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Comment by riscy | Hacker News Reader

> Walmart is selling one right now

The ESRB and Walmart are OK with kids playing a casino gambling simulator, but that doesn’t mean Google or Apple should be too.

For a parent who looks at their kid playing on their phone with a Vegas-style video slot machine on the screen, complete with a "Spin" button, it appears to be gambling. At a minimum, it’s normalizing real-life casino gambling motifs for their child. Some may find that objectionable for children, and it appears the tech companies agree.

If you can't see that this is 99% of a video slot machine game, just without any cost per spin and 8-bit graphics, then maybe you should visit a casino: https://youtu.be/Vaw2g0tQo58?feature=shared&t=102

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>If you can't see that this is 99% of a video slot machine game, just without any cost per spin

The cost per spin is the thing that makes it gambling. Without a wager, it is not gambling.

Watching a horse race is not gambling. Placing a wager on a horse race is gambling.

In Luck Be a Landlord, players do not place wagers. There is no gambling mechanic. Not even a virtual wager for play money.

>The cost per spin is the thing that makes it gambling.

The "landlord" aka casino is constantly requiring that you pay `X credits within N spins` or else it's game over. That is just moving when the subtraction of player's credits happens from every spin to every few spins. It's effectively X/N credits per spin, per "rent" notice. That's a core game mechanic.

You realize you're trying to argue that this is appropriate for children, where the whole game is they pretend to be a gambling addict trying to make their ever-increasing rent payments (which children don't have) by taking spins at a video slot machine.

[flagged]

> I'm not trying to be mean here, but it feels like you have no idea how a slot machine works...

It has every aspect of the slot machines I was playing just 2 weekends ago at casinos in Reno, but without credits being deducted from my balance per spin. Instead, in this game, you must pay lump sums from your credit balance to the Landlord after N spins. It's thinly disguised gambling with fake credits, but with a "Gamble now, pay later" twist.

EDIT: my mistake, it appears from the video you also pay one credit per spin, in addition to the rent.

>It has every aspect of the slot machines I was playing just 2 weekends ago at casinos in Reno, but without credits being deducted from my balance per spin

So other than the gambling part, it is a lot like slot machines.

Interesting!

How many of the slot machines that you played in Reno have a feature where you get enough cultists to summon an eldritch horror? That's normal late game stuff for Luck Be a Landlord.

You should go to the casinos yourself and find out! As someone who's made it to late game Luck Be a Landlord, you will feel right at home!

I don't gamble. I play games sometimes, but I don't wager money on them. I have no interest in playing games for money and you'll never catch me in a casino unless there happens to be a conference or convention held there.

I'm not sure what you're trying to do with this thread, but I do not think you're having a good-faith discussion about something you're curious about.

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