Originally Posted by
Mission146
I agree with MickeyCrimm that you're not really finding 3-3-3-3-3 on Aladdin; I'm almost positive I never have. Honestly, I don't think I've ever found 3-3-3-3, regardless of what the last reel was doing.
I also agree that the value of the fifth reel is so negligible as to not merit consideration at all.
The area where I disagree with MC is that I think the fourth reel can sometimes decide whether one plays or not, but let's start with the fact I am more conservative than most in the first place.
MY PLAY POINTS:
-Any Seven, First Three Reels
-Six First Three Reels IF 3-0-3, 3-3-0, 0-3-3,
The realization of value in this game comes largely from lighting up multiple reels simultaneously, which is essentially what happens in the Free Games, depending on which FGs you choose. I always choose the spins with three reels wild.
On the ones I played, lamps came on Reel 2 the slowest, so I really didn't want Reel 2 to have to, "Catch up," to other reels for two to go wild simultaneously for any spins because it probably wasn't happening. That leads to the situation with Reel 4 that is not, "Any Nine First Four---which you would play anyway."
Lamps come the fastest on Reels 4 & 5, at least, in my sample size. That being the case, you could get Reel 4 Wild for one or more spins with a combination of that and one of the first three reels, so non-nine configurations such as:
3-X-2-3
2-X-3-3
3-X-2-2
2-X-3-2
Would then become playable. I can't think of a situation where it changes anything on a play that involves Reel 2 because, at least for the ones I played, Reel 2 is so slow anyway. I guess if you would play ?-3-?-3 or ?-3-?-2, regardless of what the (?) is, then there's that, but I wouldn't. You'll often see Reel 4 come and go completely, twice, in the time it takes Reel 2 to sometimes even catch a lamp.
The 2-X-3-2 and 3-X-2-2 configurations were really nice because they would sometimes lead to getting all three wild for a spin or two, which is just absolute payday. It's always four-of-a-kinds on anything except a lamp or Free Games symbol, but the worst case scenario is that you get two of those and still have two other symbols...and, actually, I don't even know if you can get a Free Games symbol and a lamp on the same reel. I want to say I doubt it, but I never really paid attention for that specific event.
Obviously, it's payday if you catch a genie on either of the other reels, because that's going to be some 5OaK.
Anyway, the 3-?-2 and 2-?-3 scenarios are, for me, where I felt like it made a difference what Reel 4 was doing. I'm not even going to promise that those kind of situations (with two or three on four) are good, but I liked my results well-enough to keep doing it.
If you are going to take configurations like those, don't get into the headspace of, "I can't leave value," when value doesn't exist. For example, if you hit the fourth reel and are left with 3-0-2-0-?, don't play that shit off if you wouldn't be playing it anyway. My goofy saying is, "If it's not good enough to play, it shouldn't be good enough to stay." I saw people fall into this trap a lot with a game that shares a name with a popular phone app where they would play the meter down to insane levels just because they felt like they were, "Abandoning," a play, if not. You're not abandoning anything when it's not a play anymore.
Most of all if you hit say, the first reel first and are left with something like 0-0-2-2 or 0-0-2-3...that's not a play in any world.
My opinion is that if you are going to take those plays that partially include Reel 4 value, then you have to be willing to accept a somewhat low (compared to other plays) probability of profit on any one attempt and understand that you're mostly going to realize your value on lower probability outcomes...or those occasions where you just hit Free Games straight up.
Anyway, my results were good, before the machines I had went away. However, please keep in mind that these are my opinions only which, by necessity, represent a limited sample size on those specific types of plays.
As far as 3-3-3-3-3 goes, I think a person is more likely to find two of the first three already wild for a spin or two as find that. Sometimes casual players will hit a big pay and decide they are done, believe it or not, without even realizing that they still have those reels wild for another 1-3 spins. That's not going to happen often, so you won't get many plays like that, but I think you'll see them more than 3-3-3-3. Some casual players just hit a big pay and then switch machines almost automatically.
Was Aladdin ever in high-limit rooms for more than $3.00 bets? If so and MaxPen knew about it and was finding plays, I could see why one might throw out play points that nobody is likely to ever find. I'll let Max answer for himself on that one and hope he doesn't take offense to me suggesting that possibility.