Full pay games on recently installed 100 play nickel machines in Don & Mike's include NSUD, 9/6 Bonus Deluxe, JB, 9/7 Triple Double Bonus, and 9/7 DB. There are 8 of these machines built into table tops near the snack bar counter. They replaced 8 of the multistrike machines. The other multistrikes along the walls, slant tops, are still there. These new 100 plays are $0.01, $0.02 and $0.05 machines. The penny and 2 cent are short pay schedules.

When you enter the VP room at the Majestic Star, the last machine in the right side row of Triple/Five Plays has changed from 25c to $2. Only full pay is 9-6 jacks. IL deuces, 9-5 DDB, 9-7 DB, 9-6 TDB, 13-4-3 bonus deuces.

I noticed a new machine at majestic star. full pay white hot aces in 3, 5, and 10 play at the quarter level. short pay at the 5 and 10 cent level. located in the entry level video poker area against the wall.

The spin poker is full pay at the .25 level, just like Joliet's $1 machines.

Looked at the new games at Majestic Star that replace the Cash King Checkers. (Right side toward the rear of the main VP room.) One Multi-Strike, two Spin Poker, two 100 play, one Super X Pay and one 3/5/10 play White Hot Aces. One disturbing trend with all of these is that they are MD (5c/10c/25c) and you need to play for 25c to get full pay games. 8-5 Super Aces and NSUD available (and all the other MS full pay games except DB2s, 2PJkr, TP+ and OEJ) on 100 play and Spin Poker for quarters. (I suspect that the 1c 100 play is going to be as crowded as ever!) Paytables on Multi-Strike are the same as those in the Don and Mike bar. (For vp_nbi, you are right, no 10c game better than IL deuces on any of the games. If you can stand looking at smaller cards you can effectively play 3/5/10 etc. play 25c NSUD and 8-5 Super Aces more machines than the one previously available.) Super X Pay for quarters has 9-6 jacks on 3/5 and 10 play. Ditto for 10-6 bonus.

Majestic Star has 0.1% cashback plus bounce back.

The Multi-Strike near Don & Mike's bar has all the same full pay games at 25c that they do downstairs. The 10c Multi-Strike has some semi-playable games (7-5 super aces and IL deuces at about 99%. The nickel games are poor but better than Trump.) In all cases, make sure that the RF is 4000 for 5! Bartops were dollar progressive machines with 9/6 JB, 9/7 DB, 8/5 BP, 9/6 DDB (no NSUD) and lesser known games that include: Triple Pay Plus is full pay 9-5 (reset is 99.80%) Double Bonus Deuces is full pay 25-12 (reset is 99.81%. This is the strongest game on Multi-Strike at 99.96%) One Eyed Jacks Wild is 180-80-50 (reset is 99.98% but I do not know the basic strategy and neither Frugal, Winpoker or VPSM currently handle it. Since this is possibly the best play in the Chicago Area, I will probably do a semi manual generation of strategy unless somebody can help.) Other Full Pay Games on the $1 progressive: BP deluxe, Jacks+ and DDB are 9-6. Bonus and Aces+Faces are 8-5.

Majestic will comp rooms at Trump. The room comps are pretty easy. Trump Hotel is nothing special. Call MS and ask to talk to a host. Most of the hosts are pretty new to gaming so be patient. Explain you level of play and what you want to do. They are competing heavily with Harrah's and don't get as many big players as Harrah's does.

I recently computed their cashback rate using on-the-spot cashback and their weekly coupons sent out once a month (my May coupons were received last weekend). The rate for $.25 players like myself seems to be .35% which seems to be patterned after the Vegas median value of .33% (my calculation could be off by .02% too :-)). Additionally there seems to be a high roller premium that boosts this rate although I don't know when it kicks in. Majestic is also stepping up its promotions some of which serve to boost the rate even further. With all the full pay games available and the very competitive cashback Majestic blows away all other casinos in the Midwest. In fact they are actually becoming reasonably competitive with most Vegas offerings.

No quarter NSUD at the Majestic Star. (Single line and triple play NSUD available across the dock at Trump.)

I did go over to Trump & Majestic Star today and the ten new machines at MS are running. Five of them are 25c single-line with 9-6 jacks and nothing else special. The other five games are 25c 3/5 play. On four of these 9-6 jacks is the best play. However machine 2628 20 0507 has NSUD and 8-5-60 Super Aces (Four 5-K pays 50 unlike the scam at Trump.) for 99.94%.

Received my Majestic Star mailer today and they describe their new Players Card program to begin in March. The new program has 3 tiers. The top level card (Super Star) requires 10,000 points annually. The second tier (Star) requires 4000 points. There will be same day Cashback in addition to mailed cash rewards. I guess this means bonus cash will be continued in some form. $5 coin in per point for slots and $10 for vp. 500 (5K coin in for vp) points gets you $5. This makes the new CB rate .1%.

We talked to a slot manager with a great attitude. He told us the decision has been made to make the Majestic Star the premier boat in the Chicagoland area. Everything has been reconditioned, the machines are situated so that you have room to move, and all old machines have been removed or will soon will be to accommodate all TITIO. There are 2 new eating options on the way (this has been their weakest area). A really good buffet and a steak house run by some well known chef. We noticed the attitudes of most all of the employees we dealt with was much improved over previous visits. They continue to be dedicated to a lot of 9/6 jacks and 9/7 DB. Here are the answers to the questions you sent: $5=1 point Cashback-yes (we receive nice bounce back checks mailed the Tuesday following the day(s) played. Earned comps-yes(we have found them generous on previous trips) Discretionary Comps-yes (we are 2 1/2 hours away and have found discretionary room comps easy to get) Marketing comps-yes (they gave out thousands of denim jackets while we were there on veterans day) Slot club day runs from-12 am to 11:59 pm The answers are from the guy running around trying his best. I doubt the $5/point is for both slot and vp I doubt he understood the question as to the slot club day. The bottom line though is that the Majestic Star is the best place to play vp in the Chicagoland area. We were also told a secret: They are trying to buy out Trump's boat and hotel.

Majestic Star is changing out all their machines to the "TITO" format. The Majestic Star now has it's floor mostly back in order. If I missed anything significant, I would appreciate other comments: 1c 100 play unchanged - 8 machines with 9-6 bonus deluxe and 9-7 DB 5c triple/five-3 machines unchanged 9-6 jacks and 9-7 DB 5c ten play unchanged-3 machines unchanged 9-6 jacks and 9-7 DB 5c fifty play unchanged-3 machines unchanged 9-6 jacks and 9-7 DB 5c single line 45 coin- now only three machines and only one of those has the 20-10-6-5 Joker 2 pair. All three have 9-6 jacks. 10 coins needed for full pay. The other 5c games have been replaced with 5c Cash King Checkers using the 97.98% paytable. 25c NO multiline games, NO ten coin games. NO joker 2 Pair (some 940-17-7-5), The only 25c game with 9-5 triple pay plus is broken and I suspect will be removed. There are nine other old 25c Game Kings some of which have NSU. All have 9-6 jacks. The newer Game Kings have 9-6 jacks and 9-7 DB but Bonus 2s are 13-4-3 (98.80%) and regular 2s are 15-9 (98.913%) New 50 cent same as quarters but they have triple/five play with NSU and 9-6 jacks Four old $1 games in which three have 20-10-6-5 Joker 2 pair. One has 9-5 triple pay plus and NSU New $1 games have 9-6 jacks, 9-7 DB and NSU Old $1 triple Play still are there two of which have NSU. Two $5 games with 9-6 jacks Multi-Strike 4-25c, and one each at 50c and $1. All have 9-6 jacks, NSU, 9-4-4 Bonus 2s, 25-12 DB 2's, 9-7 DB, 9-7 TDB, 9-5 Super dbl bonus

Bounce back comes in two forms. 1 voucher based on play received in the mail once weekly good for any day in the next couple of weeks. Unless there is a promotion going on card readers do not reflect points, but I estimate the rate for this voucher at about .5%. 2 more BB vouchers are received monthly good only for certain off peak days. Each voucher is maybe 25% to 30% of the weekly voucher. Buffet and food stand (they have kind of a cheesy food court) comps can be had pretty easily for the quarter player. They have a steakhouse but frankly, they just don't have much to comp. Hard to find the NSUD because they are mixed in banks of MG with lesser paytables.