Oh, yeah! Slots A Fun, next to Cicus Circus was a great place to hung around in the 90's! I lived in Vegas for four times in the 90's and freguently visited SAF, back then all beer was just 75 Cents, all domestic and imported the sign said, I happen to be there the day they raised it from 75 cents to $1.25, It must have been then about 1998? There really was a great atmosphere all around those low bet tables and the bar area next to them, behind a pick up window cafe for hot dogs and Shrimp cocktails, both forc99 Cents!! There was a Casino Westward Ho next door to south and next to that Casino Stardust. A nice free parking lot between them, part of Westward Ho, they validated for few hours at a time. SAF was just a nice mix of herds of tourists and folks who lived in Vegas, well, that bar area. Regulars were big on watching NCAA and NFL games and would bet on them from the Stardust. I guess from what I hear it's nothing like that anyl onger?!
Let's face it. It's pretty low end but I love it. I can afford to gamble there.
It has the best drink service anywhere in Las Vegas. Just tip, and because of the small size, your server is around the tables before you finish your last one.
Most people, for some reason, are just overall friendly. A lot of the people are just learning to gamble at tables and you can feel at home instead of being intimidated.
Craps is even super friendly. I'll drink and gamble, but you can keep their monster hot dog.
This falls under the category, "If it's working lets mess with it"
The draw used to be cheap drinks and Blackjack. The late night table limits dropped to a buck or two and they still had 3 to 2 payoff on BJ, as well as DAS. One table at least was a two deck hand dealt but you could rarely get a seat without waiting in line, standing behind the table until someone finally gave out and left. The other table had a shoe, 4 or six decks as I recall. I usually played that one until I could snag a seat at the other, by means of hook or crook. Two other tables usually $5 I think, but my memories are foggy at best.
Parking was always a nightmare unless you like long walks late at night through the Circus Circus casino's shopping corridor from the self park back parking garage or the mile long walk of fear from the self park behind the Rivera. You could Valet but $1 BJ players are too cheap.
The best way was the Deuce bus stop in front and directly across the street. Many times I'd catch that bus after midnight and head up there from center strip where we usually stayed back in those days when the gambling on the strip was still decent enough to tolerate. The low buck BJ went on until 11AM the next day, and I'd still be there. They even gave free coffee, sandwiches, and doughnuts to the charred players around 10AM.
Drink service was dreadfully slow but you could always catch a $1.25 Heineken or Corona from the bar in back on the way back from the bathroom, if you hadn't seen a cocktail server since Christ was a carpenter. Eventually she would break away from her ongoing chat with another server or bartender to get drinks for the players, but by that time rigor mortise had set in.
The Slots A Fun was the premier low roller gambling spot on the Strip Bar None!
Sure they had that Craps Table that closed at 11 PM and a couple of roulette tables as well as some OK slots. The best part was the bar top 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker. Yes, I said 9/6 JACKS OR BETTER;).
Well, those days have since past and the gambling now stinks like every place else on the strip. The limits are still lower than most strip properties if you can stand the stale stench of grease, chili dogs, onions, and 10 years of spilled beer and unclean restrooms. I do recall the Men's room used to have an aroma similar to the head on a tuna boat. I think they even had a valet once. I don't know if he was actually employed there or if he just came in from the street to hand out paper towels for a little wine money.
Lest I digress,
The Ace Gold doesn't stop anywhere near there now, the Deuce has gone up and the gambling has gone down. I feel all welled up as I write this, like losing a long time friend to the terminal corporate disease that has become malignant on the rest of the strip.
Now a days I hang out Downtown or on the Boulder Highway where I still feel at home, the way we used to feel on the Strip.
As I write this I can see in my mind that giant slot machine out front, and the Westward HO next door. I'd walk past those sometimes on my way back to the Stardust or Frontier where we sometimes stayed, Coming in at 11:30 AM as my wife was just getting ready in our room to go out for breakfast, and then some gambling and sightseeing for the day.
Oh well as they say, Those were the good old days!
This place is filthy. The bathroom in this place made some gas station bathrooms look like good. It was stinky, the staff (if you could find someone) were rude and the half the machines were well worn out.
Did not win jack playing here and it seemed to take forever for a drink to come...
There is nothing about this place that is good and it's been that way for YEARS! For my life I can't understand what people see in this place. The food is terrible, it's the most smokey place I've ever been, it's extremely noisy, there's just nothing here. I know they have low limits on table games and maybe that's what many see in the place but I'd much rather go downtown to get the lower limits and not have to put up with all the noise, smoke, and weirdos. Yes, that's right...there are more weirdos here than downtown! (at least there were when I was there).
