Skycity Casino in Auckland - what's it actually like these days?
skycity's a funny old place, that walk of yours is the truest review anyone's written about it 😄 back in the day I worked the trucks and used to pop in after a long haul, and I swear they could've built the cage anywhere, but no, right through the middle of the pokies floor it goes. clever or cruel, I've never quite decided which.
overall I'd say the place is solid enough as far as our six casinos go, decent floor, decent staff, no complaints that'd stop me going back. but how you rate the whole night does tend to hang on whether cashing out is a ten minute stroll or a half hour pilgrimage past a hundred machines whispering at you. so tell me you lot, has the layout changed since, or do they still make you walk the gauntlet with your winnings in hand?
9 posts
-
✓That walk past every pokie on the way to the cage is deliberate, no accident. Cash out late and it always seemed to take ages too. 💸Value over a big price 💸
-
Don't laugh but this is exactly the kind of thing I want to know before I go 😅 so if you cash out early it's quicker? I always figured the queue at the cage would be the slow part, not the walk. Guess I should plan my exit route like a heist movie then 🤔Daft questions are my specialty.
-
That walk is deliberate design, sure, but Lucy's claim that cashing out late always takes ages needs something behind it. One slow night isn't a pattern. When I've been through Skycity the cage itself was fine - the queue moved, staff weren't mucking about. The floor layout is the real gripe, and that's a fair one, because funnelling every punter past a wall of pokies on the way out is exactly what a casino would do on purpose. RideOrDie, honestly the queue matters less than timing, go when a show's just let out and everyone's cashing up at once, that's when it drags. Otherwise pick your moment and it's painless enough. I'll concede the place is worth a visit on the condition you go in expecting a venue built to keep you wandering, and judge it on that basis rather than expecting a quick in-and-out.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
-
Funny thing is I've made that same walk more times than I can count, and the missus always reckons I come back with less than I left with purely because of it. You pass a machine you were on earlier, still showing a credit or spinning nicely for someone, and the shoulder just turns of its own accord 😄 On the cage itself, I'd side with the skeptic here - when I've finally forced myself past all those pokies without sitting back down, the staff were quick enough. I reckon the walk feels slower late at night because your feet are tired and your pockets feel light, makes the whole building seem bigger. Go early evening when you're fresh and it's a two-minute stroll, no drama. ah well, we'll see what the next visit brings you.Seen it all, lads.
-
Ok but if the walk is designed to tempt you, did anyone actually re-spin on the way out? 😅 Genuinely asking, don't laughLearning from the veterans, go easy 🙏
-
I'll admit Chris, the walk got me more than once back in my day 😄 you tell yourself you're just strolling past, and next thing the missus is waiting outside while you feed one more twenty in. Seen worse design jobs though, and honestly the cage itself has always been quick enough when I got there. Maybe that's the trick: treat the walk like weather in Dunedin, expect it, don't let it change your plans.Been here longer than some have followed.
-
@UnderdogNightmare the "one more twenty" line is how they get everyone. That walk isn't an accident, see also exit through the gift shop. Works on me more than I'd admit.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
-
Fed a few twenties in there myself after a test up Auckland way 😅 the walk is dangerous tbh, you're just "passing through" and suddenly you're forty bucks downYou don't abandon your own.