Do we get to see a video of your jump once you’ve done it? That would be fun! 
Maybe. They do have that package. The offer is still open because nobody has taken me up on it yet.
I spent the day at at the Gold and Silver Pawn shop (of Pawn Stars fame). It was cool but none of the people from the show were there. My cab driver knew them personally because he said he had cocaine habit in the 80’s and went there all the time to try to hock stolen stuff. He said the old man and Rick were horrible people and he hates them but but consider your source.
From there, I walked to downtown Las Vegas to get the history on Fremont street and the old school casinos. It was awesome in its own way but I think aged about 10 years in 4 hours just by being there. The smell of desperation was incredible. I wanted to play in an old school casino so I picked the crappiest casino I could find and then went on to find the oldest looking game in the most dank, dark corner just to get the full experience. I plunked in $20 to a video poker machine that seemed to barely work. I was perfectly willing to lose it all just to see what that feeling is like for the truly down and out but the machine would not cooperate. I hit 5 of a kind and few rounds in and won another $200. I paid it out in Kennedy half dollars and ran out before it gave me all of it. It took the staff about half an hour to fix it so that it could pay it all out (That was 2 years off my life right there). I wasn’t too happy because I didn’t even need it.
Last call for jumping off the Stratosphere or something else thrill seeking that someone has always wanted to do. I might do the machine guns because I haven’t done that in a while but my father was a gun dealer when I was growing up and we owned them so it isn’t anything special to me.
How about playing around with a bulldozer or excavator? Dig This* is a heavy machinery amusement park that looks like a lot of fun.
*I am not affiliated with Dig This in any way and have nothing to gain; I just think it would be a blast.
You’re in Las Vegas – Live it up! Break a law every now and then! Walk by a Strip casino bar with winnings in hand and a certain look on your face, and get offers from young ladies far more attractive than those hiding in the legal bordellos.
The tariff will be more than for a jump off the Stratosphere, but worth it if the ride lasts longer. :dubious:
If you have the money, go ahead and jump off the Stratosphere, but you should still do a tandem skydive sometime (I used to skydive a lot and I encourage everyone to try it once).
It will be 100 times more fun and exciting; there’s nothing like being in (true) freefall.
The Stratosphere jump was great although it wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought. You are basically committing suicide by jumping off an 855 foot platform after you get a NASA level checkout but the good part of the story you don’t die at the end.
I sponsored two other people thanks to my gambling winnings and they were terrified of the jump but eventually did with some coaching. I would give it 5 stars.
Las Vegas is about the greatest on earth. However, I aged about ten years in three days and I don’t think I want to see it again.
You’re right, that is the nearest thing to a winning bet in the whole casino.
The downside is that if you bet “No Pass” and win, you are likely to get your fingers broken in the alley outside afterwards by some losing punter who sees you as a jinx …
They’re pawnbrokers. I won’t judge them solely on that, but… y’know. Vultures. They know that their clientele is often desperate for cash, and they take advantage.
[QUOTE=Enola Gay]
And everyone thinks they can place just one bet, then walk away. It’s just not possible, man. That’s why they have white tigers in the lobby
[/QUOTE]
This was my first thought.
Heard this before.
sure…
just saying’…
All those people with walkers and oxygen tanks you saw playing the machines? They are really only in their early 30’s.
Seriously - glad you basically had a good time. The trick to Vegas is pacing - if you try to do everything on your first visit, you will indeed feel like you have aged ten years!
On your next visit (and I won’t be surprised if after you have recuperated there will be another visit some time), pick just a few things you really want to do and then just let the mood and moment guide you…perhaps just see a big show, have a nice (expensive) dinner in a name restaurant, hit a good buffet, bring a few extra bucks and try your table luck again (but stick to that budget!) and then just wander around. People watching, checking out the shops, walking The Strip - all of this is “free” and quite entertaining. You could also hit some of the surrounding areas for a glimpse of nature (Red Rock area, Grand Canyon or Hoover Dam/Lake Mead, Valley of Fire, Death Valley, etc.) or just go off and hit some of the local casinos and maybe see a movie or see how the locals live.
Mid-week is usually a more relaxed Vegas experience - lines a bit shorter, rooms a bit cheaper - than weekends. Summer is a tad toasty (and thus often cheaper still), but air conditioning everywhere and hit the pool area early in the morning or early in the evening.
Thanks for your updates, thanks for that generous offer (and glad you found some people to join in the fun of your suicide jump!) and congrats on your win!
If you want a true 50% payment, then the “bet 500 each on two of the three blocks of 12 numbers” (either the 1-12, 13-24, 25-36 blocks, or the three columns) bet is probably the closest you are going to get to a 2/3 chance of winning if you want to bet it “right now”. I suggest finding a “single 0 wheel” (also known as a “European” wheel) - that is, one without a 00.
YES!!!
I am back at home now. I did violate my own rule but not too badly. I walked back in my door with a whole lot more money than I started with and that includes all expenses and outside payments. I made some former strangers and now friends happy as well. People in this thread helped me out on what bets to make but some of it didn’t go as planned. All the roulette wheels I could find had a $200 limit. I am sure there are bigger limit ones out there but I didn’t know enough even begin to find them.
I won two of those bets right of the bat but that only a net $200 gain and that just wasn’t going to cut it. This was an all or nothing deal with $2000 at stake. It was the craps No Pass line with a much higher limit that paid off big. I admit that I don’t know what I am doing on Craps except to drop the chips down all on that line and wait for someone to either add to the pile or take it all. I got that from this thread so thanks for that. Things got a little confusing for a few minutes because I asked the dealer to teach me but it was a crowded table and I didn’t know what was happening. I won apparently what would have been a whole lot more but I can’t count chips by glancing at them. A big stack of black ones looks about the same as red or blue ones to me but it is vastly different amounts of money.
I decided to place one bet that was much bigger than I realized at the time and lost it immediately. I found out after I lost that I just risked $3000 without even knowing what I was doing. That is why I hate gambling. I won big-time overall but I don’t really feel like it because I am pissed about not walking away with 3 grand more. The losses feel worse than the gains make you feel good.
However, I did walk away after that and just used the money for the best three days I could come up and still go back home with a sizable profit. I had the causal slot machine wins later but I was was only doing the experience to see what the really grungy downtown casinos feel like and didn’t care if I lost on those.
It worked out spectacularly for me. I won’t be doing it again and I wouldn’t recommend that level gambling to a rational person. I ended covering a whole lot of food, drink, and entertainment bills for people that just lost almost everything they came with and then some.
The OP can go to pretty much any tall building and jump for free, so I certainly wouldn’t spend that kind of money on it.
The beauty of a Stratosphere jump is that you get to see what it is like to commit suicide by jumping off of an 855 foot building but you don’t die at the end. The $110 dollars you pay for that small benefit is well worth it to many people. Others consider that a drawback but I don’t judge.
Well, then, that’s a very unrealistic look at it, isn’t it? 
No, RED!
Here is proof that I really did it. I found it more peaceful than anything. Sorry that it is upside down. One of my new friends that I sponsored for the same jump later took it from an IPhone camera and it doesn’t sense vertical videos well but you get the idea.
I get this message trying your link:
Perhaps this is because I don’t have a Facebook account, I dunno.
Sorry. I can try to move it somewhere else if people are actually interested. It should work for people with Facebook accounts (I think).