Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Leaving Las Vegas

.
2012-01-15 Las Vegas - Luxor Hotel 2

Home now. Although we love the desert we had about as much of Las Vegas as we could take. It seems to appeal to so many of our basest desires, although if you are open minded it does cultivate a sense of irony.

These scenes are of the front of the Luxor Hotel and Casino where we stayed. Good deal, comfortable, horrible food. We've been to the real Luxor and I want to tell you that there aren't any slot machines in the temple. The name has been defiled.

Something was different about the place. We hadn't spent a penny in the slot machines. After dinner on our last night, we thought about throwing away some quarters. That's when we realized that the sound was different. The incessant electronic warbling of the machines was much quieter than on previous visits. The metallic rattle of quarters cascading into steel trays after a win was completely gone.

As we walked among the machines we noticed that the slots where you fed your quarters were taped over. The slot machines have no more slots. They now take only paper money, some with a minimum of $5. So you can't lose just 75 cents for amusement. The stakes have been raised. The frenetic sensory experience of the casino, the sounds, the rhythm of feeding in your coins, has been taken away. We went back to our room.

No new local material so I may continue this theme for a bit.

2012-01-15 Las Vegas - Luxor Hotel 4

2012-01-15 Las Vegas - Luxor Hotel 1


5 comments:

Olivier said...

les photos de nuit sont magnifiques, et las vegas semble etre la ville des photographes. j'adore

brattcat said...

i wonder how many others have responded this way to the change in the slots.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

That's appalling Bob, can you imagine how much money those who are addicted to gambling will lose now! And I so agree with you, if you've seen the real deal, all that fake Egyptian must be horrendous, although they do make a great image. Egypt for me was one of the most awesome experiences ever!

Oakland Daily Photo said...

Have casinos figured out that the public no longer needs the research based sights and sounds to induce us to gamble? I'm surprised.

Nathalie said...

Like Oakland I'm surprised that they made such a brazen move - the noises from the slot machines are so much part of the fun! I wonder whether it keeps the poorer away from their gambling addiction?