I saw some amazing technology yesterday. Both at the Hard Rock casino in Biloxi and also at the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans

The WW2 museum has a movie theater showing a 45 minute movie called "Beyond All Boundaries".  
It's billed as "the only 4D movie in the world".  
Picture a giant curved movie screen in front of you which fills your whole field of vision.  
At one point,  the screen is filled with a WW2 bomber flying towards you and flak is exploding all around it.  During this,  the front end of a bomber fuselage comes out of the ceiling of the theater and positions itself perfectly right in front of the movie screen where the movie airplane is.  So what you're then seeing is the airplane coming out of the screen.  And when the flak is exploding,  it's synced to a shaking mechanism in the theater seats and you're actually feeling the explosions in your seat.
At another point in the movie,  we're seeing a winter scene with snow falling.  And simulated snow is released from the ceiling and starts falling on the theater audience.  
There is a pit between the audience and the screen.  And all during the movie actual physical props are coming up out of the pit to coincide with what's on the screen.
And it's not gimmicky.  Everything is perfectly suited to complement what's being shown in the movie (which tells the story of WW2 from Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki).


The other two phenomenal things I got to see are the video gambling games at the Hard Rock.
One is the video blackjack machine.  It's so close to live blackjack it's scary.
Five blackjack players sit at this thing.  They're all looking at a female blackjack dealer on a big video screen in front of them.  
And then there's another video screen placed flat and right in front of the dealer's video image.
So the effect is the same as having a live dealer in front of you.  When she deals you cards you see her throw cards right in front of you.  But it's all on a video screen and all computerized.

The other machine is roulette.  With this one,  there is an actual live roulette wheel in a box in the center of the thing.  Ten (or maybe twelve I can't remember) roulette players are seated around the roulette wheel at individual terminals.  Each roulette player has the image of the roulette table on his/her video screen.  
The live roulette wheel interfaces with the video image on each player's terminal.
So it's using an actual roulette wheel but without the need for any roulette dealer (croupier).

By the way,  one additional footnote if you visit the WW2 museum.
As you go through the main entrance,  you will see a huge American flag to your right.   In front of that flag is a table.  At some point in your visit,  be sure and walk over to where that table is.   You will find two elderly gentleman there who are full-time volunteers at the museum.  One survived Pearl Harbor and the other survived the D-Day landing at Normandy.  And they will gladly share with you what it was like to be there.

The time is running out when any of us will still have the opportunity to talk to people who were actually there.

I am glad you are enjoying yourself and I will check the wwii museum out in the fall, but stay away from those video games.....you cannot win.

2seaoat wrote: stay away from those video games.....you cannot win.

Whenever I'm in a casino,  I employ my winning system.

I monitor where all the cocktail waitresses are walking on the casino floor.
When I see one coming towards me, I quickly sit down at a penny slot machine and start playing.
She then takes my order for a Crown Royal.  I play a few more pennies till she gets back with my drink.
Then I start enjoying the Crown and then get up and look for a different waitress.  When that one approaches I'm again betting a few more pennies and she gets me a second Crown.
I can get three or four free drinks and only lose a few pennies.  So I end up beating the house every time.  
And after that I stop because I have to drive home to P'Cola.  Plus after three or four different waitresses it gets tougher to find one that doesn't figure out what you're doing.  lol

2seaoat wrote: stay away from those video games.....you cannot win.

This dude tells a different story...


Look at this House Edge Chart. It shows the Casino’s advantage for different casino games.

http://casinogambling.about.com/library/bledge.htm

All are fixed except for Blackjack and Video Poker. These two games actually can have a positive payback depending on the skill of the player and the rules or payback table.

Look at the game of Roulette. You will see that the house edge is 5.26% for the double zero game. This is how we figure the edge. In the game there are 36 numbers plus the 0 and 00. The odds of you winning is one in 38 or 37 to 1. If you win the casino pays you 35 for your dollar bet. You keep your original dollar, and are paid an additional $35 returning $36. The difference is two dollars (38 minus 36). Divide the $2 by 38 which is the true odds and you come up with the house edge of 5.26%. So you could actually cover all the numbers on the layout and still lose money. These are great odds for the house but not for you. Games like Roulette, Craps, Big Six all have a fixed percentage because one roll or spin will never change the outcome. There will always be 38 numbers on a roulette layout and 12 numbers on a pair of dice.

Blackjack is in a different category because every time a card comes out of the shoe, it changes the make up of the cards remaining. The advantage can shift from player to house depending on which cards have been played and the Skill in which you play your cards. Video Poker also is based on skill. If you play the perfect strategy, there are actually some games that have a positive return based on their pay table.

http://casinogambling.about.com/od/oddsandends/a/houseedge.htm

I just found this about the 4D movie. If you go and you want to get "snowed on", sit in the first three rows. I was in the 2nd row and didn't pay attention to what was happening behind me at the time.

http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2009/11/world_war_ii_museums_beyond_al.html

Interesting, Bob. Thanks.