Ah, players cards – there’s so much FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) around them that many players don’t trust them, even if it’s costing them access to offers they’d otherwise earn. But this one’s a bit more complicated than a simple cut and dry answer:
I noticed at times while I’m playing slots that players will remove and then reinsert their players card in the machine they are playing. Does that somehow re-trigger the system to activate the bonuses? Or is there a reason why they need to be doing that?
Fran G.
We’ve seen this in a couple of scenarios. One is more superstition, and one has a practical reason.
For the superstition, some players will do this, not unlike cashing out and reinserting their ticket, as if that will somehow reset the machine. It doesn’t, and it has no practical influence on the slot. So it’s a neutral thing – it won’t help, and it won’t hurt.
In times like that, we think it’s important to acknowledge the reality, while also noting it doesn’t technically do any harm.
The only time it might cause an issue is if it confuses the players card system – some of them don’t like seeing a new card-in so quickly after a card-out, which can impact its ability to record play and properly assign it to a player.
In extreme cases it can even cause your card to become locked, requiring a trip to the players club desk. In those cases players are missing out on the earned comps from that period of play, and the offers that recording that play would support.
There is a second reason, however. Some players card systems will time out cards have a certain amount of inactivity, which in the case of these systems is someone making a wager. But sometimes, slot bonuses take awhile, and the system still sees that as idle time because it doesn’t know a bonus is going on – it just doesn’t see any bets being made.
In those cases, the card will time out, and requires the card being removed and put back into the slot to ensure it is recording again. And so in those circumstances, taking that step helps a player, because it ensures all their play is being recorded.
So no, it doesn’t trigger anything in a slot – the game behaves the same whether a players card is in it or not. But in certain cases, players may need to do this if their card times out. In other cases it isn’t doing anything to help or hurt them.
