A Slot of Fun

March 23, 2012 – A Slot of Fun

If your only knowledge of ship life was these blogs you would assume that working at sea was one big party. That’s definitely not the case, of course, but I imagine that people want to read entries about doing paperwork, assembling presentations, or teaching classes. That wouldn’t make for very engaging ready. So, instead I focus on fun, at the risk of you wondering why I’m getting paid.

And last night’s Guest Officer Slot Tournament was a lot of fun! It started in the typical style with the ‘officer auction’ as we were drawn by blind lot to be paired with our partners. The Casino was packed more than usual that night so getting to our partners and escorted them to the machines was in itself a bit of a competition. However, with great jocularity and raucous comments from the guests not selected we all found our way to our respective machines. My partner was Glen, an Irishman by birth, who was now living in New York with his wife.  He was relaxed and quiet good natured and our conversation flowed easily as he settled onto his stool and I positioned myself strategically behind him to quickly change spots at the two minute midway mark. In fact our conversation was so engaged that we almost missed the start of the tournament!

To make a horse racing metaphor, we did not break out of the gate cleanly and had some catching up to do right away. Out of nine entries we spent the first 30 seconds mostly in one of the last two spots. Then Glen hit two particularly nice spins and we vaulted all the way to second. Just before the handoff, he had steered us into first place. I acknowledge that the results of slot machines are simple luck but it was great to see the charge through the field to take the lead.

However, by the time we executed our switch we had dropped to second. Moments later the constantly updated scoreboard showed us in 3^rd, than 4^th, until we settled in sixth. Halfway through the second and final two minute period we were sure we were out of the money. But then the climb repeated itself. With 15 seconds left we were in 2^nd but as each second ticked by our position kept changing posting with apparent random direction anywhere from 2^nd to 4^th. When the clock struck zero I waited for the wheels to stop spinning so I didn’t prematurely claim a finish that wasn’t ours. When all the points were counted we were in 2^nd place and Glen had won a $50 onboard credit.

Glen was delighted not only with the prize but simply the fun and excitement of the most intense four minutes in gaming . . . on a ship . . . well, at least the Silhouette. The event wasn’t over as Andrea, the Maitre D’ of Qsine came by with a raffle to win free meals at either Qsine or The Porch, which gave all the guests who held a ticket one more chance to win.

And that’s all anyone really wants, isn’t it, a CHANCE to WIN?

And the adventure continues . . .