Talking about Aristocrat stand alone progressives: Banana King, Outback Jack,Cashman.

[onenickelmiracle]

I have been told by a few. people have won BK and OBJ playing as little as 1 or 10 lines. Is this true or did I buy a hall pass to the pool on the roof? I have tried many times playing these bets with no luck on these bets. How does Aristocrat design games where betting higher increases odds of JP triggers while not advertising on the machines, nor the pay tables?

[The Ponzzz]

Hey there. I'm definitely a big fan of Banana King, Cashman Tonight, and Outback Jack. And being a big fan, I think I have quite a bit of experience on them. It is true, you can get to the jackpot card picking game without max lines played for BK and OBJ. Anywhere from 1 to 30 lines played without the bonus feature lit. Cashman Tonight is a different beast, where the jackpot spin is actually one of the bonuses that can happen. So you will need to have the bonus feature lit, which is max lines. BK and OBJ only gets you the random chance of their bonus games with the extra feature lit, the jackpot game is totally different.

I have hit the card game on BK with just a 20 cent bet and won the minor. I have only witnessed this happen about 5 times since 2008, and only once did it happen to me.

Edit to add: You'll also notice that many of the newer Aristocrat games with standalone progressives require you to play max lines + feature. Hell, you'll notice the majority of new games of all companies doing this. Kinda makes you wonder why we all play penny denom machines anymore when they have the lowest payback percentages.

[onenickelmiracle]

I know that about cashman, but what I do not understand is how your bet level affects the outcome, when there is no indication on these machines higher bets increase the odds of the cards. By the way, do you remember what game had a crow that came out and when it did, you won the progressive game pool.

[The Ponzzz]

I vaguely remember something about that. Not sure which game it was though. As for the cards, it seems they don't put a whole lot of information out there about them. I'm not sure what you'd win for the low level cards (the bananas or crocs), since I did win a minor off it. Anecdotal of course, but I would think the higher the bet, the more weighting toward it happening.

[gamblingman]

There is a whole lot of bullshit (excuse my french) going on with these "random" progressives.

I don't think any of it is truly random.

Take the WMS major and minor mystery progressives. Must hit by $50 or must hit by $500... It always magically hits when it's near the maximum. That's not random... It's bullshit... Which I am fine with IF they advertise it appropriately. But they don't.

[Lerxst]

I've won a couple of the WMS minor progressives when they were around $35, which surprised me because I also thought they only awarded at $50.

[Moneybags]

I play OBJ and Mr. Woo quite a bit, and Zorro when I can find it. I would recommend playing with all the lines and with the bonus thingy on. The bonuses keep you in the game by giving you some decent payback along the way. However, I generally bet only 1, 2, or 3 credits, not max, and I've gotten the cards many times. Good luck!

[dunkin01]

My mom has won the big progressive on OBJ a few times and she always bets minimum or .60 - i always bet more and have never even gotten the screen to pick the cards :)

[Humphrey B.Bear]

OBJ, Zorro and Mr.Woo all use the same jackpot methodology. They all use a mystery trigger which has a proportional percentage for the amount bet, regardless of how many lines you play.
Say for example you bet 25lines at 1 credit per line on a zorro(25credits). It will give x% chance each spin of triggering the progressive round. If you only play 10 lines but bet 5 credits per line, that equates to 50credits. Your chance now is 2 times x%chance because the bet is double. Vice versa if you play only 5 lines at 1 credit (5 credits) your chance is 1/5 x% of triggering the progressive round. The bonus bet only applies the bonus games, you can still trigger the progressive without playing for the bonuses. So playing max bet 10credits per line, you have 10 time X% chance or 10 times the chance when betting 1 credit per line. Hope this helps.

[knagl]

I agree with Humphrey B.Bear. The higher your bet, the more likely you are to trigger the bonus feature that can award the jackpots. I saw someone playing max bet on a Zorro game and she was triggering the card bonus on a pretty regular basis.

Sure, you can trigger the bonus with a small bet, but the chances are much smaller to do so. It is buried in the rules, too, that the chance of triggering the feature is proportional to the amount wagered.

...and proof that it can hit with less than max bet:

http://i39.tinypic.com/11ifrxh.jpg

(The picture was taken while it was counting up the credits, which is why it only looks like $11.25 in that shot.)

Match 3 bartenders to get 500 credits, 4 ladies to get the minor jackpot, or five Zorro's to get the major award. There are a maximum of three Zoro's on this board, but if you pick the white "Zorro Logo" card, it transforms any revealed bartenders to Zorro cards. That's the only way to get five Zorro's.

I picked two Zorro's, two bartenders, then the white Zorro Logo card (giving me four Zorro's and nothing else on the board -- great start!). I then picked one lady, one bartender, and then the other white logo card which changed the bartender into the fifth Zorro card for the jackpot.

[onenickelmiracle]

I agree with Humphrey B.Bear. The higher your bet, the more likely you are to trigger the bonus feature that can award the jackpots. I saw someone playing max bet on a Zorro game and she was triggering the card bonus on a pretty regular basis.

Sure, you can trigger the bonus with a small bet, but the chances are much smaller to do so. It is buried in the rules, too, that the chance of triggering the feature is proportional to the amount wagered.

...and proof that it can hit with less than max bet:

http://i39.tinypic.com/11ifrxh.jpg

(The picture was taken while it was counting up the credits, which is why it only looks like $11.25 in that shot.)

Match 3 bartenders to get 500 credits, 4 ladies to get the minor jackpot, or five Zorro's to get the major award. There are a maximum of three Zoro's on this board, but if you pick the white "Zorro Logo" card, it transforms any revealed bartenders to Zorro cards. That's the only way to get five Zorro's.

I picked two Zorro's, two bartenders, then the white Zorro Logo card (giving me four Zorro's and nothing else on the board -- great start!). I then picked one lady, one bartender, and then the other white logo card which changed the bartender into the fifth Zorro card for the jackpot.

Cool hit! Those feel great and don't come too often.
I have never hit the woo major or OBJ no matter how many times I get the cards. Banana King I won the major once after playing 4 hours trying to get the cards a 2nd time. I got them on a $.70 bet and won $1053. On the side I was up $300 and it was a good day.

[Moneybags]

I didn't know where else to put this, but it concerns the OBJ Card Feature bonus. I was always under the impression that you only get it on non-bonus hits (0 to 2 scatters). That was wrong. The cards came up a few days ago immediately after the Big Rock bonus without any action on my part. Just thought you ought to know.

[onenickelmiracle]

I didn't know where else to put this, but it concerns the OBJ Card Feature bonus. I was always under the impression that you only get it on non-bonus hits (0 to 2 scatters). That was wrong. The cards came up a few days ago immediately after the Big Rock bonus without any action on my part. Just thought you ought to know.
Yes I had the same thing before. They're setting them all up so tight now, you can only win on winning spins or non-winning spins such as Cash Wizard. These little differences add up big. No wonder I am going to the casino tonight and plan to hardly play.

I wound up losing my A$$ that night and "breaking up" with the Rivers. lol

[The Ponzzz]

Yeah, it's pretty rare. It will happen after free spins too (if you're playing a game that offers them like Wild Ways or Dolphin Treasure). You can actually get free spins, go right into a banana king feature game, and then the card game right after that (according to an article I've read). Crazy luck!