Just returned from a vacation to Las Vegas and I just wanted to post a trip report on my observations and strike hunts.

The Main St. Station no longer has a Strike Machine - the slot tech said it was "down" half the time and management recently pulled it. Since I stayed here it was a semi-bummer, but downtown had many other casinos available for striking. I found that the Plaza was very cooperative to our club, someone even placed our SS ad in both of the machine's display window - nice touch whoever did it - we really should try that again at other casinos. I spent a lot of time at the Plaza trying to get 20 strikes to trade for the big $200. After a few marathon sessions, success, and I now own #125. It was worth it when you factor in that I managed to score a "blue" twin towers during one session. Very nice. The LV Club drove me crazy with tight machines, all part of the game. Awhile back, someone mentioned on this board that you should be careful walking down to the El Cortez after dark. I second that emotion. Some scary individuals were lurking around in the vicinity. I walked very quickly back to the Fremont Street casinos.

On the strip, I had an interesting experience at O'Sheas. The machine near the front door was out of service, so I went to the other one. It was acting very strange. Twice, the power went off during a spin, then it reset, which was a little weird. The second time, I called a slot tech over and he was a little puzzled about it. He manually reset it without a loss of my credits. Speaking of O'Sheas (and the mighty Flamingo) did anyone else pick up on the pads they have in the coin trays? Excellent idea, a few times the plastic coin holders have broken when they hit the hard metal trays.

The new strikes from the Sahara, IP, and Mandalay Bay are very nice. I ventured into Paris and could not find a machine. Casino personnel sent me back to Bally's to play. I guess their new machines are still not operational yet??

I managed to win 86 strikes during my three days and my calculations indicate that it cost me about $16.50 each. Not too bad, but I had fun and that's what counts.

I'm relatively new to this hobby and am looking forward to meeting many of you at the convention in June.

Thanks for reading my long first post.

Rod - from Ohio