merits as an author who’s work is going to be published in the magazine (and not in the Playboy Advisor, either). No dice.

Actually, I spent the morning in a high-powered meeting with the most influential people I know–4th graders at a local elementary school where I’m volunteering for Clark County Reads. If you want to go out and make a difference, helping kids develop an appreciation of reading is a great place to start, in my estimation.

Tomorrow, look for a detailed account of Jay Cohen’s talk, and anything else I chance upon. And if you’ve got invites to any of the after parties, help a guy out.