Moving to Vegas was never supposed to be in the cards for me. I grew up in a quintessential sleepy New England town, spent time in Upstate New York, and thought I was settling into “island time” when I landed in Galveston, Texas. Like most of us know by now, life doesn’t care about 10-year plans and I was surprised to learn that I’d be moving once again, this time to Vegas.
When I arrived to the city I had only been to once before, I literally only knew my then boyfriend (now husband). While my other half was off working long training hours, I would often go to the casino by myself because it was a place that I felt safe alone and I’ve always loved gambling. For a while I more than enjoyed my time wandering the floors of nearby casinos (Suncoast Hotel & Casino and Rampart), trying out a variety of games, and indulging in drinks and bets. After a while, however, my visits to the casino were becoming a little more lonely and a little less enjoyable.
Vegas or not, I was missing the community feeling in my new home. Thankfully, after about a year I started to work downtown and began to meet like minded people including my coworkers.* From there, my small circle only started to get bigger and bigger thanks to the slot community. This is because my downtown job afforded me the opportunity to start inviting slot influencers to property, including Brian Christopher. After meeting Brian and his already established group of “Rudies,” I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of.
* Fun fact: I actually got very lucky that my teammates enjoyed gambling as much as me because more often than not, casino marketers don’t partake in the fun. More on this topic to come later!
The slot community welcomed me with open arms, consistently inviting me to events and asking what games we wanted to play together. My casino visits turned into a 50/50 split of solo relaxation and camaraderie adventures. I started signing up for group pulls, meet & greets, and tuned into nearly every live stream. Online, I loved jumping into the chats and saying “hello” to Rudies near and far. In person, I totally appreciated being able to meet up with Rudies at local spots when they’d come into town or coordinate getting tickets to events. Whether it was online or in person, my need for community was finally being met.
Even though I no longer live in Vegas, I am still heavily involved in the slot community, including being an official member of the Rudies for a few years now. I still make room in my calendar for in person meet ups. Currently, me and my group of friends (including some of the BC mod team) are planning our outfits for Rudies Weekend and making a list of all the things we want to do. Please say “hi” if you’re coming too!
For me, the gaming community offered something that I hadn’t been able to find for a while. The gaming community provided comfort, a passion for shared interests, and a judgement free zone to be my true, authentic self.
If you’re looking to feel a little more connected in the slot community, we’ve compiled a list of where to look and how to get involved.
Start Local
While arguably the most intimidating way to make casino friends on the list, one of the first places you can look for that community feeling is at your local casino. If you tend to go at the same time, you’ll start to notice some familiar faces amongst the players and if you treat the casino team nicely, the employees will start to remember you too.
Striking up a conversation with your slot neighbor is a great way to try and meet someone new! Thankfully for those looking to chat it up, we have a whole article about navigating slot conversations.
Join Online Groups
Online groups and communities offer participants the chance to connect with like minded people when best works for their schedules. Whether it is a Facebook group supporting a creator, manufacturer, or specific game, there is a lot to talk about over shared interests.
When I worked Downtown, I launched a Facebook group for that particular casino. While I was managing that group, I would post about upcoming events, happy hours happening on property, and any special gaming promotions. In addition to my posts as the brand, members of the community would make their own post asking for insider tips, comparing trip dates, and making plans for meet ups of their own. There really are groups for everything, just log into your preferred social media network and search!
Watch Streams
Tuning into live streams or video premieres is a great way to feel connected to the gaming community no matter where you might live. Most creators have release schedules that you can follow to make sure you know when to watch. Depending on where the stream is released, viewers have the option to chat in real time.
Now that I live in Texas, watching streams gives me the opportunity to catch up with my friends while keeping a pulse on the gaming market. I love being able to celebrate the wins as they happen, join in the (respectful) smack talk, and feel like I am hanging out despite being hundreds of miles away.
Attend In-Person Events
In-person events come in all shapes and sizes these days which makes them a great option for people that want to make connections in “the real world.” When picking an event you first want to think about who you’d like to play with.
If you want to play with a specific influencer like Brian Christopher, for example, you can take a look at their websites to see their event calendars. Events can range from casual Meet & Greets (or Meet & Drinks!) to highly structured mega group pulls. The best advice is to take your time picking what you want to do and make sure you pick something that aligns with your budget.
This is awesome! I was just working on a story about how gambling has a lot of psychological benefits and I’ll include a link to this piece.
Amazing! We look forward to checking out your write-up on this, but if you need anything else from our perspective, we’re happy to share!