Video Poker Forum

I think I posted a hypothetical about this before, looking for a break even number, but can't remember. The Borgata in AC has a .25 Bonus Deuces progressive that I normally don't play, but one day walking by, I see the progressive for the generic ducks (without the ace kicker) is over 500 bucks. What? I've never seen it higher than 330. It resets at 250. This was in early 2020 before the lockdown. So I give it a shot and hit the ducks for about 550. Then a strange thing happens. The progressive doesn't reset, it keeps going up. Come back about 2 weeks later and it's over 770. I hit it again and it does't reset to 250. Then comes the lockdown. Borgata reopens on July 26 I believe, and I get down the first week of August and it's at $1,070. How the hell did it get from 770 to 1,070 over the lockdown? I hit it again, no BS and it doesn't reset. Come back 2 weeks later and it is approaching 1,200. I figure when someone gets a W2-G, they figure it out and the play is over. Did not hit it this time, but last Friday it was back to 255. Like Bob D says, you never know what can happen and have to look. Nice while it lasted.

congrats on both scoring some nice hits and not revealing the play until it was over.

Thanks. There were a few people competing for the machines, but I could get on weekday mornings.

Good find car! Glad you got the quad deuces.

Great observation, decision to play the machines and even better hitting the progressive 3 times. WTG Car.

something like this is called a "runaway meter." It happens periodically. It always ends eventually. This one likely lasted until it got up to $1200, and when quarter deuces started getting W2Gs, it became to the slot folks that something was wrong.

BobDancer wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:48 am

something like this is called a "runaway meter." It happens periodically.

Very interesting thread. I didn't know the lingo.

Are there any theories of how a meter lapses into runaway mode? I'm thinking it's not caused by technician error, as there's no configuration option to enable runaway mode.

I would have imagined maybe it could occur ad hoc due to a synchronization failure at the moment of a jackpot hit, but it wouldn't persist. In most of these stories I've heard, the malfunction continues and repeats until a technician finally intervenes.

Don't know how it happened, but knew once it got to 1,200, it was over.Gonna keep checking though, you never know.

dinghy wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:10 pm

BobDancer wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:48 am

something like this is called a "runaway meter." It happens periodically.

Very interesting thread. I didn't know the lingo.

Are there any theories of how a meter lapses into runaway mode?

Maybe not getting along with the parents? Or cold feet at the isle? Or daylight hit?

Tedlark wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 16, 2020 2:41 pm

Maybe not getting along with the parents? Or cold feet at the isle? Or daylight hit?

I wonder
I wah - wah - wah - wah wonder
Why
Why - why - why - why - why ducks ran away

I'm racking my memory and can only remember finding one such play. It was a nickel game, 3-way progressive. The royal was functioning normally, but the two lesser jackpots only went up. I believe all machines on the bank were affected, although I had no way of knowing for sure. Both of the runaway jackpots ascended to 10 or 20x their normal amounts, but if I recall correctly, neither jackpot reached w2g territory. One day I walked in and found the jackpots near their base levels. Good play gone.