A couple of points:

1. The machine at the Four Queens is the very same machine they removed from the Four Queens after they shorted the Millennium strikes. The dust was thick when it returned. At the Global Gaming Expo, I spoke to a FQ employee who told me they wanted a strike machine but were told they had to wait for the new machine. I think that is what Golden Phoenix was told, but I could be in error.

2. At the Global Gaming Expo last September, where IGT unveiled its prototype new machine and the infamous "Puck", IGT representatives staed that they were not ordering anything having to do with the old Sigma game but would wait until they perfected their own machine. This IGT only is a longstanding policy and that's what probably led them to buy out Anchor which was a partner in the extremely profitable "Wheel of Fortune" and the technology of that machine.

3. It looks like IGT is softening in its attitude towards strikers. They took an ad on the inside front cover of the Strike of the Year (as well as COTY, TOTY and Keys and Cards of the year). The ad trumpets its new machine "coming in 2004." I would guess thyey are still having some engineering problems. They also had to rework the display ares becuse there was no room for a $200 strike. Maybe some of our comments to them at the show also let them know that the puck would be a problem for us for storage. I have been told by the SSOTY chairman that an official representative is coming to the Club Banquet, another first.