During my recent time on the Oasis of the Seas, I was reminded of a topic I spoke about a year ago, regarding beating neighbors to a progressive.
They had a bank of five Ultimate Fire Link Slots, all set to a single denomination, pennies. Because they were all in a row, it meant you could observe what was going on with all of the machines, and know who was in a bonus.
With Fire Link, progressives can land on any ball. However, they are not actually awarded until the payout phase. That means if another player happens to have one as well, it’s whoever reaches the payout phase and reaches that ball first that will determine who will actually be awarded the full value of the progressive, vs. who will be awarded a nearly reset value.
Another interesting thing about this game is that while you’re in the bonus, if other players are still wagering, and building up those progressives, they’re also being built up on your behalf, so you’ll end up with a little more than when you dropped the ball.
I saw many players with progressives pausing, rubbing the screens and doing other things that eat up valuable time when another player could also be after a well built up progressive. So how can you avoid being one of those players?
When you land a progressive, evaluate two things – how far (if at all) the progressive has built up that you both are chasing, and where the other player is in their bonus. If it’s not built up much, it may not be worth a bother.
If it’s well above its reset value, you may want to speed stop through the remainder of your bonus so you can get awarded your progressive before your neighbor. This can be especially important if your neighbor has already unlocked some rows, as this can be a sign they’re closer to the end of their bonus.
Remember, each additional ball resets to three spins, and each four balls landed unlocks a row; more rows unlocked means more balls landed, so that can be an indication they’re getting closer to the end of the bonus.
