.nvm.
(…must…resist…making obvious dumb joke often said by a certain character in ‘The Office’…)
I know, but we’re not really talking statistics here, I’m talking about the basic human experience I had of repeatedly feeding in a token, pulling a lever or pushing a button (whatever it was, don’t remember), waiting for the spinny stuff to stop, then…nothing. Over and over… 20 times might not seem like a lot in the scheme of things, but to me it felt interminable. I don’t understand how people can find that ‘fun’.
I had to help pull a guy out of a rebar impalement back in my construction days. The rebar penetrated under the armpit up into his shoulder.
Because most people aren’t doing it the way you are, to kill about 5-10 minutes of time while waiting for someone else. Not even their first time. Most people are going to the casino specifically to gamble - and I’m not sure what type of slot you were playing , but if it was the type with a $1 minimum bet that pays off on three lines you will “win” less frequently than on a machine where the minimum bet is 100 paylines at a penny each line. I said less frequently for a reason - you win more often on the machine with a lot of paylines but each win is smaller. Like you might win 5 cents on an individual game but if you play for an hour or two you’re likely to get a few much larger individual wins (although you will still probably lose overall)
And when someone is in a casino for a few hours, chances are good that someone around them will “win” a few hundred or a few thousand dollars. That’s reinforcement too.
heck, that would have been my next trope to put into this thread … sending over a drink - who’d be so stupid to do THAT!? irl
,-)
(glad it worked out for you)
This is the only time a pick up line worked for me- I saw her there, stunning, looking bored. I passed by and said “My god you’re beautiful!”. To which she replied “Then why cant I get a date?” which my brain working fast for once I said “What are you doing Saturday”? We went out a few times, it didnt work out, but still…
Just playing, and losing-
The first thing to note is that people don’t just gamble for the prospect of winning. Mark Griffiths, a psychologist at Nottingham Trent University who specialises in behavioural addictions points out that gamblers list a wide range of motivations for their habit.
> ## Even when you’re losing while you’re gambling, your body is still producing adrenalin and endorphins – Mark Griffiths, Nottingham Trent University
In a survey of 5,500 gamblers, the prospect of the chance to “win big money” was the strongest factor. But it was followed closely by “because it’s fun” and “because it’s exciting”.
“Even when you’re losing while you’re gambling, your body is still producing adrenalin and endorphins,” he says.
Oh sure, you can be led on by a modest win, causing you to put more $ in, but I am talking about addicted gamblers. It’s the risk, and losing is a risk.
Yeah, I probably came across like “well, I tried something briefly and immediately made a judgement call that I didn’t like it, so that means anybody who does like it is stoopid.”
But my actual meaning was more complex and nuanced than that. At least, I hope so!
And who knows, I may have gotten lucky by losing. Let’s say, on my honeymoon when I did the 20 &1 tokens, if the machine had coughed up 8 or 10 tokens on my 18th or 19 pull, maybe I woulda been hooked and stayed ‘til dawn…
Newleywed Mrs. Solost: honey, you almost done on the slots? Our sunset boat cruise starts in a half hour.
Me: yeah yeah, I’ll catch up, but I got a good feeling about this machine! A big payoff is coming up, mere minutes from now for sure….
I’d love to have a computer as fast as the ones in movies, and I would really like to be able to blow up that photo without it pixellating.
If you throw them into the ocean, they might wash back up onto the beach. For me, lighting that money on fire would potentially give me the same satisfaction.
Some years ago on The Simpsons some group – Mr. Burns? – wanted to build a casino in Springfield and Marge was opposed to the idea, even leading the campaign against it. The campaign lost, the casino was built, and Marge attended on opening night to see what the fuss was all about. She found a quarter on the floor, dropped it into a slot machine and won a buck. Her fall and addiction was instantaneous.
Homer, of course, was a victim from the very start.
Yeah, when my dad was a teenager a friend’s dad took him and the friend to Santa Anita. He placed bets for the boys based on their choices, and my dad’s horse won that first race. The dad said that was bad because now he’d be hooked! Spoiler: he wasn’t. I don’t have the gambling gene either. I’d always rather have something tangible for my money – even something temporarily tangible, like a good meal.
This reminded me that at least one of the episodes of “The First 48” showed the (real life) detectives using a magnifying glass to try to read a license plate from the display of a surveillance video.
The result looked just like you would expect: bigger rectangular pixels. They gave up after a few minutes.
No, she was in favour of it.
[quote=“Nars_Glinley, post:2963, topic:932311, full:true”]
Perhaps you didn’t grow up in a typical 1950’s family – small house, big family. We had a three bedroom house and four children so sharing was the norm for at least a decade. And yes absolutely we divided the room.
Here’s a whole article on the topic!
Strike three, Peter_Morris! I remember that meeting, and I have a photographic memory…
Huh. Can’t trust a 30-year old memory I guess. I got the quarter right, though.
When police have to stop in a hurry, they do it while drifting.
I was at my local pub one evening, and it was very slow, only me and one other regular, so the bartender sent the rest of the staff home early. Not too much later though, two groups of guys, maybe 5 or 6 in each group, show up looking for a drink. I’m not sure what started it, but these guys started pushing and shoving each other. The bartender had to wade into the middle of it to try to shut it down. I looked at the other regular and said, “Steve is going to need someone to watch his back in there”, so we both waded into it.
I’m a big guy, and have broken up more than one fight using a technique I call, “Strategically getting in the way”, which is most of what I did that night. But for a minute there, literally everyone in the bar was in a big fight.