Gaming laws also have decreed that a maximum of 2000 slot machines are allowed in the casino, which proved problematic on this Sunday afternoon: Avid slot players were lined up three deep waiting for a machine to become available, at least around the 25-cent and $1 slots. I didn't check out the $5 and $25 machines although I would guess a couple of them would have been available.

Although liquor is served in this casino, gaming laws require that the drinks be purchased from the bars. Sodas, bottled water and coffee are complimentary.

Some time ago (while we were cruising on the Holland America ship M.S. Ryndam) my mother taught me the fine art of "casino golf," or her unique method of playing the slots. She takes a pile of quarters and goes from machine to machine, dropping in one at a time and either pulling the handle or pressing the "spin" button. She's no slot junkie, the thought of sitting at a machine, mesmerized by the spinning drums and the electronic music unique to slots, is foreign to her. Her method works; she actually ended up with more quarters playing them one at a time, one machine at a time, than I did sitting with a $10 stake in a single machine. She would have a hard time here, though, because the casino uses a coinless ticket system. I love it! No more dirty money and blackened fingers! You put your bill in a slot, and when you are ready to cash out, you get a paper bar-coded ticket which you can use in a subsequent machine or take to a "ticket redemption booth" to exchange for cash. Of course they didn't always work in subsequent machines, which was frustrating, but that's technology.

We managed to find two quarter machines in the same row and got down to business, yelling to each other over the heads of the other players every time we hit a winning spin. I had won $23.75 for my sister (I was playing with the bill she had given me for that purpose) when I realized that our dinner guests would soon be arriving. We reluctantly gave up our seats and went back to our suite to dress for The Great Oak restaurant.

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