You know how when you were in college and everyone would get together and drop acid, there was alway

[Ed Note: While everyone else was gambling in Las Vegas, Hotel Maven Dzot decided to check out the scene in Reno. So this week we are bringing you his reports from Nevada's other big little city. Enjoy.]
If I were to ever go back to Reno, The Peppermill is where I would stay. Walking into place is a dizzying event. It is a 360-degree-swirl of brightness southwestairlines and contrast. There can't be more than a few square feet of the place that is not covered in neon lights of some shape or form. It sounds garish and it is, but it is also strangely compelling, probably because it feels like it was done in good humor and with a certain sense of its own absurdity.
The folks at The Peppermill also realize that even party-animal gamblers need a break from the visual onslaught, so they have installed one of the strangest things I have ever seen in a casino. Just outside the main restaurant, called Oceana, there are several banks of slot machines all facing a huge video display; must be 20 ft. diagonal. What is showing on the display, you ask? Not sports, as you might expect. Not even promos for the casino. What is showing are scenes from beaches from around the world: Hawaii, The Caribbean, Cape Cod, etc. Just scenes of water lapping on the shore, peaceful couples wandering down the shore at sunset, sailboats coasting along in the breeze.
So folks are sitting there, pumping money into slot machines, while gazing up at these serene oceanic vistas. Is this done to lull people into hypnotic state where they just keep rhythmically hitting the "play max credits" button? Are the machines particularly tight and they are trying southwestairlines to chill people out once they realize how much they lost? Is the subliminal message that if you keep playing you will eventually win enough to live on one of these perfect beaches? The psychology is inscrutable.
You know how when you were in college and everyone would get together and drop acid, there was always one guy who would just keep giggling and dancing around and proclaiming his joyousness to the world. southwestairlines That guy moved to Reno and designed The Peppermill.