Today Vince and I went to the MGM casino in Detroit after a lovely river walk downtown. He joked with me that the trip could be research, and I thought that'd be funny, but he's right. I can't help myself... even before I enter the place, I start to think about the audio experience of going to the casino.
The MGM grand audio experience starts in the parking garage. Unlike any parking deck you've ever entered, this one is full of speaker and playing music. The Bee Gees "Staying Alive" was on when we were walking in. Then as soon as you enter the place, there's that casino sound. The chorus of machines ringing in C major. It's absolutely a symphonic experience of all these machines joined in harmony. Is every single machine in C? No, but an overwhelming majority of them are. Unlike the arcades of olden days, these machines are working in tandem in an auditory way. Really interesting and unique. Not quite like anything I else I know: if you've not heard it, you need to go in to one and give it a listen.
I had a couple of experiences that I jotted down to share. First of all, I was standing behind Vince watching him play a machine and someone sat down at the adjacent machine. From time to time, I glanced at how he was doing. On his particular machine, when the player increased the number of line bets, the pitch of the machine went up or down in a major scale. This really caught my eye and ear because he increased the number of line bets, he went up from 13 to 21. Now, I can't say for sure why he chose those numbers, 13 certainly has a bit of "numerology" with it, but I did notice he hesitated for a moment at 20 and then went up to 21. I probably would have done the same: although 20 seems like a nice, round number, 21 completed the octave from where he began. Don't underestimate the audio power these games have over the players!
Also noticed an interesting experience where Vince sat down at WMS Monopoly Real Estate Tycoon machine (amazing music, plus he doubled his money! Would be very interested to learn who's the composer here, but can't find that information online). The sounds were overwhelmingly loud and he realized it was possible to turn it down immediately with an onscreen command. The lady beside him, who had been playing for a long time, watched him do this and then adjusted her machine's volume as well. Fascinating that she had not realized this was possible and was interested to watch and learn how to do this from him after hearing him complain about it. Just a little more evidence about how important the sounds of the casino machines are when your attention is drawn to them.
Sitting in one of the restaurants there, TAPS, I kept my ear on the casino, though I wasn't in the midst of it. The sound of C major is amazing. bVI-bVII-I. (This brought to mind Mandy Moore, Candy.) Almost all the sounds from machines are repeated pitches, or a series of rising pitches. Glissandos are common. The sound of change pouring out of the machines... which is almost a funny sound. I'm old enough to remember the real sound of coins pouring out from machines in Vegas right around the turn of the century, but who pays with cash/coins anymore? That's almost a lost sound. What will the sound of a monetary win sound like in another 50 years?
Finally, there was a game that really caught my ear for having game-like audio, Aristocrat's Mr. Cashman. There are many varieties of this game, and I'm not sure exactly which one I heard, but in this timestamped link, you can hear a bit of what I'm talking about.
Well, another trip to the casino, left with a bit of a gain for once, and got some good thinking going with the casino audio experience.
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