Ask the Slot Expert: Killing time cheaply at a slot machine

I use my MoviePass subscription to purchase most of my movie tickets. MoviePass is a service that gives you a certain number of credits each month based on your membership level. You trade those credits for movie tickets.

The MoviePass app tells you how many credits you have to use to get a ticket for a particular movie showing on the current day. I thought the credit-determination algorithm would work like the Yield Management algorithm at an airline. If a flight is empty, the algorithm increases the number of cheap fares available to entice travelers to chose the flight.

MoviePass's algorithm doesn't take the number of seats sold into account. As I was typing this column, I realized that it makes sense that it doesn't. Passengers usually book flights in advance and rarely buy tickets at the airport ticket office. The number of seats sold before the day of the movie isn't necessarily a good indicator of how many people will be in the theater.

Airline fares, moreover, are dynamic. MoviePass credit requirements are set the day of showing and don't change throughout the day.

Nevertheless, there are some patterns on which you can rely in the MoviePass algorithm. Credit requirements are less on the theater's discount day; credit requirements increase for later showings; credit requirements for a film generally decrease the longer a film has been out; credit requirements for blockbusters are higher than for films not so eagerly anticipated. MoviePass indicates when a movie requires the blockbuster surcharge by putting a banner that says High Demand on the image from the film that is shown in the app, but F1:The Movie, Lilo & Stitch, The Fantastic Four:First Steps are High Demand and they've been out so long that I can't remember when I saw them. I think MoviePass' art department puts the banner in the image when the movie first comes out and then never reverts to the original image without the banner.

The fewer credits you spend on a ticket, the more movies you can see with your monthly allotment, and thus the more valuable your MoviePass subscription.

I've been in every theater at my cineplex. I know which seat is actually in the center of the row regardless of which one seems to be in the center according to the available seat display. I know which aisle seats in the premium format theater are undesirable because the speakers ever-so-slightly block your view. I have a preferred seat in each theater.

I used to purchase my tickets online well in advance of the showing to ensure a good seat, but MoviePass adds on a six-credit surcharge now for purchasing tickets online. I'd rather use my credits for movies than for on-line surcharges, so I get to the theater an hour or so before movie time to score my preferred seat.

Then I have some time to kill before the movie. I've been thinking about the cheapest way to spend the time. One cheap way is to walk around the casino. I can only do so many laps around the casino before I get bored. Unreal a real hotel, a casino-hotel doesn't necessarily have lounge areas (The Venetian used to have a lounge area with chairs and couches and was lauded for being like a real hotel, but it got rid of the lounge area.), so spending the time in the lounge isn't an option. If I want to sit and have something to do, I can play a machine.

But how to maximize time and minimize losses?

I look for three things in a kill-time machine.

First, a low bet. Forty to fifty cents is ideal.

Second, high hit frequency. Frequent hits will keep giving me credits to fund later spins.

And third, a bonus round. A bonus round with the potential to take a long time to play out, like a free spins bonus with re-trigger. A pick'em-type bonus can take a long time, but that depends on my taking a long time to make my picks.

I've read -- and written -- about ways to slow down play, like not playing while waiting for a drink, taking a sip of my drink every so many spins, and just waiting a few seconds before hitting the Spin button again.

But let's be real. None of these techniques work well for many players. They may work for a few minutes, but then players get caught in the rhythm of the casino and they're back to playing at the casino's pace.

Today's machines give us a built-in way to be in the action without risking money -- the bonus round.

If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com.

Copyright © John Robison. Slot Expert and Ask the Slot Expert are trademarks of John Robison.

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't reply to every question.

Copyright © John Robison. Slot Expert and Ask the Slot Expert are trademarks of John Robison.