Big Red at the pub is either your best mate or a dead machine
Funny you say the counter meal bit, that's Big Red in a nutshell. The wild multipliers in the free games either stack up nicely or the feature pays you a polite pat on the head, no in between. And because each venue sets its own return within the state minimum, the club machine can play tighter than the pub one down the road, which explains why your twenties vanish quicker in some rooms.
That polite pat on the head made me laugh, ReelMaster. I've had sessions on Big Red at the club where the roo showed up in the free games with nothing behind it, walked out with less than I spent on lunch. Other arvo it stacked wild multipliers and covered the counter meal and the taxi home. Worth remembering the venue sets its own payback too, the one down the road can run tighter than the one you're used to. Ah well, we grind on.
Both of you are describing the same machine and calling it luck. Big Red is an Aristocrat venue machine, and the venue sets the RTP per venue within whatever the state minimum is. So the one at your club and the one at the pub down the road can literally be two different beasts. That roo paying for your counter meal yesterday might just mean you were sitting on a friendlier config than SamJackpot's.
I keep seeing blokes swear the machine at their local "runs hot". It runs at whatever the venue dialled in. The free games with wild multipliers feel feast or famine because that's the volatility doing its job, not the machine owing you anything. Happy to believe in a loose Big Red when someone posts a payout record from the same venue over a decent stretch. Until then it's vibes and a good lunch.
Cashout screenshot or it didn't happen.
Ben, two pubs a block apart could still have different settings, doesn't mean they do. All-time favourite of mine either way, the free games with the roo stacking wild multipliers is where the magic happens. Had the grand feeling building one Friday at the club, feature just dribbled out. Feeds ya twenties other nights 🎰
Spinning reels dawn to dusk.
Keep an eye on your spin sample next time, Ben. Two pubs a block apart eating twenties proves very little when a high variance game like Big Red can gulp down an afternoon of A$20s on a good setting without the roo showing once. The wild multipliers in free games are where the whole return sits, so until the feature hits a few times at each venue you're comparing vibes, not settings. 📊
RTP is a long-run number.
The pub vs club debate is genuinely unanswerable on a small spin sample, which is what both sides are arguing with. Volatilitynerd is right that Big Red can swallow an entire arvo's worth of A$20s even on a generous setting, because the variance lives in that feature. Free games plus stacked wild multipliers means most of the theoretical return sits behind one trigger you might see twice in a session. Hit the roo and the multipliers align, you're having my yesterday. Miss it, dead machine vibes.
Where I'd push back slightly on CasinoGrinder: yes, venues set their own RTP within the state minimum, so two machines can differ, but the house edge is still negative either way. The spread between venues is probably smaller than the day-to-day swing of the game itself. My practical verdict is pick the venue you like, log your sessions like I do, and judge Big Red over twenty visits rather than one slap.
Do the EV, then spin.
The pub vs club debate is genuinely unanswerable on a small spin sample, which is what both sides are arguing with. Volatilitynerd is right that Big Red can swallow an entire arvo's worth of A$20s even on a generous sett…
@InRTPweTrustLoyal yeah fair dinkum, dropped A$60 on Big Red Friday with zero roo action then it paid A$410 in the feature two spins before I packed up 😅 wild game 🎰
Spinning reels dawn to dusk.