As if Vegas needed anything faker than fake buildings. I had some late lunch or early dinner plans in New York New York, so I started to wonder a short distance down there after visiting the Tropicana.

At this point, it seemed like I was spending quite a bit more time on one side of the strip than the other. While I’d ventured off in the other direction at some point, I did find this side to be a bit more entertaining.

I always find it interesting just how many casinos try to have things set up, so you arrive at the casino floor by going down an escalator. There is a certain level of grandeur to it. Sure, it gives quite an impressive view of the casino floor. There is just one massive issue. I did not see anything that caught my eye. At least this place had quite a few people in it.

Granted in Vegas with so many casinos having access via the bridges that cross over the road. It just seems like a smart thing to do. It also never gets old for some reason. I just find it a fun way to get to the casino floor.

One game I’ve been hunting around for some time was The Hobbit. For whatever reason this sort of game never seems to make it to my local. Outside of this one ok line hit it did not do much else for me. While it was tempting to put some more money in, I still had a few days of my trip, so I was being a bit cheap.

Another slot that has popped up everywhere and I rather enjoy playing it anytime I find it is this one. Once you get a column it collects them all in that column. Allowing you to stay in the bonus for quite some time. While a lot of the time you can land far lower than your bettering amount. This bonus can take a little while unless you are rather unlucky or one of them crazy button smashers or can’t wait to hurry up and lose already.

There was not much else that caught my attention or did much for me. I played a few more slots than it was time to find where the giant Shake Shack sign was for some food. I’ve never been to one and always wanted to try a burger and a shake from them.

The place was so busy I ended up in some shared seating with some other people eating there. While the burgers were a bit on the small side, I ordered two of them and rather enjoyed them. Despite how busy this place was the wait time was not that bad at all. They seem to move quite quickly here. I could not get that kind of speedy service out of a more local burger place near me that is for sure.

At this point in my trip, I had not used any kind of public transportation. I ended up just walking everywhere I was going. I, however, wanted to go to Mandalay Bay next and for that, you do need to ride a tram. Thankfully the way there was a lot quicker than trying to get back. It was free as well, so I thought why not I’m already on this side of the Vegas strip.

I’m rather glad I went to this place as I ended up having a couple of wins that helped even out any losses I had for the day. They also had quite a few different slots to check out. This in turn kept me playing into the evening. Something I was looking to avoid as I’m not a fan of traveling along the Vegas strip at night on foot.

I ended up leaving a few slots up. This ended up being my biggest win for the day on a Fu Dao Le. Nothing crazy but that more than makes up for one of the casinos for the day that I went and lost some money at. This game has always brought me a decent amount of luck despite how aged the cabinet and screen look these days. I can only hope enough people continue to play on them to keep them around.

It even teased me a couple of times by dropping one of the red envelopes. I’m usually used to it being a 30-50% chance if you get the first envelope you get the second one and get over $100. This one happened to be at over $130 so it seems it has been a while since someone had landed it.

In the end, I got a couple more bonuses and left up over $150 on top of what I had put into the machine. I gave it a few more spins just to see if it had anything else to give before feeling it was time to move on.

A couple of slots later I sat down on a Zeus Power Link. I’ve played something similar in Atlantic City but not quite this version. I even lucked out and got the free spins. While it did not pay that great, I left only down a couple of bucks and got to enjoy a couple of bonuses for my time spent playing it.

While I did not stop to eat anything here it was quite a funny-looking spot. It looks like one of those restaurants where they might “insult” you a bit and have some fun while they are at it. It’s great they even include a little warning on their sign. I can only think about the wrong kind of person going to a place like this for the first time and it is going south fast.

After staying far too late it was time to head back up the train and get out of this place. I had quite a long walk back to my hotel. The tram, however, did not seem to want to be running that night. I don’t know if the person running it was on dinner break or what.

The tram ended up coming almost an hour after I had gotten there. It was so late that many people left to go catch a taxi in hopes they were not going to miss any dinner reservations they had planned or shows they had tickets for.

Final Thoughts

There was a little late-night gambling when I got back safely to the hotel I was staying at. I was however quite worn out by that time. While I had plans to get up at 3 AM or so for a bit of a gambling run. This was yet another one I’d end up sleeping on and missing out on. The place tends to empty quite nicely at those hours, and I rather enjoy how quiet things can get even inside a casino in Vegas.

Other Content

• Switching Worlds | Walk Down To Tropicana

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Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar about my personal experiences in the real world away from the computer at home.