Gaming: Tournaments

By Kristine McKenzie

Have you ever walked through a casino and happened to run across a roped-off area where a bunch of people were noisily and furiously tapping the spin buttons on their slot machines? No, it wasn't some mysterious gambling ritual - it's more likely the people were just playing in a slot tournament.

Slot tournaments are popular among slot enthusiasts because they offer camaraderie with other slot fans and goodies such as cash prizes, special room rates and more. Some casinos even offer a special tournament package that includes a welcome party, an awards banquet, door prizes and raffles.

Many people prefer tournaments to regular slot play because they know ahead of time what their potential losses will be - most tournaments have a set entry fee. It's not quite as risky as regular slot gambling because you can lose only the amount of the entry fee.

Entry fees can range from very minimal ($10) to several hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Some casinos offer free tournaments that are open to the general public. They hold weekly or sometimes daily tournaments as a way to attract players to the casino.

There also are a number of casinos that offer invitation-only, private tournaments. Invitational tournaments are usually held as a reward or comp for loyal players or high rollers.

You don't have to be a regular slot player or a slot expert to participate in a slot tournament. The rules are fairly simple. Here's how it works.

The slot machines start with a predetermined number of credits. The object is to use up all the credits and rack up as many points as possible in the allotted time frame.

A common format is to give each player 1,000 credits with 20 minutes to play them. Each time you hit the spin button, the amount of credits for a maximum bet (usually three credits) are deducted from your starting credits. Any credits you win are shown on a separate meter. You do not get to replay any credits that you win.

When your time is up, the machine will lock up and play is over. Any credits that you have not played will be lost. This is why you will see people furiously hitting the spin button - they're trying to use up every credit on the machine as quickly as possible.

After you finish playing, you wait at your machine until the official comes by and records your score.

Most casinos have only a limited number of machines set aside for a slot tournament. Therefore, there will usually be several sessions to accommodate all the players. Most of the times they will update the list showing the leaders after each round. This allows you to judge how you are doing compared with the other players.

The score on your winning credit meter will be compared with those of the other players to determine the winner of the tournament.