The only thing I knew about casinos or gambling dens was what I saw in movies. It was either a large multistory building full of slot machines and card tables, with everyone trying to become a millionaire overnight, and pretty ladies in bikinis and feather hats giving free drinks to people or a smoky underground basement where shady dice games were played and a fighting ring was set up in the corner, either for people or for animals. This one however was an actual arcade. Like the game cabinets and skeeball kind of arcade.


    Grinny and I walked into the casino room and were greeted by the symphony of electronic beeps and boos. Right inside was a receptionist dryad dressed in a polyester uniform that resembled a fast food restaurant worker. She stood behind a podium and wore a nametag that identified her as Livery.


    “Hello and welcome to the Dragon’s Mall Casino. Here you can play games to earn coins and maybe even some real prizes. Can I get your names please so we can give you your game cards.” Livery wore a fake smile and spoke with the same kind of voice an overworked drive-thru worker would.


    “Venomgrin,” Grinny said.


    Livery wrote the name down on a piece of paper then looked up to me. “And you?”


    “Milo. Milo Walker.”


    “Fantastic. Please give me one moment.” Livery walked over to a large printer machine and began pressing buttons. After a few seconds it whirled to life and spit out two plastic cards. She grabbed them and handed them both to us. Mine was silver and had the words ‘Milo Milo Walker,’ written on it.


    “As a gift,” Livery continued, “we have given you 50 gold credits to begin with. To add more to the card, you will need to visit one of our coin collectors which are placed throughout the casino. In fact there’s one right there.” She pointed at a square kiosk with a metal tray and a screen. “You can also trade in gold credits for prizes at the prize counter in the back, or cash out your credits for gold. Please be aware you cannot use the gold credits we gave you. Are there any questions?”


    I looked around. Even though there were several rows of arcade cabinets, there were only a couple of people playing them. “Where is everyone? I thought this place would be full.”


    Livery fake laughed. “That’s because this floor is our low stakes floor. The payout for each game is very low so they like to occupy the bottom two floors in the hopes of striking it big. Of course, most of them go bankrupt just trying.”


    “What happens then?” Grinny asked.


    “Usually they take quests from the information dryad to earn more coins so they can try it all again.”


    “They don’t try to beat the main quest? Aren’t there rules against that?”


    Livery shrugged. “Some people don’t want to try. As long as you are not at a garage longer than two days, you don’t suffer any punishment. Some just go out and drive around for a little bit and come back. Others, well they don’t come back.”


    “So there’s no limit to how long you can stay on the floor?”Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    “Well, at least this floor. When it comes to the casino, I think the person who’s been here the longest is Motero. If I recall, they’ve been here for at least 724 Earth years. But that’s enough of the questions. Go and have fun in our casino.” Liver continued to smile at us expectantly until Grinny and I awkwardly walked away.


    “I ain’t never seen a place like this,” Grinny said as we strolled down the first rows of games.


    Even from the first few games alone, I could tell they had a good variety. There were fighting games, platformers, a couple shooters accompanied by the plastic guns sticking out of the holsters and just a bunch more. Unlike a regular arcade, there didn’t seem to be any real organization to where the games were positioned, just that they were lined up next to each other.


    “We have a lot of places like this on Earth. It’s usually meant for children and family.” I walked over to a random cabinet. It was green with a picture of squid like aliens holding ray guns. According to the top of the cabinet it was called ‘Alien Takeover.’ The game graphics reminded me of the old game consoles my mother would brag about playing when she was a kid. The gameplay preview showed a blocky alien squid flying around on a jetpack and blasting humans in a city.


    “You want to try it out?” Grinny asked.


    I shook my head. “Maybe later. Right now we need to get real money and the best way is downstairs.” Grinny agreed and we made our way to the stairs.


    The second floor was more like what I expected a casino to look like except everything was electrical like the arcade part. There were rows of slot machines, video poker machines and other types of gambling games. Each one of them had a stool in front of them and pretty much every stool was filled with different creatures and humanoid…things. They were all glued to the screens and the only parts of their bodies that moved were their hands when touching the screen or pulling down a slot lever.


    We wandered down the line until we found an empty slot machine called ‘Goblin’s Gamble.’ It had a flashing green interface with ugly little goblins digging into a mountain of gold and throwing it into a large cauldron. The goal was simple, all we had to do was match three symbols to win. According to the machine if you matched three goblins you would earn your credits back. If you matched three pairs of goblins you would win double, and the same was true for if you matched three trios of goblins. But in order to win the jackpot, you had to match the symbols of a goblin sticking their head out of a cauldron full of gold.


    I shrugged, “I guess this one is as good as any. We should start small, I don’t want to dig into the little bit of gold I actually have.”


    “Small ain’t my style little worm? Show me how this works.”


    The largest bet we could put in was ten gold credits. I tried to convince Grinny we should pace ourselves but she put in the max bet and pulled the lever. The goblins spun into motion and the first two rows stopped on the jackpot goblins. My pulse quickened as the third one began to slow down. It stopped on the third jackpot goblin before quickly switching over to the pair of goblins. The screen was then replaced with a laughing goblin and the word ‘loser.’


    “Wow,” Grinny said excitedly. “Did you see how close we were to winning? We should do that again.”


    “I don’t think we were close,” I said. “These things are usually rigged in some way.”


    It only took a few minutes before Grinny had blown through her 50 gift credits. She did win a couple times but they were only the single goblins who gave you back what you put in.


    Grinny got down off the stool. “That was fun. Now your turn.”


    I took her place and put my card in the machine. Before I could even put in my bet the goblin face appeared on the screen and cackled. “Congratulations Milo Milo Walker, you have been chosen to take on the King Goblin in a race. All of your current gold will be put up, but if you succeed, not only will you win the jackpot, but you will receive a prize for both you and your partner there.”


    For a moment I was speechless, then I turned to Grinny and back to the machine. “You can see her?”


    “Of course I can. Now do you accept the challenge?”


    “I guess. I mean it’s not like I’m really losing any gold.”


    The goblin face laughed again. “You seemed to have misunderstood. When we say all of your gold, we mean your credits and your actual gold.”


    I grabbed the machine. “How?”


    “That doesn’t matter, it’s time to begin the game.”