Aug 2023 Michigan Trio Four Winds Soaring Eagle

I was able to jump start my offers at Four Winds in New Buffalo Michigan around Fathers Day. I was well comped at one time, for them anyway. Decent Suite, a few hundo in free play, strange gifts that I would never use. ETC. Until the pandemic hit, and I couldn't make my way back to them for a few years. So the fuckers cut me off. 

Numerous emails went unanswered, as I tried to get the attention of a host to "fix" me. I did the unthinkable a couple months back, I paid for a room and had to earn my offers all over again. It is what it is, and the suites and free play flow once more. I didn't put in the hard work for nothing, so I packed the kids into the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. And we headed off to Michigan for a 4 day end of summer trip. 

Why Four Winds? Because every other casino resort within a 2 hour drive from home is shit. Trust me, we have hit them all. Nearly every casino with a hotel in Illinois. All up and down Indiana. We even went as far as Iowa once. Shit. Shit "resorts", shitty rooms, shitty dining. Just shit. 

Illinois is doubly shit, as their holds are high since they have to give the state 75% of their gambling wins. Not a typo. They keep 25, the state gets 75. And that is on top of the tens of millions these casinos have to pay upfront for the gambling license. Its no wonder their casinos hold so much. And it goes without saying, that gambling is fairly tough in these joints. 

Add in the old rules, of a casino having to be in a "poor" area, to help their local economy. And that means these "resorts" are stuck in places you don't want to be. And filled with a clientele, you probably don't want to be around. I mean, I don't give a shit. But it sucks when you want to do a family outing. 

I will give the Potawatomi in Milwaukee a pass. Its top notch, great rooms, awesome casino and plenty to do nearby. But for this trip, its Michigan or bust!

Room is nice, but only 1 bed in the suite. Which means poor old Grid is sleeping on the couch. 

The resort itself, has plenty of dining options. The pool is great for the kids. But outside of that, not much to do here for the night besides gamble. There is a beach nearby, but I have covered this resort in the past. So stop being lazy, and go read those reports. 

$275 in free play is respectable, but I converted it horribly. The plan was to play those generic slots, you can only find in the IGT Game King Cabinets. I typically do well on them. I just dont play them a lot, as they only earn points at the same slow rate of video poker. 

I managed to turn this $275 into only $148. Just horrible. 

I take that ticket over to my Monte Carlo game, and manage 3 wheel spins for $155. That gives me $262, which makes me feel better about the choices I have made so far today. 

But I end up pissing that away. And a few hundred more. I eventually land a bonus on the below, for $105.00 But that was about it for the 1st hour gambling. 

I was down about $800, before I stumbled upon these Battlebots games. I was still licking my wounds, and just bitch betting $3.75 when I landed a bonus for $130.00. So I moved to the next machine, and started betting $7.50. Which was good for another $130.00

I reinvested that $327.00 TITO into Lobstermania below, and shockingly hit the Minnow progressive for $171.00. It resets at $170, and must hit by $200. Normally these pop in the $199 range. Not a buck into building. But I aint bitching! I just got back about half of my losses, in a nice 20 minute stretch. 

But I lost that as well. I was getting OK play, just not landing the bonuses I needed to keep my head above water. Four Winds, IMO, is a fair casino. They suck in some out of town money, as the New Buffalo lake front location is popular with tourists. But they depend on the locals enough, where they cant fleece them. They need them coming back for more. 

Plus, the Injuns are not giving the state 75% of their wins. So they can afford to be a bit more generous with their paybacks. All I want is a fair gamble! I don't have to win, just don't rob me too quickly. 

Off the soapbox, and back to gambling. 

I lost about a grand by the end of the day, but I drove through a good $8,000 in play. That's plenty to keep the offers flowing.

I take the last hundo I was willing to risk into the High Limit room. And I go big on one of these new Tax Free High Limit games. Instead of winning a taxable $5,000. The machine gives you 5 free high limit spins, and each spin wins $1K (on average) 5 times. Which is under the $1200 taxable win, so its all tax free. I love these games, and the concept. 

This one has Eagles, but they work as Quick Hits do on the normal versions. 1 Eagle (QH) is your money back. 2 is 25 credits, which is $125 in this case. 3 triggers the bonus as explained above. I got 2...

And then I got 2 more. 3 on a line is the $50,632 jackpot. 3 scattered, is the bonus game. I played this down to $200, which is a double up from the $100 I put in. And I limp out of the casino down "only" $800.00. $8,000 in play, $800 lost, that is a solid 90% return. I'll take it.

Four Winds was just a stopover, into the bigger vacation. Its about 90 mins from my house. And Soaring Eagle, is about 3 hours from there. Instead of running the straight 4.5 hour drive to Mount Pleasant MI. Four Winds allowed us to chop it up a bit. Plus, the more gambling the better!

The next 3 hours in the car were the typical bitch fest you'd come to expect from a drive with a 7 and 9 year old. Thank Gawd for tablets and video games. Or I'm sure there would have been some bloodshed. But before you can say "Dad, she is putting her feet on me" for the 34th time. We are there!

Now hear me out. As I touted some of the main reasons why we are heading way up North into Central Michigan to gamble. I mean, to vacation. We looked at doing an indoor waterpark closer to home, but Soaring Eagle was literally half the price. Soaring Eagle has a number of places to stay out there near their casino. The Retreat, which is much more adult driven. The actual resort, which was a bit pricey since I have to pay for it. And the Waterpark, which ticked all of our boxes for being close, having shit to do and being a decent value. All in, it cost about $500 for 3 days, but included the park passes, the room, free food for the kids and all taxes.

The room was... basic. I mean, it was fine. Clean, as was the resort overall. Easy to get to. Had an outdoor patio connected to it, and a kids section away from the adults bed. 

I forgot to mention, we are celebrating two Birthdays this trip. My oldest was born on my wife's Birthday. So we get a twofer. 

After checking out of 4 Winds. Stopping for breakfast on the way to Soaring Eagle. And doing the waterpark on day one. There was no time for the casino, even though that was part of the plan. If someone had to get fucked over, its typically me. But I cant complain. After all, I did get to pay for everything. You all go have fun. 

Day 3! We eat, we gamble. You all have no say in this. Kids Quest opens at 11AM sharp. We are dumping you moochers on them, as soon as they unlock the doors. 

We pull into the complex, which I do not use lightly. This place is massive. Around 11AM.

Unlike Four Winds, who shut down their arcade and Kids Quest during the pandemic. Soaring Eagle still has theirs! It was $12 an hour, per kid. A bargain if I had ever seen. Which includes a video arcade (free games), a jungle gym, toys, games, arts and crafts and who knows what else.  We book them for 1 hour, just to be safe. IE, I could lose all my money, and then we have to leave. They could hate it, and we would have to leave. Or even a combo of both. Whose to say?

This place is big, and I mean BIG. The casino itself clocks in at about 225,000 SQFT. With nearly 4,000 slot machines. Plus a full poker room and a ton of table games. The slots are packed in there too! Great mix of older games and nearly all of the newer ones. I had a slotgasm just walking in there. It was glorious! 

I tried to psych myself up pretrip, and check on photos and reviews from other people online. But you cant trust 90% of the bullshit people post. Hardly anyone goes online to rave about something. But nearly everyone does, to bitch. I like this gem from TripAdvisor:

Jeff H wrote a review Jun 2023

1 contribution1 helpful vote

The place is a joke

Slot machines are a joke. Everyone knows you can control who wins. The place is a joke. When I sit down next to people and bet the same thing they are and can't get a bonus in $500. I know you control them. I know it's gambling but when you control who wins it is ridiculous

I love that people actually think this way. Jeff points out, the people around him were getting bonuses. And not him, which proves they are controlling things. You just know Jeff thinks they are targeting him. "Oh, snap! Its Jeff again. Get me the remote, so we can make sure he keeps losing! He gets so mad when we do that!"

I had to screengrab this next one, as no one would believe me otherwise. They are just writing a bad review, because they got a small handpay and no one took their picture. They even asked for a comp, since they were offended. AND asked to be bumped up to a Diamond card, for their troubles. 

Fuck the haters! I was in overdrive. I only booked the kids for an hour? I cant make it through this place in an hour! I freaked out, and started pumping in cash, and slapping buttons as fast as I can. The wife is around me somewhere, but fuck her! She's on her own! I kid, I kid, well kinda anyway.

They have a ton of games I haven't seen in years. As well as a bunch of others, I didn't think were in casinos just yet. A decent crowd, for 11:30AM on a Tuesday, in the dead of summer. Mostly older white folks. I guess that makes sense. 

I played a few older IGT games I haven't seen in a good decade. And was holding my own. The wife was playing Top Dollar, so I played this Blazing 7's game next to her. That was good for $300! Wife cashed out of TD, so I played it, and stole her bonus. It was only good for $85 though. 

I played around on that $450 TITO for a good 30 minutes. Literally, every game I had hoped to find, they had.

I even started mentioning games to the wifey, for her to keep an eye out for. Big Times Pay and Leonidas. I hadn't seen Big Times Pay outside of Atlantic City for awhile. The Potawatomi has the new Leonidas, but I hadn't seen it elsewhere. Vegas hardly ever has any games from Incredibly Technologies.

Got to Spin and Win on this classic below, which was one of the games I first fell in love with in Vegas over 20 years ago. They have a few of them here! Only $90, but I'm up $400. So who cares?

I find the wife playing some older game called Crystal 7's, which neither of us has seen in awhile. So I play some Leopard Claw next to her, which is another oldie. $9.00 per spin, and I was down $300 on it. In my face for being cocky! I landed a $100 hit, and tucked tail with my $267 TITO.

Which I did end up losing, but it took awhile to do. About an hour in fact. An hour of playing, and I'm only down $100? Sign me up! The wife comes back from Kids Quest, where our kids requested another hour to play. Sold! I tell her to meet me at the free drink station in the middle of the casino. Oh yeah, they have free drink stations. Pop (Soda to some of you), tea, coffee ETC.

I play Leonidas, which they actually had, right across from the drinks. And trigger a bonus. My pregame spin got me 2 X Wilds, which can be hit or miss. By the 3rd spin, they were certainly a hit. $635 on that one spin alone. 

By the last spin, I knew it was going to be a handy. 

$1,295 on a $10 bet. Thankfully they made Jeff lose, so I could win! Just over an hour in here, and I have already gotten back all the money I lost at Four Winds, and then some. 

But I have a fresh hour on the clock, and I have hardly seen anything in here. They have a bunch of these games below. Dragon, Tiger and Bird flavored. I sat on these forever in Vegas before. I love em! $9.00 bet, so it can go fast. But I manage a $140 hit. Now I have $246 on my latest $100 buyin. 

Then another $140, up to $328. Then a bonus for $405. Now its $704! I start thinking about what a value it would be to live here. I can sell the big house in Chicago, and pay cash for an even bigger house up here. No mortgage! And when I need money, I could just come gamble! Its foolproof! 

I was a couple hundred bucks into the below, before finally getting a $100 line hit. No bonus, so I moved on. Only a $30 loss. 

Switched over to Wolf Run Gold, and got a decent line hit of $115. But same as the above, I was a couple hundo into it prior. So I dropped $135 into it. It happens. I'm still up $430 from this hundo. And at least $1,600 on the day.

We both walk into the High Limit room for the first time, and I wanted to play everything! So many games I liked. But so little time. $25 spin on In the Money? Sure! Step right up and get your $250 win! Which really just put me back to even on that TITO. But don't spoil the fun!

No. Fucking. Way. They have a Money Mad Martians machine? I haven't seen one of these in at least 10 years. The last of which, Paris in Las Vegas pulled from their casino back when Obama was still in office. 

$15 a spin? Sign me up! First Spin Bonus! I accepted the 70 credit offer, which is $350 to those of you that may be mathematically challenged. Now I drove my hundo up to almost $900!

That 2nd hour is up, and the wife knows the first rule of a heater. You never walk away from one. I peal off $40 for her to take the kids to the arcade, as she lost her $100 gambling money. I did offer her some more, but she had had enough. Probably enough of both gambling and my smug demeanor. As I am typically a horrible winner. "What do you want to see me win on next?" "That was easy" "Why do people even have jobs in Michigan?"

Left to my own accord, which can be dangerous. I start hopping around the high limit room. I see another game I haven't played in a long, long time. $10.00 per spin, and I land a $186.00 bonus. Which was needed, as I was down a bit in this one. My $900 now down to $737. Which is still up!

Holy Shit, they DO HAVE a Big Times Pay! $10 denom, and $20 a spin? Fuck it. Lets go!

Double bars, Multiplier, Double bars. That is $200. But the Big Times Pay could be 2X to 10X that. It could be $2,000! But it was "only" a 4 X. $800!

I know I should cash out now. I won. Its been over 2 hours of "good". The casino seems more than fair. Which is what I hoped for, being remote and relying on the locals. You cant slaughter your gamblers up here. Just skin them some. All of those bitching about the casino taking their money, just didn't have the bankroll to push past the variance. Obviously the house is going to win. You just need to know when to pull out.

I have 2 kids. So my pullout game is obviously weak!

Next up, Ming Warrior. I got a handpay on one of these at Borgata, after I triggered the rare Feature 2 bonus. $20 spins, and I got a line hit for $100. 

Fear of losing what I worked so hard to win, I lower my bet to $10. The plan being to cash out up a grand, and call it a day. And sure as fuck, I get a bonus after I dropped the bet. And its the rare Feature 2 as well. Son of a bitch...

But the bonus was shit. $260? Fuck that noise. I am now up $1,400 for this session. And like $3,000 for the day. So that happened! Cash out, right?

Nope! I hate the fact that I can get sucked into these Cash Falls games. But here I am, seeing someone left behind a good line on a $7.50 bet. I didnt win the line, but I did get the bonus. For $614! And now I have a ticket worth over $1,800!

I do play a few more games in the HL room. But nothing was clicking, and I dropped a few hundred dollars. I went back out into the main casino, and played some Double Easy Money. $90 bonus, got me back to $1400.

I was going to take that $1400 victory, and meet up with the girls. This is a Non-Smoking casino, as are most these days. So I went outside to have a smoke before meeting up with the gang, and saw they had yet another casino? I guess it was the old Non-Smoking one. Shit, this place is huge! Ive been in here for nearly 3 hours, and I might have seen a third of the space. It is a destination casino for sure. 

I wander around in here for a hot second, and see this prize pool game has prize squares of $1,500 and $4,000. The only problem is, you gotta bet $12.00 a whack to win em. I'm clutching a $1,428 TITO. This wont be an issue. 

Bing: $135 Prize Pool. Bang: $330 Prize Pool. Bong: $190 Prize Pool. Back to nearly $1,600!

Bing: $194 Bonus game, which was a total disappointment. But now I have almost $1700. Bang: $164 Prize Pool. Bong: $141 Prize Pool.  Still near $1600, but no $1500 or $4000 prizes. 

I chase for too long, and my luck is running out. I was down to like $600 from that $1800 high point. And hit a Prize Pool of $310. Back to a Grand, and I'm outta here!

Cash that out, and I walk out of their casino up $2,500! Did I mention how big this place is?

The kids are picking out their own prizes from the arcade, and we head off to grab dinner. Yes, I won. And when I am winning, sometimes I can overreact to liking something. But I really did like the casino. The layout, the games, the fact that I can play without getting fucked. And certainly the fact that I won. 

I tell the wife, that there is yet another casino across the street from the real casino. And I want to check it out, cause you know. I write a blog and all. And there isn't much out there about the "Slot Palace". I wave my fistful full of sweaty cash at her. And she agrees to take the kids to the waterpark, while I go degen a bit more. 

The title did say Trio after all!

From what I can tell, the Slot Palace is a chunk of shit. It looks like what you'd expect an Indian casino should look like, in the middle of bumblefuck. Which is where we are. I am guessing this was the original casino from the 90's. Which they reaped enough money off of, to build the massive new casino across the street.

The parking lot is unpaved. Not sure if that's normal, or if they are redoing it. To the left is a big Bingo Hall. To the right, looks like places to eat. But are now just more slot machines. 

Maybe it is a Palace to these Hillbillies. But not so much to me. 

It. Was. Awesome! I nearly got thrown out, 1 minute into being inside. I snapped this pic below, and security rushed me. "What are you taking pictures of?" Um, I have this blog where I write about me gambling. So I take pictures of the casinos, and any big wins, to share with people. "That sounds.. Weird. No pictures of the gaming area please". Yes Sir. 

As you can see, nearly every older Top Box IGT game you could ever want to play, is here. When was the last time you saw a Quack Shot? Run for the Money? These are all the games that made me love gambling, after my first trip to Vegas in 1999.

I dont have to spend $15 to play Martians. I can play it for quarters, .50 or dollars!

And look at this old chunk of shit! That from the 80's? From what I can tell, they retire their more popular older games in here. I almost passed out from excitement. Its EXACTLY what I hoped for. Like taking a time machine back to when I was 21, but didn't have the bankroll to play all the cooler games!

For sure, I want to come back and run $500 through this Black Gold on its own. I just don't have time for that right now, so a quick hundo will have to do. So much to see!

In the Money? Yes Please! Only a $100 line hit, but my Gawd she was gorgeous. How do they keep these older machines alive like this?

They have Snow Globes? The last time I played that was at the Venetian, 20 years ago! $10 Bet, for only a $75.00 bonus. But it was fun!

I think this was a diner at one time. Now just more slots. I had to sneak this pic in, and pretend like I was texting. Don't want to get pinched by the Fuzz again. Someone has to document this place! Sure are a lot of White People in here... Which is a bit different, from the locals casinos I normally play at. Im usually won of the only crackers in there. 

Get Eggcited? Not sure what this is, but I want to play! $10 bet once more, and a $194 bonus. I started with $100, and now I have $450. Love it.

Some older random IGT games, in their original cabinets. This place looks like Freemont street used to, 25 years ago. 

Twice Your Monkey, for $200. Now I have $517. Jewel of Arabia bonus for $162. Now I have $670. I seriously cannot express just how happy I was right now. Not only is gambling "working". But just this huge wave of nostalgia washing over me, seeing some of these games that I had long forgotten. 

Garden Party? I totally forgot about that one! $130 line hit, and now I have $727. I played on, as I totally forgot what the Garden Gnome bonus does. No bonus, but another line hit for $400! Now I am up this session, nearly a grand. 

Is this real life? I have had hot streaks before. But usually they last 30 mins or so. Not hours. And those have been few and far between lately. As most casinos just want to steal your money as fast as they can now. Don't forget the knowledge Jeff shared! Is Soaring Eagle this fair? Or am I suddenly this lucky? A little of both?

I soon need a wheelbarrow to push around my nuts in, as they are huge by now. Thankfully the Gambling Gods slapped some sense into me. I was overly ballsey on Max Action here, betting $20 a spin. I took that $1037 TITO down to like $500. Before I got a $205 win, and I bolted. 

I was chasing the $179 progressive on Money Storm, which is among the handful of newer games in here. But landed a $176 line hit instead. Back up to $650 now. 

I farted around some, and lost a little here and there. I played this Butterfly Sevens game for a bit at $4.50. And got an OK win for $132. But I was down to $430 when I cashed out. Which is still up $330 for this session!

No way! They have Zillion Gators? I was just hoping for the bonus, which works like Firehouse Hounds or Cash Coaster, if you know those games. But instead I got the Gold Progressive for $304! It starts at $300. Just like Lucky Larry at Four Winds the other day. It shouldn't hit this low. Yet here we are!

I end up playing around a bit more, and cash out a $600 TITO. That's $500 more than I walked in here with. And now I am up over $3,000 for the day. I check my tier credits, and see I ran $25,000 through their slots, in about 5 hours of playing. Which is honesty a new record for me. Their slot club is shit, as that was only good for $50 in free play. But could have been good for $100 in free food, had I used it that way. 

They also gave me a $40 food voucher, for next month, when I got the handpay. But who knows when Ill be back this way. Hopefully they send me a good offer to make this 4+ hour drive again. As I now have to bring my Dad and Brother out here, so they can experience this place as well. 

And I also need to come back, and play this machine when its fixed. I thought I had seen all of the IGT Top Box games over the years. Pinball and Top Dollar are still everywhere. King of Cash and Phoenix Gold can still be found. Every now and then, you'll see a Triple Double Deluxe with Cheese slot. Shooting Gallery and Surf Shark are impossible to find now. But Bitz and Pizzas? I didn't even know it existed! 

Pocket dump back at the hotel. It was a good day. I checked in their app, and I guess I moved up to the Gold Level in the players club. Which gets me 15% off show tickets, and a whopping $20 in free play on my birthday. So I have that to look forward to!

If anyone is anywhere near Soaring Eagle in Mount Pleasant Michigan, and you haven't been there before. This is your Public Service Announcement to head out there right away. You may not win, and for all I know I never will there again (No Jinx). But the property is awesome, the gaming selection is second to none and you certainly should get plenty of play for your money.