Players of casino games are often fans of pool as well. At the Casino Club Colonial, we have put away our pool table for the time being, but our love of pool continues.

One pool table we find particularly interesting is the round pool table. Invented in 1884 by George Chasley, the round pool table has never become nearly as popular as the ordinary rectangular kind, but it does have its own interesting advantages.

Round pool tables take up less space in a room and eliminate the problem of players crashing into corners. But more importantly for the players, eliminating all angles supposedly levels the playing field, because experienced players can no longer take advantage of the shots they have perfected on the rectangular table. Instead, balls bounce erratically off the curved sides, creating an unexpected game. Some round pool tables have a pocket in the center, changing the game in an exciting way. Other tables come with a seven-inch portion of straight bank, which the manufacturers claim makes bank shots even easier than they would be on a traditional table.

Round pool tables seem to present endless possibilities. Most manufacturers are willing to fully customize their tables, allowing their clients to select different woods and surface felts. The manufacturers also make different sizes of round pool tables, creating a challenge for those players who have perfected their games on one particular pool table size.

The Casino Club Colonial applauds all variations on games.

Among connoisseurs of the Magnolia Restaurant’s dessert menu, the consensus seems to be that the Chocolate Pie is the best item. Its crust is flaky and a perfect backdrop to the dense, creamy pie filling. The chocolate is dark and more fudge-like in texture than fluffy. The strawberries that top the pie provide just the right nutritional balance for the dessert-eater.

One particular Chocolate Pie aficionado recommends the casado as the perfect pre-pie main course. He orders the casado with garlicky seabass (corvina al ajillo), which goes well with rice and beans and fried plantains (plátano).

Another Chocolate Pie fan recommends a lighter main course–an order of three chicken-and-cheese quesadillas. This item is not actually on the menu, so those who order it realize they have achieved coveted insider status at the Magnolia Restaurant. The crisp, warm quesadillas provide the ideal savory counterpoint to the cool Chocolate Pie.

Of course, the Chocolate Pie is not the only item on the Magnolia Restaurant’s dessert menu. Diners love the Tres Leches, the Apple Pie and the elusive Arroz con Leche.

As many Costa Rican businesses do, the Casino Club Colonial will have special hours during Holy Week.

On Wednesday, April 20, the casino’s first floor will be open and fully operational, but the second floor will be closed. In honor of the holiday, alcohol will only be served until midnight on Wednesday.

On Thursday, April 21 and Friday, April 22, the first floor of the Casino Club Colonial will be closed, as will the Sleep Inn hotel casino. The second floor of the Casino Club Colonial and the Catalina Gold machine will both open at 11:00 AM on Thursday and Friday.

Both casinos return to their normal operating hours on Saturday, April 23. We hope to see you there!

Soccer fans looking for a place to watch the World Cup need look no further than the Sleep Inn and the Casino Club Colonial.

Televisions in the hotel casino and both upstairs and downstairs at the Club Colonial will are currently showing the games.

Soccer fans can check with John at the hotel casino for odds on the games.

In the popular imagination, dart boards have become synonymous with game rooms. And people often assume that any casino will have at least one dart board. There are no dart boards at the Casino Club Colonial, but the casino bloggers still love dart boards, both for their aesthetic beauty and for the interesting ways in which their makers have tried to solve the problem inherent in all dart boards.

Much of the dart board’s mystique lies in this inherent problem–the problem of the constant disintegration of a well-used dart board. In order for a dart to stick into the board, it must naturally leave a hole in the board’s surface. Thus, the most popular of dart boards is also one that is most quickly destroyed. The earliest dart board-makers constantly battled the destructive forces of the very game of darts, and modern manufacturers have come up with ways to combat dart board destruction.

Wood was the original material of choice for dart boards. However, the drawbacks of the material soon manifested themselves. Not only did the darts leave their marks in the surface of the board, but the wood cracked and split as it aged. Players tried to “heal” the wooden playing surface by soaking the entire board in water. Soaking improved the board’s conditions, but the wet wood filled game rooms with a foul, rotten stench. Dart board-makers needed a less smelly solution to the problem of dart board disintegration.

Philadelphia dart board-makers soon hit upon the idea of wound paper as the ideal dart board surface. The manufacturers wound sheets of paper tightly upon themselves, creating pencil-thin paper “ropes.” Then, they wound the “ropes” into flat spirals, creating the round dart boards. The darts were expected to hit the board between the coils of the spiral, leaving minimal damage to the paper surface. The paper was also supposed to be more malleable than wood, and the hope was that direct hits to the paper would leave only small marks. Players also used special wooden darts that damaged the paper less than metal darts would, especially when the darts were kept sharp. Wound paper dart boards were also printed on both sides, doubling the playing surface.

However, the choice of paper still doesn’t fully eliminate the problem of dart board destruction. The darts still make holes in the surface of the paper, and because players tend to hit the board in the same place, the boards wear unevenly. Users of the wound paper dart boards rotate them to even out their wear and flip them over when one side becomes too worn. Despite its propensity for disintegration, though, wound paper has proven to be a popular dart board material, and the Widdy Company of Philadelphia has been making wound paper boards continuously since the 1920s.

The newest of dart boards, made of sisal, are the latest in the battle against game-playing destruction. These boards, often called “bristle boards” because of their method of construction, tend to recover from the hit of a dart better than any other boards do. Bristle boards are really made of very small disks that are all pressed together into the larger circle of the dart board. In cross-section, each disk contains a bundle of sisal fibers. The darts hit the board between the individual sisal fibers, leaving very little mark and allowing the board surface to “heal” after the strike of a dart.

Few other games have darts’ peculiar characteristic of disintegrating during heavy play, but innovation seems to stay constantly one step ahead of the needle-sharp point of the dart. The Casino Club Colonial blog salutes avid dart players and welcomes them to its own gaming hall.

Read more about dart board types.

Learn about Widdy dart boards.

Read about dart board construction.

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Here in the Club Colonial blog, we like to think that a focused player is a successful player. Some or our postings feature wit-sharpening tricks that we think might put a player in the right frame of mind for a turn at the machines or at the tables. The following is another exercise to sharpen the wits of the prospective player. It involves some elementary algebra–perfect preparation for the numerically inclined.

The puzzle:

Bertram meets Clarissa at a bar and invites her to dinner. Although Bertram looks very youthful, Clarissa suspects that he might be ancient. Fearful of burdening herself with a very old man, Clarissa tells Bertram that she will only dine with men who are younger than Lance, her ex-husband. Lance is now 45.

Bertram smiles and says, “Perfect! Three times Lance’s age right now is five times my age seventy-five years ago. Let’s go to dinner. I’m younger than Lance is.”

Is Bertram telling the truth?

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No. Bertram is not telling the truth. He is a remarkably well-preserved 102-year-old.

The solution is as follows.

Three times Lance’s current age is 135 (3 x 45 = 135).

If x - 75 represents Bertram’s age 75 years ago, five times his age 75 years ago is 5(x - 75).

Three times Lance’s current age is five times Bertram’s age 75 years ago. We can set up the equation this way:

135 = 5(x - 75)

135 = 5x - 375

510 = 5x

102 = x

Thus, Bertram is 102 years old, and Clarissa is correct to turn down his dinner invitation.

Slot machines are symbols of the modern casino. They are increasingly common in casinos worldwide, replacing the once-ubiquitous table games. Typical casino clients, who regularly use electronic technology in their everyday lives, tend to gravitate away from the more complicated table games and toward the flashy new slot machines at places like the Casino Club Colonial. Slots fans will find plenty to do at the Club Colonial.

Of course, true slots aficionados might like to have some slot-machine action even when a slot machine is not handy–in a hotel room, in the Magnolia Restaurant, or in the exercise room, for example. For those slots fans, we offer the following suggestions.

The slot machine scarf provides all the color and graphics of a slot machine without the machine itself. It has no moving parts and dispenses no prizes, but it serves as a lively reminder of the fun of a real slot machine. The scarf is available on ebay.

The slot machine key ring is handy, and it actually works. It features a movable arm and three spinning reels.  Reassuringly, the spin of the reels always results in a winning combination, a heartening feature for the slots fan.

Slightly more abstract but still cheerfully slots-related is the trio of sterling silver slot machine bracelets designed by jeweler Jennifer Kellogg. She decorates each bracelet with a series of enamel images of slot-machine fruits. As in a real slot machine, the fruits are arranged in a different order on each bracelet, making it more difficult–and more enjoyable–to try to hit the jackpot with a spin of the bracelets.

When away from the machines, the high-rolling slots lover need look no further than the slot machine wristwatch, designed by exclusive Swiss watch manufacturer Girard-Perregaux. This expensive timepiece features a fully functional arm and spinning reels, as well as authentic slot-machine pinging noises. Unlike lesser portable slot machines, the reels on the wristwatch slots are slickly calibrated and feature five different symbols, generating many possible combinations. The watch is also water-resistant up to 30 meters, a handy feature for the swimming slots lover.

The Casino Club Colonial welcomes all slots enthusiasts to play its various machines, and it salutes slots fans spending time away from the machines as well.

Read about the various slot machines at the Casino Club Colonial.

Writing and editing by Beaumont Hardy Editing.

Casino Club Colonial visitors looking for an exotic mixed drink should consider the pisco sour. The Magnolia Restaurant deftly mixes this refreshing South American specialty, which is oddly absent from many U.S. bar menus.

A popular Peruvian variant of brandy, pisco is made from fermented grapes. Pisco, Peru, the pisco capital of the world, bottles this strong liquor, but cocktail connoisseurs all across Latin America enjoy the frothy, pleasantly tart pisco sour.

Although some experts argue about specifics, the drink usually contains the same basic ingredients–pisco, lime juice, a simple sugar syrup, egg whites and bitters. Bartenders whip together the first four ingredients until the egg whites get foamy. Then, they dot the top of the drink with the bitters. Some cocktail-makers substitute lemon juice–or a mixture of orange and lemon juice–for the traditional Peruvian lime juice, prompting outcries from purists, who argue that a true pisco sour must use only Peruvian limes. Fortunately, the Costa Rican lime is very similar to the Peruvian lime, so pisco sour-drinkers at the Club Colonial do not have to worry about inauthentic juice in their drinks. Controversy about the bitters also abounds. Peruvians make their pisco sour with their own traditional Amargo bitters, but some argue that Angostura bitters work just as well in the drink. The Club Colonial stays true to the original Peruvian recipe.

The resulting drink is slightly sweet and light, with pleasant citrus overtones. Despite its undeniable appeal, the pisco sour seems to have bypassed the trendy mixologists on the U.S. bar scene. An alarming number of bartenders seem not to know what a pisco sour is and not to know how to mix one.

However, bartenders at the Magnolia Restaurant understand the appeal of the pisco sour and know exactly how to make one. Casino Club Colonial-goers have the rare opportunity of trying this elusive specialty drink. Those looking for a true Latin American cocktail experience should request a pisco sour between turns at the gaming table.

Read about the award-winning Casanova cocktail at the Magnolia Restaurant.

Read more about the pisco sour.

Writing and editing by Beaumont Hardy Editing.

How important is mental clarity and concentration to the casino experience? Serious gamblers often report that their success rate increases when they are able to clear their minds and focus on the details of the game they’re playing. They also report that concentration is most important in the table games and poker; focus has less of an effect on success rate at slots or electronic games.

If concentration is an important part of gambling, the method of achieving a high level of concentration requires consideration. Some players achieve focus in the most basic of ways–taking deep breaths and clearing their minds of fleeting, insignificant thoughts. Other players listen to meditation tapes or CDs, following guided paths to mental stillness. However, a third alternative, the Buddha Machine is particularly intriguing.

The Buddha Machine is a low-tech sound generator that some believe produces both an intense calm and a strong mental focus in the listener. The original Buddha machine is a transistor radio-like device with only two controls–one for volume and one to alter the sound. The Machine makes random electronic noises–pings, bell tones and soothing buzzes–that the listener can change and distort by turning the dial. Its makers indicate that the Buddha Machine never repeats the same sound sequence. Instead, it creates a sound pattern that constantly shifts and evolves. Although scientists have drawn no conclusions about the effects of the Buddha Machine on the human mind, its proponents maintain that its ever-fluctuating “soundtrack” helps listeners achieve a state of deep concentration. The constantly shifting sound is supposed to promote both creativity and incredible mental calm–a particularly useful combination for players in casinos. A few minutes with the Buddha Machine could, perhaps, make the mental difference between a win and a loss.

The Buddha Machine is now online, making it more accessible to players and simultaneously adding several layers of complexity to the original Buddha Machine sound. The online Buddha Machine is almost as simple as the original Buddha Machine. The website has only one page and minimal text. The one page features a diagram of twenty-one Buddha Machines organized in a grid. Users can click one Machine to make it play. Just as with the original Buddha Machine, users can adjust the volume and sound of each of the twenty-one online Machines. The beauty of the website, however, lies in the fact that users can play more than one Machine at a time. In fact, all twenty-one machines will play simultaneously, creating a complex pattern of electronic sound that supposedly enhances concentration and mental clarity, perhaps even more than the original Buddha Machine does.

Buddha Machine advocates recommend listening to the original Machine itself, or to its online counterpart, before a mental trial of some kind, in order to achieve the proper level of concentration. Visitors to the Casino Club Colonial might consider the Buddha Machine when getting themselves into the right frame of mind for gambling.

See the original Buddha Machine.

See the online Buddha Machine.

Writing and editing by Beaumont Hardy Editing.